The early access for Astra does not state how many credits per minute it costs. That is vital information that is missing. You can’t even buy more credits until you subscribe. I’m not doing that until I understand the cost.
More importantly, Starlight is a new model that is very expensive (~$500 for a 90 minute movie upscale to 1080p using “Best”), so adding a new online model like this with unknown cost is very confusing.
I can understand Astra’s “Creative” mode that will change the video to some degree, but “Precise” mode sounds like it is trying to do what Starlight “Best” does. Does Astra do it better? Is Astra “Precise” what users should be using if they want to achieve the best HD upscale of a source video or movie, or should it be Starlight “Best”? Is Astra “Precise” a replacement for Starlight “Best”? Is Starlight succeeded by Astra? If not, could you please provide some examples of Starlight “Best” and Astra “Precise” on the same source video? If the use cases differ, could you please explain the use cases for Starlight “Best” and Astra “Precise”?
I’m not sure why this wasn’t explained or made clear before a brand new model was dumped on everyone, because I’m very confused.
In Astra early access, I show the same amount of credits that I show on Starlight.
Starlight costs $499.99 for 9000 credits per month.
Astra costs $299.00 for 5400 credits per month on the “Pro” plan.
So then these credits seem to be interchangeable. Will this change when Astra is officially released? Would I have to pay for Astra and Starlight separately? Or can they be combined? These are very expensive; which plan should the user be paying for if they want to use both?
Do the credits stack from month to month, or do they reset? In other words, if after two months on Starlight on the 9000 credits per month plan, if I haven’t used any credits, do I now have 18000 credits, or do I have 9000? And whatever the answer is, does it work the same for Astra, of different?
So many questions, so much confusion.
Please Topaz, make these things clear for the user.
I am confused on all of this too. I am glad its not just me. I own Topaz Video AI - latest version, and I don’t know what I hav access to. I see two new models in my Topaz - one called Mini? Do people like me that own Topaz Video AI have access to any Creative Upscaling Tools for video?
Starlight Mini runs entirely on your local machine. You don’t need any credits for it. However, it’s extremely slow. It would work best with two 4090 or 5090 graphics cards, which would need a large power supply and a 20 amp outlet.
The above video seems to show that Starlight Mini Local is actually better than Starlight Cloud, although they don’t say if they are using “Best” or “Fast” for Starlight Cloud. It’s possible that “Fast” Starlight Cloud is the same as “Starlight Mini” Local, but as par for the course, Topaz does not make that clear.
For cloud rendering, you have to buy credits. You can check to see if you have any here, for Starlight Cloud:
OK thank you! I tried Mini and yes, it takes a while. Do you know what it means when that pop up little window comes up and ask you something like: Starlight Mini is its own app and you need to download blah blah - click here. What does that mean?
Hi there! I was just wondering if there are any plans to release a local version of Astra (Creative) in the future, like Starlight Mini. Not asking for a timeline, just curious if it’s on the roadmap at all.
