Subscription Agreement    |    Membership Agreement    |    DriveHQ & CameraFTP Privacy Policy


Last Updated: May 18, 2018

By ordering a CameraFTP subscription, you agree to the following Subscription Terms and Conditions in addition to our standard Membership Agreement. “You” refers to yourself and/or any organization or company that the service is ordered on behalf of.

Subscriptions

CameraFTP Subscription Service is a recurring subscription-based service. Whether you order a monthly or yearly service, the service will always automatically renew unless explicitly cancelled.

CameraFTP offers 3-day free trial for users to try the Service before ordering a subscription. Users are recommended to order an annual service plan only after they have tried the free service or monthly service plan. After a subscription is ordered, no refund will be offered. If you wish to cancel a subscription, under CameraFTP’s sole discretion, you may receive a prorated amount of credit in the form of a cash balance in your CameraFTP account. The credit can be used toward a new subscription in the future or transferred to another CameraFTP account or DriveHQ account.

All subscriptions are billed continuously on a monthly basis until cancelled by you. Annual service is treated as a pre-paid monthly service with an annual service discount. Multiple subscriptions can be ordered on the same or different dates. The monthly billing date is the day of month when you signed up for your CameraFTP account. If the order date of your subscription is different from your billing date, the first month’s subscription fee will be prorated and the difference will be deposited into your account as a service coupon balance (credit).

The monthly service price of a monthly plan is the price you paid for the subscription; the monthly price of a yearly plan is the price you paid for the subscription divided by 12. It is your responsibility to ensure your account balance always has enough funds to pay for your subscriptions. You can go to the Deposit page at any time to deposit money into your account. On future billing dates, an amount equal to your total monthly subscription fees will be automatically deducted from your cash balance and service coupon balance. If your account does not have enough funds to pay for your subscription(s), the system can automatically debit your credit card or PayPal account if automatic debiting is enabled for your account. Otherwise, a negative balance will be accrued.

If your account accrues a negative balance, a billing statement will be emailed to your registered email address on your monthly billing date until it is brought to a balance above 0. It is your responsibility to ensure that you receive and read all emails sent by CameraFTP. If you accrue a negative balance, there will be a one month grace period, after which CameraFTP may restrict the service or disable your account at its discretion. Any unpaid balance on the account will be kept on record and CameraFTP has the right to pursue collection of it. In the event that collection occurs, you agree to pay the negative balance as well as the collection fee.

Camera Configuration and Subscription Parameters

Multiple subscriptions can be ordered with different recording parameters (such as: image or video recording; resolution; frame rate; retention days; motion recording or continuous recording). Each subscription can have multiple camera licenses of the same recording parameters. Each camera must be configured with correct parameters that match with the parameters of a camera license assigned to this camera.

Your account or your cameras might be blocked if you configure your cameras with recording parameters higher than the recording parameters of your subscription.

Cancellation

Subscriptions can be canceled online at any time by yourself. Before cancelling your subscription, You must reconfigure, factory reset or completely stop your cameras so that they will no longer connect to the CameraFTP servers.

You can log in to CameraFTP.com and delete all your cameras. If you have a group account, you must also delete all your sub-users. If you have a negative balance on your account, you must make a deposit of that amount. To make a deposit, go to the My Account page, then click Deposit. You can make a deposit by credit card or PayPal. You can also pay by check or bank wire. Please contact customer support for more details.

When you have completed these steps, you can cancel your subscription(s) by logging on to www.CameraFTP.com and going to My Account -> Subscribe -> Current Subscriptions. Select an order ID and the “Cancel subscription” button will be displayed on the next page. Click “Cancel Subscription”. After you have cancelled all subscriptions, your account will be automatically downgraded to a free service account. If you wish to have your account deleted, email your request to customer support.

Subscription Renewal, Upgrade, or Downgrade

Subscriptions automatically renew on a monthly basis until cancelled by you. If you ordered a yearly subscription, your monthly rate is the yearly price divided by 12. After the first year, you will continue to be billed monthly.

You must ensure your account always has enough funds to cover future billings by making deposits as needed. You can deposit money to cover future payments. To make a deposit, log in to www.CameraFTP.com and go to My Account page, then click on Deposit. You can also enable automatic debiting to your credit card or PayPal account.

