As a “founding member“, I can get topaz studio right now for $163 for a year subscription which I believe does not include topaz video pro. I don’t really care about the other apps. I just wanted to use starlight for a few old videos to clean up. When I bought topaz video a little over a year ago, it was not a subscription. If it was, I wouldn’t have bought it. I literally got to use starlight mini for two weeks since it took them so long to release it for a Mac. Now I’m stuck with just topaz video AI. So in order to use starlight again, I would have to commit to a yearly subscription to video pro which would cost me $804 a year ($67 a month). Is that correct? If so, that is a horrible way to treat a customer.
Hi Craig.
If you only want Topaz Video and you are a qualifying Founder Member then, you can get Topaz Video for the current upgrade price of the old Topaz Video AI which I believe was $150 and if you continue to subscribe then the price will locked in for as long as you maintain your Auto-Renewal Subscription
I’m afraid that doesn’t include local StarLight rendering on the Mac or for a single application subscription
However, for the extra $13 as a Founder Member you get access to all of the Topaz Applications yes, I know that’s not what you wanted but, it does includes Topaz Video and you’re have access to local StarLight rendering plus 300 video credits each month worth $75 for free.
The deadline for Founder Members has now passed so, may I suggest speaking to the good people at Topaz Support I’m sure they’ll be able to help
Here’s the link to contact Topaz Support directly
Topaz Support
Hope this helps
Be aware though that local Starlight rendering is heavily broken on AppleSilicon in the last two releases.
I was hoping for a better BF price for a Pro upgrade, but considering that the only Pro feature that is of any real interest to me is multi-GPU processing, $455/year just doesn’t cut it for me.
Here’s where I’m confused. So it looks like only topaz video pro has local starlight rendering which is not included in the studio subscription. When I click on the link from the email, I have two options. 1, get topaz studio, which includes topaz video but without starlight for $163 or 2, get video pro alone which is $802 for an annual commitment. I don’t see what good getting a studio subscription is if it does not include starlight for a Mac. I already have Topaz video AI. What would be different in the studio version of the video that I don’t already have?
Right now, not much.
Video AI has Starlight (original) and Starlight Mini.
Video has Starlight Mini (now renamed Starlight) and Starlight Sharp.
Without Pro, both apps will do Starlight on the cloud, but not locally (non-Pro Video AI will do Starlight Mini locally on my system, but not reliably).
Topaz is saying there will be more Pro-only models in the future, but right now they’re still airware.
Please have a word with Topaz Support for the definite answer and the changes are you’ll get what you wish for
You are a qualifying Founder Member and as such you get the Founders version of Topaz Studio which includes Pro only features for example Topaz Video with Local StarLight rendering which isn’t available with the standard Topaz Studio for $163 a big difference compared to Studio Pro.
Your best option is to not listen to me or anyone else right now because, we can’t help you so, please speak to Topaz Support they really are a fantastic team
Here’s the link again for you
Topaz Support
Andy
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If you have a previous license to Video AI, the best deal right now is the Black Friday special to get the entire Studio Bundle and lock in that lower rate on the subscription. This will also give you the Founder tag which will allow you to run the Starlight model locally.
The sale ends on December 3rd and this is the last chance to get that Founder tag on an account as it was extended for Black Friday from the previous end date when the new apps were launched.
If you have specific questions about your account, please email the support team directly at help@topazlabs.com so we can assist and review your account details.
Thanks for the responses. Nowhere in my email for a $163 studio subscription offer says anything about a Founder tag which allows starlight local my Mac. Nor does it mention it when I click it and visit the website. I would’ve renewed by now if that’s the case. They really should make that known. I did reach out to support to double check.
Craig. The problem is you can’t see the wood for the trees or you can’t see what’s in front of your face
If you have a previous license to Video AI, the best deal right now is the Black Friday special to get the entire Studio Bundle and lock in that lower rate on the subscription. This will also give you the Founder tag which will allow you to run the Starlight model locally.
Listen, you already own Topaz Video AI and because, of that you get the Founders Status / Tag and as a result as you already owned the previous version you have access to Local StarLight Rendering with Topaz Studio
The sale ends on December 3rd and this is the last chance to get that Founder tag on an account as it was extended for Black Friday from the previous end date when the new apps were launched.
You are running out of time my friend and you have until Wednesday or you will loose it this is your last chance to get the Founders Status Tag ((The sale ends on December 3rd and this is the last chance to get that Founder tag))
If you have specific questions about your account, please email the support team directly at help@topazlabs.com so we can assist and review your account details.
You’re had reply from Kyle at Topaz Support if you have any further questions email them directly you’ll have to be quick because, you’re running a out of time
Apologies for being so, blunt but we’re just trying to help so, you don’t miss out
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If this is the last chance to get founder, I wonder who would spend $67/month afterwards just to get local Starlight. Founder was the only reason I paid $163, but don’t you dare let it expire, I find this subscription policy quite strange.
For me it seems to be Topaz doesn’t want local Starlight for the mass, because it competes with their cloud. But that’s the wrong approach, because the Pro version is too expensive for most, as is your cloud 
so you’ll end up with fewer subscriptions, and anyone of the founder here who lets the subscription expire won’t renew because the re entry price is too high.
So should you take the founder for $163 if you can? Yes why not, last chance. You can’t go wrong with it. After that, you can decide whether it’s worth paying this amount every year or not. And as I said, once you leave, you probably won’t come back, maybe unless Topaz makes another “Christmas” offer 
I concur the 163 for founding customers like us is a good deal and appreciated. When a company becomes successful it almost always forgets about the early customers who put good money into an early/immature product. I have used Microsoft since the 80’s and Adobe for as long as I can remember, have they ever thought about recognising me with a discount? Topaz rocks!
Yes 163 is fair, but without founder, means new customers or for ex founders they let it expire and re-entry it’s in my opinion expensive, because you need then the pro version for local Starlight
I normally turn my nose up at subscription software, but Topaz apps have changed so frequently that it’s been hard to skip a year and the “perpetual license with a year of updates” scheme has been pretty much the equivalent of a subscription. For now, at least. At the end of the first year, if the Studio apps don’t show significant improvements over the last perpetual builds, dropping the sub and going back to them while we wait for someone to form an open source video enhancement group may become a viable choice.
