It is obvious Topaz does not know the difference between the 2 and tries to flimflam us. So I will educate Topaz. An upgrade is from one version to a higher one–whereas, an Update are updates within a Version.
Topaz is obviously hoping, we are too stupid to know that–So
they are charging us for updates within a Version and calling it Upgrades, so they can charge us for each small change( update) they are making.
but maybe they should google it and here it is–so Topaz, you are wrong.
Update address problems, issues and functionality in a software or a system. … On the other hand upgrade replaces the existing software or system with a better one.
** An upgrade is a new product.**
Photographers, it is time to say to Topaz- enough is enough-
Their new upgrade policy stinks, as they are talking about updates and not Version upgrades-
So Topaz, get your act straight or we will boycott you.
Apparently photographers have not even realized, what you are trying to do and you think, you pulled the wool over our eyes. But not so fast. You are only one of many Software out there and we photographers resent the way you are treating us, your loyal customers( simply because you want money) and furthermore your verbage and explanations show your ignorance.
Time to change your “UPGRADE” policy and stop charging us for updates within a Version.
Please do not make multiple posts about the same subject. I’ve removed the others.
Thankyou for your message rmbother1, I feel exactly as you do…topaz is not my got to programs for my work flow…and i appreciate your information…if you do figure out how to disable the popups…please let me know!!! In the future…i will not be continuing with Topaz products. It is sad after being a loyal customer for so many years…having purchased most of their products…or almost all of them …that the promise they gave us…and the commitment has been altered! Completely thrown away…it was a shock to to see that i had to pay to upgrade. I will say though…Sharpen is a great deal better than the former version…and i do like it. I have other software products…On1, Luminar, Photomatrix, and others…Adobe non rental version of photoshop and lightroom etc…so…there is a lot of competition. I am learning Affinity photo, designer, and publisher as well at this moment…and i think that these products are a strong competitor to Adobe! I HATE subscriptions and Companies that go back on their word! Thankyou so much for your message!
Brenda -
If you are on Windows, you can setup a firewall rule to block the individual program’s access to the internet. I have not seen any negative side effects from that. Someone else mentioned a program called “Radio Silence” if you’re on a Mac.
I can’t believe it. I have many Topaz products and have always been a fan. But now I’m being asked to pay a lot of money to “upgrade” deNoise AI, which I only just bought recently, and also Gigapixel AI now. Is this “upgrade” scheme going to extend to all Topaz products and recur over and over? I guess it’s only for professionals now.
There only appear to be 5 products being actively developed (Video Enhance, Gigapixel, Denoise, Mask, and Sharpen), and all of them require paid upgrades. Eric graciously did not change the policy for Adjust, Studio or JPEGtoRAW, so we still get free updates for them.
So in reality, the new policy has already been extended to all products that are actively being developed.
Please DO NOT write things on this forum that are fake, your post has been edited to remove the things you said that are simply wrong. Unless, of course, you would like to provide proof of your assertions.
My thoughts exactly. I play around with photos as a hobby and bought enough Topaz products in the past to qualify for free copies of Adjust AI, Sharpen AI and Studio 2. Of the products available now -
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Mask AI - I’ve seen some reviews which say it’s not really worth getting if you have the original Remask.
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Denoise AI - As I don’t earn a living taking photos I’m not obliged to take any in really bad light conditions so I don’t need this.
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JPEG to RAW AI - Don’t need this.
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Gigapixel AI - I found an online site which will enlarge photos for free and it will be good enough for anything I might need. Gigapixel AI costs $79.99 and, after using a currency converter, I discovered that for another £8.00 I can buy Corel Paintshop Pro Ultimate 2021 which includes AI Denoise, AI Artifact Removal, AI Upsampling to enlarge photos plus a free copy of Painter Essentials 7.
I’m sad to say that this is goodbye to Topaz as far as buying anything else goes now because I’m saving up for Luminar 4 which has that wonderful sky replacement feature.
It will not be long before Luminar 4 has its support withdrawn, and then you will be ‘shepherded’ towards BUYING Luminar AI!!!
Photoshop 2021 has a most impressive Sky Replacement filter - and is far more adjustable than that in Luminar 4.
I found Photoshop Elements 2021 which does sky replacement. It costs £20 more than Luminar 4 but might be worth it for other features. Whatever I buy in the end, though, I still won’t be spending money on Topaz products.
I can understand why Topz has stopped giving free upgrades for life because I always wondered how they managed to make a profit once people had bought the original software. What I’m sad about is that the company seems to have forgotten people who just edit photos for fun - surely I’m not the only customer who doesn’t make a living from photography. If Topaz introduced a new product that did sky replacement along with other features like flood, frost, snow and rain etc I’d probably buy it.
PS I deleted my original reply because it didn’t display the quote correctly
Luminar AI will automatically do reflections as well. I use Luminar 4 with mixed results for sky replacement, despite having a huge library of my own skies. Fortunately I have wonderful unhindered views of the sky from my house. It’s not just a case of plonking in any old sky: you really have to select one that looks convincing with regard to angle of light, softness, focus etc.
You have to do that kind of selection if you’re replacing skies the old fashioned way. 
As I’ve got arthritis, anything which can put in a new, suitable sky with one click is preferable to erasing old skies with Remask which I find difficult to use when my co-ordination is bad.
You are right, it should be a one-click operation, but I often find I need to try a number of different skies before I find one that truly convinces me!
I get an error that my current license does not include this update. And it appears i have to pay again for this update, not to mention the fact there appears to be no trial to see what i would be paying for. This was not what the agreement was when i first purchased the product. On the contrary the agreement was that i would receive updates continually as the software evolved. I feel very hurt and angry.
I think we should have at least 7 days of trial for actual customers with expired upgrading license to know if the new update worth it according to our usages. Knowing the GPU image quality issue I think I will wait until this is fixed to purchase the 1 year upgrade pack.
Same here. I checked my original order and it says “Expiry: Never”. I don’t see myself investing another 100 dollars for a new round of updates that eventually stop again. Shame because it is such a nice product.
I would have to agree. This is a “bait and switch” scenario. The original license was in perpetuity and we have now come to the end of perpetuity. What else can we no longer believe from TOPAZ Labs. “Expiry: Never” seemed to be pretty simple but it magically disappears at the convenience of the seller. Any concepts of Trust and Good Will have been taken off the table by TOPAZ Labs.
I agree. I"m sorry, I’ve bought a ton of your programs with the promise that upgrades were free. Now you want to charge me again. What do you take us for?
I read this some time ago, it was posted by Eric Yang, CEO of Topaz on February 14:
“Hi - I really understand where you’re coming from on this one. If I bought someone’s products and the #1 selling point was that I believed I’d get free upgrades for life, I’d be frustrated too and would write a similar post.
If this applies to you or someone else reading, please contact us , send us your receipts, and tell us you want to deactivate and receive a refund on your purchases. Our payment processors usually restrict this process to a certain time period, but we can consider Paypal-ing you your purchase price if it’s beyond our return policy.”
I posted a reference to this before (without the actual quote) but my post was deleted by a moderator.
Now you have posted a reference, not just hearsay …
