Datastead Software License Agreement (August 28, 2026)
BY INSTALLING, COPYING OR OTHERWISE USING THIS SOFTWARE AND ANY RELATED PRINTED MATERIALS (SOFTWARE), YOU ARE ACCEPTING AND AGREEING TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE.
In this Agreement, “Datastead” means Datastead SARL, France, licensor of the Software; “you” means the physical person or the company that acquires the license; “Software” means the Datastead products delivered with this Agreement, including TVideoGrabber, the RTSP/RTMP/HTTP/ONVIF DirectShow Source filter, the Multipurpose DirectShow Encoder filter, the NDI DirectShow filters, their documentation and demo projects.
General license agreement
This software and any accompanying documentation are protected by International Copyright laws and Treaty provisions.
Any use of this Software in violation of copyright law or of the terms of this Agreement may result in civil and criminal penalties and will be pursued by Datastead.
You are hereby authorized to make archival copies of this software for the sole purpose of back-up and protecting your investment from loss.
Under no circumstances may you copy this software or documentation for the purposes of distribution to others. Under no conditions may you remove the copyright notices that are part of the software or documentation.
By installing this software you agree that you may not distribute any file included in this package (source code or binaries) to non-licensed people, unless stated in the Distribution Rights of our licensed SDKs section below. The source code of the demo projects included in this package is exempt from this restriction: you may freely reuse, modify and redistribute it.
The origin of this software must not be misrepresented, you must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be appreciated, but is not required.
Evaluation versions
We offer a downloadable evaluation version to try before you buy. The evaluation versions of the Datastead components display an evaluation overlay or nag-screens and stop after a limited time; they may be used ONLY for evaluation purposes, never in production.
Before buying we recommend you to carefully test the current release with the video capture devices and codecs you will be using. Feel free to contact us in case of problems during the evaluation.
Licensing
Our SDK license is a per-developer license.
The developer license is perpetual for the versions released during the subscription period; upgrades and support are provided for 2 years, renewable.
A developer license is a named-user license: it is granted to one physical person, who may install and use the SDK on any number of computers for his or her own development work. Each additional developer working with the SDK requires an additional license.
A license may be reassigned to another developer of the same company when the original developer no longer works with the SDK, provided that the previous developer stops using it and that Datastead is notified of the reassignment by e-mail. Any other transfer requires the written consent of Datastead.
Build servers, continuous integration systems and any other unattended machine compiling applications with the SDK require a specific build server license, distinct from the developer licenses.
By purchasing the developer license you are granted the royalty-free right to distribute your end-user application (executable binaries) to an unlimited number of end-users.
If you are developing an application as a contractor for another company, the license must be purchased in the name of this company.
Renewal: if you renew before the end of the period, the remaining time will be added to the renewal duration.
Support
The developer license includes 2 years of free upgrades and e-mail support.
Datastead will provide reasonable support through email. We will do our best to fix the bugs reported.
Distribution Rights of our licensed SDKs
Redistributable files
With a developer license, you are granted a non-exclusive, royalty-free right to produce and distribute your compiled end-user applications (.exe, .dll, etc.), and to distribute with them the runtime files of the licensed Datastead products that they require, namely:
- the TVideoGrabber runtime libraries: the Datastead DLLs (
TVideoGrabber.dll,VideoGrabberNET.dll,TVideoGrabber_JNI.dll,tvideograbber.jar) and the ActiveX / VB6 controls (VideoGrabber_x86.ocx,VideoGrabber_x64.ocx,vidgrab_VB6.ocx); - the Datastead DirectShow filters (RTSP/RTMP/HTTP/ONVIF Source, Multipurpose Encoder, NDI filters): the filter itself (
.ax) together with all the DLLs included in the filter package, which must be distributed as a whole, including the FFmpeg-based DLLs; - the
third-party_licenses.zipfile, which must accompany the FFmpeg-based DLLs; - for Delphi and C++Builder applications built with the “Build with runtime packages” option: the
TVidGrab.bplruntime package of the corresponding Delphi or C++Builder version and platform, and only this file.
TVideoGrabber does not require any runtime file by itself: applications built with the Delphi or C++Builder VCL versions link the component statically (unless built with runtime packages, in which case only TVidGrab.bpl must be distributed), and the DLL versions only require the corresponding Datastead DLL. The RTSP/RTMP/HTTP/ONVIF Source, Multipurpose Encoder and NDI filters become runtime files of TVideoGrabber only when your application uses their features (IP camera, URL, re-encoding, streaming, NDI); they have no other runtime dependency than the files of their own package.
