My fault, I tought I compare SeedVR2 with Source but was Starlight Sharp set, yes SLS does this strange things.
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Oh well, it was good while it lasted, but I’m done with Topaz products. I absolutely hate subscriptions and I won’t spend my money here anymore.
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At least Adobe allows users to be offline for up to 100 days before having to login to the cloud. That means you can use Creative Suite applications offline without being locked out for several months. Topaz I hear only allows 3 hours of offline, before locking you out the application. Subscriptions are awful, and they are everywhere now.
If correct, this will need to be addressed. There is absolutely no reason to be locked out after 3 hours. Why the constant checking, if people are already logged in?
This ‘update’ is essentially binning the original Topaz AI standalone software and abandoning your so-called ‘founding customers’ like me. That’s just my opinion. The new studio app at first glance is is ridiculously expensive. Most of the renders available are totally free on apps with Discord and Colab. So, not impressed really. Cloud processing is becoming increasingly unethical too, with data centers consuming copious amounts of water.
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You don’t have to use the cloud. Local rendering is still available (and free of course) for all local models as long as you have sufficient hardware 
We’re one of the few companies that even offers local rendering, actually. Cloud rendering is just an option for those who don’t have the right GPU setup.
Also - founding customers get Studio for an excellent price, and if they own 2+ products they are able to upgrade at no extra cost.
We understand this isn’t for everyone - so you’re still able to use the perpetually licensed versions of the product if you so choose. But the latest and greatest features and AI models will come only to the Studio apps.
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I think topaz is offering a great deal and trying to balance between what is happening in the industry….and reality.
The founders deal is a good deal…. it’s really that simple…..a little bit more expensive but the bottom line is have you been to a restaurant lately? Have you bought groceries lately? Everything is more expensive…..everything!
The problem has been the release of information and confusion surrounding the changeover to subscription and the Founders deal.
I myself was totally confused and it took at least 10 different posts and great responses from other form members to explain things and get me straight.
Not exactly a smooth operation.
@dakota.wixom I would suggest that topaz develop a separate webpage with a Q&A section as well as an immediate link to tech-support for people interested in the founders deal. I would also suggest an extension to be able to opt into the founders deal.
I had never used photo AI….. and just the other day my sister who is a professional photographer sent me a scan of a blurry and scratched 1935 photo of a great, great grandfather that a lady brought in asking her if there was anything she could do.
Photo AI fixed the face and some other features remarkably…and my sister was able to clean up the rest in Photoshop. It was amazing as to the results, and the lady was thrilled.
Without studio and the founders deal I would’ve never been able to do this.
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What happens when a computer is taken offline from the internet for projects taking many days, if not weeks to process? I’ve read in some discussions, if Topaz Video can’t call home after 3 hours offline, the software terminates.
It would be a good deal with the founder, when there is any progress in the future with the models. “Starlight sharp” is a benefit but not a improvement for me, just an aditional model.
I tought the roadmap is “improving starlight”, but since release there is no improvement and if it’s really the case into Studio version local Starligt does only 2x upscale and 3x and 4x is a cheat lanczos something like upscale of 2x Starlight, then it’s a downgrade, compared to V7.
I can’t complain for now, $200 / year is ok, at the moment when I can use Starlight…but I’m still on V7.0.2 and I’m already worried about the future if Topaz continues like this.
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have been waiting for months for the promised optimizations of Starlight Mini
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Why is my 7.0.2 Video AI prompting me to download starlight mini now?
I just used that model recently and have intentionally not updated my version.
Where are the models located in the system files?
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in Windows default model path is “C:\ProgramData\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Video AI\models”
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crazy is “optimization” is their own communicated roadmap. I judge by actions, not words.
Not sure what you’re talking about - Starlight can do 4x. There is a cap on native resolutions though.
There are indeed major upgrades for Starlight planned. Good things take time.
With regards to the optimizations, we did release a Mac and AMD version, but Windows TRT did not make the cut. We’re testing a new version you’ll see in Beta if all goes well.
Unfortunately, the old models just don’t compare to starlight mini for the purpose of cleaning up old VHS tape. And it’s not even close.. Have you considered this option……And this is what I finally did and I’m pleased with. I built a low cost “render only” machine that basically renders 24 hours a day. I just set it aside and let it do its thing. It’s a cheaper I5 with a 5070 TI. Yes it’s slow, but the results are just hard to dismiss. I spent less than $1600 and built the machine myself. It’s been running pretty much consistently 24 hours a day for almost 2 months now. I have about 95 tapes that I have done and I’m really pleased with the results even though it took forever..
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I reference to this and is the reason I wrote “if it’s really the case” I don’t know it’s true or not because I don’t use studio yet because starlight is not better there. That’s good when Starlight improvements are underway! When can we expect this and are you working on the alien font problem?
As reported in the other thread it doesn’t, at least not with the 1.0.1 version.
Still have to test if it’s a general issue or somewhow linked to the specific video I encoded, though. But with the speed of Starlight testing such really is time-consuming 
Oh, and PLEASE PLEASE bring back the 3x model to Starlight as this mostly has the benefits of 4x but without the extreme speed penalty of 4x. E.g. encoding a 2 hour SD clip with the 2x upscale takes few days, 3x already takes two weeks, but 4x takes 3 months! And the latter is simply unusable.
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Thanks for pointing that out. Checked with the team - indeed sounds like there’s a bug preventing the display of certain upscaling resolutions in certain scenarios. We’ll fix this
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I also missing 3x there….and a scale of 2.25x would be nice, then you could go directly from 480p to 1080p 
but I don’t know if that’s possible with stable diffusion or if it has qualitative disadvantages.
Will Topaz Video run on the new nvidia spark dgx computer?