To upgrade or downgrade your subscription, you can order the new subscription and then cancel your current one(s). NOTE: You will need to bind your camera(s) to the new license(s). If you have available credit in your service coupon balance and would like to use it toward purchasing a new subscription, contact CameraFTP customer support to have it transferred to your cash balance.

If you accidentally ordered a duplicate subscription or if you failed to cancel your previous subscription(s) after an upgrade or downgrade, you must contact customer support within 3 months if you wish to have duplicate charges waived.

Deposits

Deposits made into your account are subject to a no-refund policy. Deposits are put into your account in the form of a cash balance. The cash balance shall first be used to automatically pay for a negative balance on your account if you have one. If there is no negative balance, the cash balance can be used to purchase a new subscription. The cash balance can also be left in the account to be deducted automatically on future billing dates. Any amounts made through a deposit and of which are not used to pay for a subscription can be transferred to another CameraFTP account or DriveHQ account.

Automatic Payment Option

CameraFTP can automatically charge your credit card or PayPal account if you have saved your billing info with us and if you enabled Automatic Debiting. CameraFTP does not record your full credit card (or PayPal) information on file. Such information is only recorded with our payment processor.

You must keep your billing info up-to-date. To update your billing info, you must make a deposit of at least $1 into your CameraFTP account. The deposit is used to verify your billing info to be correct. After a deposit is processed successfully, your billing information will be automatically updated.

Please note that your subscriptions always automatically renew regardless of your automatic payment option. If you don't want to be billed again, you must cancel your subscription(s) online.

Late Fee

Your shall pay your monthly service fees on time. Unless agreed otherwise in writing, CameraFTP offers 1 month grace period.

Except as prohibited by law, we may assess a late charge if your account is past due for over 1 month. The late charge is due when we bill you for it. The late charge will be the lesser of 3 percent of the unpaid amount each month or the maximum rate permitted by law. If you fail to pay in full on time, we may use a third party to collect past due amounts; we may report it to credit bureaus; we may suspend or cancel your service or delete your files. You must pay for all reasonable costs we incur to collect any past due amounts, including reasonable attorneys' fees and other legal fees and costs.

Security Camera Basics
  • Security Cameras

    Security cameras, also known as surveillance cameras, are used to monitor homes, businesses, and other types of properties. Typically, they are connected to a recording device such as a tape recorder or a disk. In the last few years, IP-based security cameras have become increasingly popular. Security cameras enable you to remotely monitor a scene and play back recorded images.

  • Analog CCTV Cameras

    Analog Closed-Circuit Television cameras record pictures or videos as analog signals. Most of old surveillance cameras are analog cameras. This type of camera records directly onto a video tape recorder. In order to save recordings to a PC, the analog signal must be converted to a digital format; this can be done with a video capture card.

  • Digital CCTV Cameras

    Digital CCTV cameras directly capture images and videos as digital signals. The signals are compressed and encoded into a standard video format such as MPEG. Digital CCTV cameras usually record videos onto a hard drive or a storage server.

  • DVR/NVR Security System

    A DVR (Digital Video Recorder) security camera system or a NVR surveillance system is basically a series of security cameras connected to a monitor and recording system. Most (old) DVR/NVR security camera systems are CCTV-based with the cameras connected to the recording system via video cables. A multi-channel DVR/NVR security camera system is dramatically more expensive than a regular IP camera; DVR/NVR security camera systems from different vendors require different cameras. Using IP-based network cameras, you don't need a DVR/NVR security camera system as each network camera can connect to the cloud directly.

  • IP / Network Cameras / Webcams

    An Internet Protocol camera or network camera is a type of digital video camera that can send and receive data via a computer network. This type of camera has become increasingly popular among homeowners and business owners in the last few years because of steep price drop. A webcam can also be considered as a network camera because it can send or receive data via a computer.

  • Security Camera Vulnerabilities

    Security cameras themselves are not completely secure. They can fail due to dust, smoke, fog, loss of power, or damage. They are also easily susceptible to tampering. If a security camera records data onsite, both the camera and the recorded data can be destroyed – by intruders, burglars, or anyone else who wants the data gone forever.

