1. Acceptance
These terms are an agreement between you and Smooth Operator. They govern your use of PTZ Composer and of the software we supply with it. When you download, install, evaluate or use the software, you accept them. If you do not accept them, do not use the software.
If you accept these terms for an organization, you confirm that you may bind that organization, and “you” in this document means that organization.
2. The service
PTZ Composer by Smooth Operator is desktop software for macOS and Windows. It prepares and performs camera movement on supported PTZ cameras that you own and connect on your own network. One license covers either operating system.
Compatibility has two tiers, and we say which one applies to your room before you buy. Tested means a named model, firmware and control path that we have flown and recorded on our bench. Supported protocol means the camera speaks a control language the software works with, and the software measures the camera and reports what it finds.
The software may refuse a move and name the reason for the refusal — for example, when a camera cannot reach a requested speed, or a control path does not report position. A refusal with a named reason is part of the service and is not a defect.
3. Evaluation
We may grant you an evaluation license before you buy. The evaluation runs for fourteen days from the day we confirm your camera setup. No payment card is needed to start it, and nothing is charged during it.
An evaluation license is granted so that you can assess the software in your own rooms, and it may not be used for another purpose. It ends at the end of the fourteen days unless you choose a plan. We put the end date in writing before it arrives.
4. Plans and licenses
A license covers a block of up to four cameras under the software at one time. A fifth camera needs a second block. Blocks may span rooms and sites under one buyer, so a block is not tied to one address or one installation.
Each license we grant is non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable on the terms set out below. It grants use of the software, not ownership of it. Which plans exist, what each plan covers and what each plan costs are set out on the pricing page, and the version of that page current at the time of purchase governs your purchase.
Monthly and annual subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each term until you cancel them. A subscription license runs for as long as the subscription is paid and current.
The perpetual license is a one-time purchase. It includes releases within the same major version, and support, for three years from the purchase date. After those three years the software keeps working on the last version you received, without expiry. A paid renewal extends updates and support for a further term, and you may take that renewal later rather than at the anniversary. A new major version is a separate purchase and is not included.
5. Billing, taxes, cancellation and refunds
Our merchant of record bills the purchase and is the seller of record for it. Its own terms govern the payment transaction. Taxes are calculated and shown at checkout for your location.
Cancellation stops the next renewal. Your access continues to the end of the term you have already paid for. Cancel through the billing link in your account or in your confirmation email, or tell us through the early-access form. Tell us before your evaluation ends and nothing is charged at all.
Refunds are handled under the refund policy of the merchant of record and under the law that applies to you, including a statutory right of withdrawal where you have one. Nothing in this section takes away a right the law gives you.
We may change our prices. A price change takes effect for a subscription at its next renewal, and we tell you before that renewal. A perpetual license you have already bought is not affected by a later price change.
6. Purchases through partners
A room may be specified, installed and supported by a partner: an integrator, a distributor, or a rental and staging company. When you buy through a partner, that partner’s own agreement with you governs the partner’s work — the installation, the training, the services and the payment terms between you and them.
These terms govern the software license itself, whoever invoices you for it. Where the two documents disagree, these terms apply to the software license and the partner’s agreement applies to the partner’s services. A partner cannot vary these terms or make a promise about the software on our behalf.
7. Acceptable use
Keep people and equipment clear of a moving camera. The software moves physical cameras. You remain responsible for safe camera placement, mounting, cabling, rigging and operation, and for the safety of the people and the equipment around each camera. Read this section before you run the software on a camera in a room with people in it.
You may not:
- reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the software, except to the extent the law expressly allows despite this restriction;
- copy the software beyond the copies a licensed installation needs, or create a derivative work from it;
- resell, sublicense, rent, lease or transfer the license;
- use the license for more cameras than the blocks you hold cover, or work around a license check;
- remove or alter a proprietary notice or label;
- use the software in a way that endangers a person or damages equipment;
- use the software for an unlawful purpose.
8. Compatibility and camera behavior
What a camera can do is set by that camera. Its mechanics, its firmware, its control path and its configuration decide the movement available to you, and those things differ between brands, between models from one brand, and between firmware versions of one model.
We do not warrant identical behavior across brands or models, and we do not warrant that a named camera will produce a named move. Where we have tested a model we say so, and we say on which firmware and control path. Where we have not, the software measures the camera and tells you what it can and cannot fly. Tell us your cameras, your control path and your computer before you buy, and we will tell you which tier applies to you.
A camera, a controller, a switcher, a network and an operating system are yours to supply and maintain. A change you or a manufacturer makes to one of them may change what the software can do in your room.
9. Intellectual property
The software, its documentation, and the Smooth Operator and PTZ Composer names belong to us or to our licensors. Your license grants use on the terms of this document and grants no other right. We reserve every right we do not expressly grant here.
The flights, playlists, camera profiles, settings and shows you author stay yours, and the video you produce stays yours. We claim no ownership in them. You confirm that you hold the rights you need for the productions you make with the software.
If you send us feedback about the software, we may use it to improve the product without owing you a payment for it. You keep whatever rights you already had in the material you sent.
Manufacturer names on this site and in the software identify compatible equipment and are the trademarks of their owners. No endorsement is implied.
10. Disclaimers and limitation of liability
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SOFTWARE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE OR COMPLETELY SECURE, OR THAT IT WILL PRODUCE A PARTICULAR RESULT ON A PARTICULAR CAMERA.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF GOODWILL, A MISSED PRODUCTION OR A LOST RECORDING. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS UNDER THESE TERMS DOES NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US FOR THE SOFTWARE IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that the law does not allow us to exclude or limit, including liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, and liability for fraud. Some jurisdictions do not allow some of the exclusions above, so a part of this section may not apply to you, and the rest of it still does.
11. Termination
You may stop using the software at any time. Cancelling a subscription follows section 5.
We may suspend or end a license if you breach these terms, and we tell you the reason when we do. Where the breach can be put right, we give you a reasonable chance to put it right first. We may also decide not to renew a subscription at the close of its current term, and we tell you before that term ends.
When a license ends, stop using the software and remove it from your machines. A perpetual license continues under section 4 unless it ends for breach under this section. Sections 7, 9, 10, 13 and this sentence survive the end of a license.
12. Changes to these terms
We may change these terms. The changed terms are published on this page with a new date at the top. For a change that materially affects your rights, we tell the people we hold a license record for before the change takes effect, and for a subscription the change takes effect at the next renewal.
If you keep using the software after a change takes effect, you accept the changed terms. If you do not accept them, stop using the software and cancel under section 5.
13. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, United States, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any dispute arising from them is resolved in the courts of San Francisco County, California, and both sides submit to the jurisdiction of those courts.
Where the law of your own country gives you a right that this section cannot take away, that right stands.
14. Contact
Questions about these terms go through the early-access form, with a line saying what the question is about, and they reach the right person. A dedicated address for legal correspondence is published here once it is confirmed rather than guessed at.