Non-redistributable files
The design-time and development files may not be distributed: Delphi and C++Builder compilation units and import files (.dcp, .dcu, .bpi, .lib, .a, .hpp, .pas), the design-time package VidgrabContextHelp.bpl, the header and source files of the SDK (TVideoGrabber.h, TVideoGrabber.cpp), the help files, and the license keys or registration files.
Competitive products
You may not develop or distribute to third-party developers a library, component, SDK or service whose main purpose is to expose the functionality of the Datastead components, or to allow developers who do not hold a Datastead license to use them. This does not prevent you from building internal libraries or frameworks on top of the Datastead components for your own applications.
Third-party patents
Certain standards-based technology may require patent licenses from third party patent holders (e.g. MPEG LA). The licenses provided by Datastead do not include any third party patent license. It is your responsibility to acquire any third party licenses that are required depending on the features that are being incorporated into the application.
Restrictions
Unless stated above in the Distribution Rights of our licensed SDKs section, you may not distribute, transfer, lease, lend, copy, modify, translate, sublicense, time-share, or electronically transmit or receive any of Datastead’s commercial source code, compiled units or documentation (the demo source code excepted, see above) by any means whatsoever.
License keys and termination
License keys
The license keys, registration files and registered binaries delivered to a licensed developer are confidential. They may not be published, shared with non-licensed people or embedded in any file distributed to third-party developers. Your end-user applications must not expose the SDK license to their users.
Reverse engineering
You may not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Software, nor attempt to derive its source code, except to the extent expressly permitted by applicable law.
Termination
This license terminates automatically if you fail to comply with any of its terms. Upon termination you must stop using the Software and destroy all copies of the development files; the end-user applications you have already distributed in compliance with this Agreement are not affected.
Upgrade
An upgrade replaces the version of the Software it upgrades; both form a single licensed product. The upgraded version and the previous one may not be used by two different developers at the same time, unless Datastead has given its written permission.
Limited warranty
Datastead warrants that for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase, the Software substantially conforms to its published documentation. Except for the foregoing, the Software is provided AS IS. This limited warranty extends only to you as the original licensee. Your exclusive remedy and the entire liability of Datastead under this limited warranty will be, at Datastead’s option, the correction of the non-conformity or the refund of the license price. In no event does Datastead warrant that the Software is error-free or that you will be able to operate the Software without problems or interruptions.
This warranty does not apply if the software (a) has been altered, except by Datastead, (b) has not been installed, operated, repaired, or maintained in accordance with instructions supplied by Datastead, (c) has been subjected to misuse, negligence, or accident, or (d) is used in ultra-hazardous activities.
Copyrights
All Datastead components are copyrighted by Michel Fornengo and shall remain his exclusive property. They are licensed exclusively through Datastead SARL, which is entitled to grant the rights described in this Agreement.
Third-party code
The RTSP/RTMP/HTTP/ONVIF DirectShow Source and Multipurpose DirectShow Encoder include dynamically linked DLLs built from FFmpeg (www.ffmpeg.org) under LGPL license. The FFmpeg binaries link to sub-libraries mainly under LGPL/BSD/MIT/Apache licenses, and are listed with their versions in the third-party_licenses.zip file included in the packages.
There is no pure GPL code included in any of the Datastead products.
Disclaimer
Datastead cannot and does not warrant that any functions contained in the Software will meet your requirements, or that its operation will be error-free. The entire risk as to the Software performance or quality, or both, is solely with you and not Datastead. You assume responsibility for the selection of the component to achieve your intended results, and for the installation, use, and results obtained from the Software.
Datastead makes no warranty, either implied or expressed, including without limitation any warranty with respect to this Software documented here, its quality, performance, or fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Datastead be liable to you for damages, whether direct or indirect, incidental, special, or consequential, arising out of the use of or any defect in the Software, even if Datastead has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any other party.
ALL DATASTEAD SOFTWARE IS NOT DESIGNED, MANUFACTURED, OR INTENDED FOR USE OR RESALE AS ON-LINE CONTROL EQUIPMENT IN HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENTS REQUIRING FAIL-SAFE PERFORMANCE SUCH AS IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, DIRECT LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES, OR WEAPONS SYSTEMS, IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE SOFTWARE COULD LEAD DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.
All other warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, are expressly excluded.
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the total liability of Datastead arising out of or in connection with this Agreement or the Software, whatever the cause, shall not exceed the amount you paid to Datastead for the license concerned during the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
General
This Agreement is the complete statement of the Agreement between the parties on the subject matter, and merges and supersedes all other or prior understandings, purchase orders, agreements and arrangements. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of France. Exclusive jurisdiction and venue for all matters relating to this Agreement shall be in courts and fora located in France, and you consent to such jurisdiction and venue. There are no third party beneficiaries of any promises, obligations or representations made by Datastead.
This Agreement is written in English; the English version prevails over any translation.