  • Camera Features
  • Motion Detection

    Many security cameras now support motion detection - a technology that triggers recording only when something changes in the scene. Motion can be detected by image changes or sound changes. Many security cameras can only detect image changes. As minor scene changes can occur due to events such as natural light changes or wind changes, many security cameras allow you to configure a “threshold”. By setting a higher threshold, minor scene changes will be ignored and only scene changes that reach the “threshold” will be recorded. Motion detection is very useful if you want to significantly reduce bandwidth and storage usage.

  • Night Vision Cameras

    One of the main usages of a security camera is to monitor night-time scenes. If the scene is not well lit, it is recommended that you use a camera with night vision capability. Those cameras use an infrared spectrum of light at night and can take pictures of objects in the dark.

  • Wireless Security Cameras

    Wireless security cameras transmit video and audio signals wirelessly to a receiving device. There are analog and digital types of wireless cameras. Digital security cameras have become much more popular recently because they can be accessed over the Internet.

  • FTP/SMTP Cameras

    FTP/SMTP cameras are a type of IP cameras that can upload recorded image/video files to an FTP/email server. Almost all IP cameras support FTP/SMTP uploading. FTP offsite storage is the most popular way of storing image/video files from a security camera/DVR.

  • Video Cameras

    All security cameras are video cameras. Most security cameras support real-time monitoring / live streaming via a web browser within the same network. From the Internet, it requires more complicated network configuration. Some security cameras can store video files to a network file server within the same network. Almost all security cameras can upload image snapshots to an FTP/SMTP server; some cameras can also upload video clips to an FTP/SMTP server. CameraFTP supports video recording if your camera supports it.

  • Camera Storage & Image Size
  • Security Camera Storage

    Most DVR/NVR security camera systems can store recorded images and videos to a tape, hard drive, or onsite storage server. However, storing data in this manner leaves it susceptible to tampering and damage by intruders. For better protection and security, offsite storage is the best solution.

  • Storage Requirement

    The required amount of storage is dependent on your camera’s image resolution, frame rate, compression ratio and days of retention. Setting up your camera to use motion detection can significantly reduce storage usage.

  • Camera Retention Time

    Security cameras can generate a large amount of data. The amount depends on the compression ratio, images captured per second, and image size. Most cameras provide a limited amount of storage space; therefore, recordings are usually kept for a preset amount of time before being overwritten by new images.

  • Camera Image Resolutions

    An analog security camera usually supports PAL (768x576 Pixels) or NTSC (720x480 pixels) format. A digital security camera can support many different image resolutions, e.g. 640x480, 800x600, 1280x960, 1920x1080 and more.

  • Upload Bandwidth

    While the resolutions of still image cameras can go as high as 10 million pixels, for a video surveillance camera, the standard resolution is lower. The main reason probably is because of storage and bandwidth requirement. The higher the resolution, the more storage space and the more bandwidth it requires. If you set the resolution to higher than 1280x720 and if you have multiple cameras, you might run out of upload bandwidth if you use ADSL or Cable Modem connections.

  • CameraFTP.com Service
  • Offsite Recording

    Offsite recording addresses one of the biggest vulnerabilities of a security camera. Instead of storing recorded data onsite, recorded images are uploaded to Camera FTP server in real-time. Even if an intruder destroys a security camera, he cannot destroy the recorded data, which can be very helpful for tracking down the intruder.

  • Remote Play Back

    Once a security camera uploads the recorded image/video files to Camera FTP server, you can play back the recorded footage from anywhere using CameraFTP’s Viewer App. The Camera Viewer feature is available for PC, MAC, tablet and smart phone.

  • Real-time viewing

    Camera FTP supports real-time viewing (live streaming) of a scene using the Camera Viewer feature. Many IP cameras can support live viewing; however, such feature usually only works at the same location and only supports few connections. With Camera FTP service, you can view images/videos over the Internet from anywhere using any device. It also allows many people to live stream the video concurrently.

  • Home/Business Security

    CameraFTP offers a revolutionary security and monitoring service for home and business users. Compared with traditional security services, it has a lot of advantages. It is extremely easy to setup, does not require any expensive hardware, requires no professional installation, and the cost is extremely low. Moreover, it is more secure than regular security services as it supports Cloud Recording and Playback.

  • Service Comparison

    CameraFTP has many advantages over other security and surveillance services. You can compare features and prices with other security services. It is also better than using regular FTP/email service (such as Gmail, Outlook, Dropbox) for security camera storage.