Topaz Video 1.7.0 – HEVC enhancement failure caused by hardware decoding regression

Topaz Video Bugs and Issues
1

Hi, this report was created with the help of ChatGPT…

Subject: Topaz Video 1.7.0 – HEVC enhancement failure caused by hardware decoding regression

Hello Topaz Support,

I have identified a reproducible problem with Topaz Video 1.7.0 which does not occur in version 1.6.1.

System

  • CPU: Intel Core i9-13900K

  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3090 (24 GB)

  • Source: HEVC/H.265 MKV, 1280×720, Main 10, 23.98 fps, yuv420p10le

  • Source encoder: Lavc 62.32.100 hevc_nvenc

  • Same source file and same enhancement settings were used for both tests.

Problem

The exact same video and enhancement successfully completes in Topaz Video 1.6.1, but fails in 1.7.0.

Comparing the two generated FFmpeg commands reveals a significant change in the video decoding path.

Topaz Video 1.6.1:

The source HEVC video is decoded using the normal software decoder:

Stream #0:0 (hevc) -> tvai_up

There is no -hwaccel option and no hwdownload stage.

The decoded frames are then passed to the Topaz AI processing (tvai_up) and subsequently encoded using hevc_nvenc.

Topaz Video 1.7.0:

The command now includes:

-hwaccel cuvid

and the filter chain includes:

hwdownload,format=nv12,format=rgb48le,tvai_up=...

The 1.7.0 log subsequently reports:

Error creating a MFX session: -9

with:

[hevc_qsv]

followed by:

Error initializing an MFX session

and:

Error decoding header

The process eventually fails with:

Invalid output format nv12 for hwframe download.

and:

Error reinitializing filters!

Important observation

Although the system uses an NVIDIA RTX 3090 for Topaz processing, the 1.7.0 log shows an attempt to initialise Intel QSV/MFX (hevc_qsv) during the hardware-decoding process.

This does not occur in 1.6.1.

The source file itself is demonstrably valid because the exact same file completes successfully using 1.6.1.

Conclusion

The evidence strongly suggests a regression in Topaz Video 1.7.0’s hardware video decoding / FFmpeg hardware-frame handling.

In simplified form:

1.6.1

HEVC → software decode → Topaz AI (RTX 3090) → NVENC → successful

1.7.0

HEVC → hardware decode/CUVID → QSV/MFX initialisation failure → hwdownload failure → enhancement aborts

I have attached the .tzlog files from both the successful 1.6.1 run and the failed 1.7.0 run for comparison.

Please could this be passed to the development team for investigation?

If possible, an option to disable hardware video decoding and revert to the 1.6.1-style software decoding path would also provide a useful workaround.

Thank you.

Kind regards,
Andrew

2026-08-14-10-40-46-Main_1.7.0.tzlog (216.2 KB)

2026-08-14-11-04-53-Main_1.6.1.tzlog (1.6 MB)

2

I have all the same errors in my log file (I have an RTX5080 and 14900KF CPU without Intel video engine). However, after the last error in the log:

2026-08-14 09-26-42.878 Thread: 21304 Info FF Process Output: 15 Could not find codec parameters for stream 0 (Video: hevc (hevc_qsv), none(tv, progressive), 1440x1080): unspecified pixel format
Consider increasing the value for the ‘analyzeduration’ (0) and ‘probesize’ (5000000) options

My log contains:

2026-08-14 09-26-42.879 Thread: 21304 Info FF Process Output: 15 [48;5;0m[38;5;0m[vist#0:0/hevc @ 000001C73871A500] [0m[48;5;0m[38;5;0mWARNING: defaulting hwaccel_output_format to cuda for compatibility with old commandlines. This behaviour is DEPRECATED and will be removed in the future. Please explicitly set “-hwaccel_output_format cuda”.

The program then went on to start the specified Proteus job. However, periodically throughout the log, the following appears repeatedly, adding hundreds of lines to the log:

Error creating a MFX session: -9.
The current mfx implementation is not supported, try next mfx implementation.
Error creating a MFX session: -9.
Error initializing an MFX session
Error decoding header

I have two Proteus 2X upscales running right now, and these odd log entries just keep popping up while the jobs run, apparently, normally.

After 2.5 hours the log file is up to 175,000 lines and over 6MB!

3

The team is actively looking into this situation at this time, thank you for the report @hewster and @dianac for sending your logs.

For now while they work on this the recommendation is to roll back to version 1.6.1 for continued processing with these files.

Topaz Video | 1.6.1 | - Win

This looks to be coming from some changes in the decoding aspects with the latest build and they are looking at options to revert those changes or update them in a patch to address this.

5

No problem @kyle.topazlabs

In the end the log got to over 270,000 lines and 9GB (I won’t upload that one :grinning_face: ). But both upscales ran normally (Proteus 2X upscales).

6

I have several videos produced by Topaz Video 1.6.1 with Starlight Precise 2.5 in H265 and Topaz Video 1.7.0 with Starlight Precise 2.6 in H265.
When I try to process those videos in Topaz Video 1.7.0, with Proteus for example, I immediately get an error.

As I didn’t had that problem before, I tried to downgrade to Topaz Video 1.6.1 and process those videos with the same parameters/models and it is working fine.

The only way I found to process those videos in Topaz 1.7.0 was to re-encode them with another software. (I tried re-muxing the video and/or changing various meta-data parameters but that didn’t helped. It only work if I re-encode the videos).

