Playback Licensing FAQ

General Information

Playback leasing is designed to give the latest and greatest features from Notch for playback in portable licensing for any project, size & complexity. It can be accessed in several ways.

  • Via our Production Partners, as part of a wider solution or a not out-of-the-box rental requirement
  • Hardware Bundled and included on some of today’s industry-leading Media Servers
  • Or now with our affordable £65 a week “pay as you need” license

Perpetual is designed for fixed installation. This license is Notch software version locked and registered to a named project and location at the time of purchase.

If your content isn’t changing, then it’s one perpetual production and you want a perpetual license. If you’re refreshing your content frequently, you’re going to need weekly playback leasing.

Your Builder Pro dongle has a built-in Playback license (valid for content up to up to 4096×2160). This means that you can use it as a Playback license as well. However, keep in mind that the license dongle will need to be attached to the playback machine while your content is running. For most projects and shows, we would recommend getting a separate Playback license had have this installed on location/your show so that you can keep using Builder on another computer (for example to do live remote editing of your exported content).

Yes, you still need to have a Notch USB dongle to hold the licenses. For “Leasing”, you can buy them from our web store at £75/piece. For Perpetual, the USB dongle is included in the price of the license.

Yes, we now offer a 3 months top up software update licenses for Perpetual installations. They are charged at 50% of the original license. To order these, get in touch.

Licenses cannot be moved between dongles and are non-replaceable in the event of loss. So do think where you need it before you activate it to a key.

It doesn’t. Nothing has changed on Builder licensing. This page is specifically about Playback licensing only.

Playback licenses are not transferable or replaceable if lost or stolen. We highly recommend that you insure your dongles and the licenses on them, should you be unlucky.

No problem. You have 14 days from dispatch to contact us and apply for a refund. To be eligble for a refund, the license must still be unactivated. If you have activated the license already onto the Notch USB Dongle, we cannot refund your purchase.

The resolution limits are resolution based (not total pixels) and relate to the size of the Notch render (not your connected displays).

HD: Max 1920 x 1080 (horizontal) or 1080 x 1920 (vertical)

4K: Max 4096 x 2160 (horizontal) or 2160 x 4096 (vertical)

Unlimited: no limit.

Weekly Leasing

The weekly licensing starts when you first use the Playback License on your Notch USB Dongle. So you can order it well in advance and activate & use it when needed.

Yes. If you have an active Weekly Leasing license going and need to extend the period, you can buy additional weeks as you would a new license and activate it to the same dongle. The additional weeks will start once the initial license period is over, ensuring a seamless transition.

No, it is not a subscription service. You order the amount of weeks you need in our web shop and apply it to your Notch USB dongle as you go.

If you already own a Notch (or Codemeter) USB license key, then yes. However: be aware that the Playback licenses cannot be moved between license keys, so make sure you activate the license on a key that will be with your production for as long as you need it. Activating it on the same USB dongle as your Notch Builder Pro license for example, is probably a bad idea, because it means the dongle will have to be plugged into your production machine all the time.

Perpetual Licenses

At time of order, you will accept an agreement to fixed licencing, which means it is locked to the Project Name and Location you will have provided in the order process. If you have a special circumstance or requirement, contact us to discuss further.

From the point of purchase have access to software updates for three months, giving you ample time to fine tune your installation.

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