Make Starlight Mini Available for Local Export on Personal Accounts
Leave Starlight Sharp as Pro Only for local exports.
You already know Cloud credits are a complete rip-off.
The other models have their use cases but they are basically legacy now. Unifab can get you nearly the same results for a one time purchase.
Bring more value to subscriptions!
Hi.
Sorry, at this present time that’s a Pro feature only firstly, because you need a very powerful Computer to run it successfully and secondly, I suppose Topaz Pro customers would demand more than just a substantial price difference between the Pro and regular versions.
Having said that, I can see a time when Local Rendering would be available within the regular version once the gap between Pro features and regular features widens.
Hope this helps
What does having a “powerful” computer have to do with it? When the last upgrade happened the other day I was able to run starlight locally for 2 days. I ran it on a 3080, yeah it was slow (.3-.5fps) but if you are only doing it on shorter clips then it’s fine (2 hours for me for a 10 seconds clip) which is fine for my use case.
Well then I just wont be renewing because it makes no sense, these models, outside of Starlight are legacy at this point. ~$400/year for access to these? Why? Unifab is nearly identical to these legacy models with colorization and it’s a one time cost.
Basically personal users can’t use Starlight at all. There’s no way you could justify the cost, it wants like 100 credits for 3 seconds of video.
Apologies I was under the impression you were a new customer who didn’t have access to Topaz Video Starlight because, it’s only available for Legacy and Pro Subscribers.
Please contact the good people at Topaz Support as this seems to be a technical issue and they are the people who can help here’s the link to contact Topaz Support directly
Topaz Support
Andy
That’s strange because, if you’re Rendering 1080p at 24 fps you should be getting over 16 minutes of Video for your 100 Credits or over 4 minutes Rendering 4K at 24 fps for 100 Credits.
Unless you’re Rendering at a higher frame rate
I’m very frustrated because I’ve been using Topaz Video for several years, and this year with Windows 11, I bought a new machine, and now Topaz Labs is restricting the system by only giving access to Starlight to pro licenses. There are also amateurs who don’t have a lot of money but have some time, even if the models are a bit complex. Always thinking only of the wealthy and those who can afford it most is truly unpleasant.
Exactly why I can currently not recommend them to anyone, recommending their competition instead unless this changes.
I think their credit system is sometimes wonky because I tried the other day to consume the last 10 credits I had before they reset this month and for 10 seconds it wanted like 30 credits or something ridiculous, now I just tried on a 1920x1080 and it says 12 credits for 30 seconds. So, $1.44 to render 30 seconds using Starlight Mini (.12 cents per credit x 12).
Hi Philippe.
You say you’ve been using Topaz Video for several years does that mean you have access to Topaz Video AI 7 in which case, you still have Local Rendering with that version if you have a NVIDIA GPU
Hope this helps
It’s not so much the Resolution rather the Frame per Second could be the issue for example; a 1080p video at 60 fps is going to consume two and a half times the amount of Credits as a 1080p video at 24 fps or twice as much as a video shot at 30 fps.
It must have been the FPS then causing it. Still way too expensive for Cloud Credits, especially when you have no idea what the final output will look like. And yes you could test on 2 seconds, but you are then spending money to test.
Yes definitely not cheap by any stretch of the imagination however, there are cheaper alternatives but, I’m afraid that’s all they are cheaper and an alternative meaning inferior
Topaz Video is the best just look at what it can do
Here’s some tips from the Topaz Leaning Centre that might help
Hope these help
My experience with Starlight Mini is as follows: I upgraded to Topaz version 7.1.5. (Under licence)
I launched Starlight Mini (SLM), which worked a few days ago with a video and produced a good result.
I then took a second video and applied my restoration routine with DaVinci Resolve, and I wanted to process it again with SLM.
I can’t get it to work. It doesn’t appear in the model manager; it downloads gigabytes (6.6…) but remains stuck for hours and hours on an estimated download time.
I have an NVIDIA 4060 graphics card, a latest-generation processor with 28 also an NPU module.
You tell me that if I have version 7 it might work, well, no, it doesn’t. And from what I understand of this discussion, it seems that Topaz doesn’t want amateurs using SLM at home. My license expires in a few days, and without a rational explanation, I won’t renew it.
Just to confirm, are you saying it’s taking hours to download a video from the Cloud or is it more likely the scenario the Topaz Video AI Application or Models are taking hours to download.
Because, if that’s the case then something is preventing it or them from downloading possibly an Active VPN, Firewall, Add Blocker or something similar connected to your Antivirus software here’s a bit of information from Topaz about this type of issue.
Check for connection blockers, i.e. VPN, proxy, firewall, anti-virus, or Windows Defender / Windows Defender SmartScreen
Turn each one off momentarily and then try again.
If that works, add the app to a list of accepted products within the anti-virus software
I would suggest contacting Topaz Support because they are the people who can help you with Technical issues such as this here’s the link to contact them directly
Topaz Support
Hope this helps
Can you confirm the vram capacity of your card? Usually that card is 8GB, unless you meant the TI version. The minimum requirement for SLM is 10GB.