I haven’t tried to encode videos produced by Topaz with another codec. I also haven’t tried to re-process a video, in Topaz Video 1.7.0, that was produced with another model than Starlight Precise. So I don’t know if it is only some videos produced by Topaz Video that can’t be processed again in the version 1.7.0 (it works with older version of Topaz Video) or if it is all the videos produced by Topaz.

In the logs, I have:

2026-08-15 15-27-44.301 Thread: 11240 Info FF Process Output: 5 Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from ‘D:/Video Processing/AHL-02[AI][slp].mp4’:
Metadata:
major_brand : isom
minor_version : 512
compatible_brands: isomiso2mp41
encoder : Lavf63.6.100
Duration: 00:35:01.77, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 16330 kb/s
Stream #0:00x1: Video: hevc (hevc_qsv) (hvc1 / 0x31637668), none(progressive), 1138x854, 16130 kb/s, SAR 1708:1707 DAR 4:3, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 30k tbn (default)
Metadata:
handler_name : VideoHandler
Stream #0:10x2: Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 193 kb/s (default)
Metadata:
handler_name : SoundHandler

2026-08-15 15-27-44.391 Thread: 11240 Info FF Process Output: 5 Stream mapping:
Stream #0:0 (hevc_cuvid) → hwdownload:default
pad:default → Stream #0:0 (hevc_nvenc)
Stream #0:1 → #0:1 (copy)

2026-08-15 15-27-44.406 Thread: 11240 Info FF Process Output: 5 e[48;5;0me[38;5;0m[tvai_fi @ 000002A6064CB180] e[0me[48;5;0me[38;5;0mUnable to parse “fps” option value “0” as video rate
e[0m
2026-08-15 15-27-44.407 Thread: 11240 Info FF Process Output: 5 e[48;5;0me[38;5;0m[hwdownload @ 000002A6063C4340] e[0me[48;5;0me[38;5;0mInvalid output format nv12 for hwframe download.
e[0me[48;5;0me[38;5;0m[Parsed_hwdownload_0 @ 000002A6064ACE40] e[0me[48;5;0me[38;5;0mFailed to configure output pad on Parsed_hwdownload_0
e[0m
2026-08-15 15-27-44.408 Thread: 11240 Info FF Process Output: 5 e[48;5;0me[38;5;0m[fc#0 @ 000002A6152F4000] e[0me[48;5;0me[38;5;0mError reinitializing filters!
e[0me[48;5;0me[38;5;0m[fc#0 @ 000002A6152F4000] e[0me[48;5;0me[38;5;0mTask finished with error code: -22 (Invalid argument)
e[0me[48;5;0me[38;5;0m[fc#0 @
2026-08-15 15-27-44.409 Thread: 11240 Info FF Process Output: 5 000002A6152F4000] e[0me[48;5;0me[38;5;0mTerminating thread with return code -22 (Invalid argument)

Here is the info of one of the video (produced with SLP model):

General
Complete name                            : D:\Video Processing\QUEUE-AI\AHL-02[AI][slp].mp4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Base Media
Codec ID                                 : isom (isom/iso2/mp41)
File size                                : 4.00 GiB
Duration                                 : 40 min 5 s
Overall bit rate                         : 14.3 Mb/s
Frame rate                               : 29.970 FPS
major_brand                              : isom
minor_version                            : 512
compatible_brands                        : isomiso2mp41
videoai                                  : Enhanced using slp-2.5. Changed resolution to 1280x854
encoder                                  : Lavf62.13.100

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                           : Main 10@L4@Main
Codec ID                                 : hvc1
Codec ID/Info                            : High Efficiency Video Coding
Duration                                 : 35 min 1 s
Bit rate                                 : 16.1 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 138 pixels
Height                                   : 854 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.554
Stream size                              : 3.95 GiB (99%)
Menus                                    : 3
Codec configuration box                  : hvcC

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC LC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                                 : mp4a-40-2
Duration                                 : 35 min 1 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 192 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 48.4 MiB (1%)
Title                                    : Stéréo
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Alternate group                          : 1
Menus                                    : 3

Menu #1
ID                                       : 3
Format                                   : Timed Text
Codec ID                                 : text
Duration                                 : 40 min 5 s
Language                                 : English
Bit rate mode                            : CBR
Menu For                                 : 1,2
00:00:00.000                             : Chapitre 01
00:05:01.367                             : Chapitre 02
00:10:47.279                             : Chapitre 03
00:17:17.603                             : Chapitre 04
00:22:00.385                             : Chapitre 05
00:27:00.685                             : Chapitre 06
00:32:00.985                             : Chapitre 07
00:35:03.668                             : Chapitre 08
Bit rate mode                            : Constant

Menu #2
00:00:00.000                             : Chapitre 01
00:05:01.367                             : Chapitre 02
00:10:47.279                             : Chapitre 03
00:17:17.603                             : Chapitre 04
00:22:00.385                             : Chapitre 05
00:27:00.685                             : Chapitre 06
00:32:00.985                             : Chapitre 07
00:35:03.668                             : Chapitre 08
7

PS: It may be related to this:

(I just noticed that when I rencoded the video produced by Topaz with another software, I used x264 codec. So maybe only videos encoded with H265 are causing problem in Topaz 1.7.0

8

I have the same problem. I haven’t found a solution yet. I had to install version 1.6.1. I’ll have to wait for an update…