Software – The software-based licensing method obtains a UID from each video encoding device, and a license file is deployed to activate the registration for those devices.  This method is preferred if you use hosted services or are renting a cloud server for your deployment.

 

Hardware – In contrast, the hardware-based licensing method does not care which video encoding devices are connected, and you can swap them out at will.  A license dongle is deployed to the system to activate the registration for the video encoding devices. If you have your own Data Center server hardware and are building out your deployment or migrating to the latest surveillance technology, this is the preferred method.