Hello,
I can confirm that the RTX 4060 does indeed have 8 GB of VRAM. This is already a very solid configuration for video processing. By way of comparison, even Lenovo workstations equipped with an i9 processor use RTX 5000 cards, which also have 8 GB of VRAM.
For Full HD (1080p) work, including complex restorations, this capacity is more than sufficient and is not a limiting factor.
Best regards,
Philippe
I’m afraid Alan is correct you need at 10GB VRAM for Starlight here’s the official information from Topaz
Starlight Mini
Windows
| Operating System | Windows 10 (latest version) (1) |
|---|---|
| System Memory | 32 GB RAM or more |
| undefined | -— |
| CPU | Intel or AMD, with AVX instructions, released after 2020 |
| undefined | -— |
| CUDA (NVIDIA) | Compute Capability 7+ (2) |
| undefined | -— |
| VRAM (NVIDIA) | 10 GB or more (3) |
| undefined | -— |
| VRAM (AMD) | 20 GB or more |
| undefined | -— |
Starlight Sharp
Windows
| Operating System | Windows 10 (latest version) (1) |
|---|---|
| System Memory | 32 GB RAM or more |
| undefined | -— |
| CPU | Intel or AMD, with AVX instructions, released after 2020 |
| undefined | -— |
| CUDA (NVIDIA) | Compute Capability 7+ (2) |
| undefined | -— |
| VRAM (NVIDIA) | 16 GB or more |
| undefined | -— |
(1) Windows 10 support may end before 2026. We highly recommend upgrading to Windows 11.
(2) One of the minimum NVIDIA GPU requirements is that the GPU needs the CUDA compute capability of at least 7.0, which means all the legacy GPUs with compute capability smaller than this version are not supported, including GTX 10 series and Quadro P series. Click here to see a list of supported NVIDIA GPUs.
(3) At least 10 GB of VRAM is required for NVIDIA GPUs, but we strongly recommend a GPU with 16 GB of VRAM or more for optimal performance and quality.
Here’s the link for you to read the information yourself
I’m afraid the solution is either buy a new GPU or Cloud Rendering
Hope this helps
Thank you for this information;
I would like to share an observation regarding the installation of the Starlight Mini model in Topaz Video AI following contact with the Topaz helpdesk (thank you for your responsiveness).
With an 8GB graphics card, the Starlight Mini model works correctly in HD/FHD.
However, it does not install with version 7.1.5.
On the other hand, with an earlier version (7.1.0), the installation is trouble-free and the performance is perfectly satisfactory for HD or FHD projects.
This highlights an important point: Topaz is currently at a strategic crossroads.
On one hand, professionals working in 4K/8K, with rapid hardware upgrade cycles (8 to 14 months).
On the other hand, passionate amateurs, who are looking to produce decent work in HD/4K, but whose machines evolve over much longer cycles (24 to 36 months).
I think Topaz should clarify its positioning and maintain two distinct paths:
Topaz Video AI: geared towards amateurs and semi-professionals, with ongoing compatibility and clear explanations of minimum system requirements.
Topaz Video Studio: designed for professionals, with faster updates and higher hardware requirements.
Suggestions:
Better communicate the differences in target audience between Video AI and Video Studio.
Guarantee stable compatibility for HD/FHD users with 8GB GPUs, so as not to leave amateurs behind.
Publish a clear guide to recommended configurations based on usage (HD/FHD vs. 4K/8K).
Implement transparent tracking of compatible versions and models to avoid unpleasant surprises during updates.
Because, as the saying goes: “The strength of a prince and a king lies in knowing the common people.” »
Best regards,
[Philippe]
Some relevant points I agree
As for the Topaz Video AI and Topaz Video Studio versions we already have this there’s Topaz Studio Pro and the regular Topaz Studio the Pro version has all the regular Studio features, plus, Pro Exclusive Features and Pro Models with Expanded Local Capabilities.
Including Multiple Seat Management, 600 Monthly Video Cloud Credits, compared to the Studio 300 Credits plus, a 100 MP Cloud Export Limit on Bloom and Express products only compared to the regular 32 MP Limit with Topaz Studio.
In addition, Exclusive Local access to Starlight, Starlight Sharp, Wonder, and Standard MAX non of which are available with the regular Topaz Studio Subscription other than Cloud Rendering.
So, yes Topaz already caters for both the Professional and regular users and Subscription Models for Desktop and Cloud Applications see below.
Topaz also, has various Desktop and Cloud Subscriptions in both Pro and Standard versions including single Subscriptions for both Desktop and Cloud Applications or various Bundles available for Monthly or Yearly Subscripers.
Here’s the link for the various Subscription Plans and Prices.
I’m afraid there doesn’t seem to be a place for Topaz Video AI where would it fit in because all bases are covered
I assume there is a typo in the requirements and AVX should be AVX2 as that certainly used to be the case… Tho both AVX and AVX2 have been out for some time. Still good to know an Intel N100 is supported (it’s amazingly slow BTW, I have one in a Win 11 system) a shame much faster pre-2020 CPUs aren’t.
Curiously compute capability 7+ is very old, I know my RTX2060 was 7.5, the 5060ti/16 is 12… but in a pre-2020 CPU system…
