Whis is Topaz Video 3.x quality so BAD compared to 2.3? 🤦🏻

I tired 2 clips at 720x540 resolution. I decided 1st to use the UI defaults to see if there is any difference before I try tweaking the command as you suggested.
I loaded them both in TVAI and in VEAI. I selected upscale x2 (1440x1080) and Artemis HQ (to match your bed test) and I used Video-Compare tool to view the differences. there was no difference in the video quality between the two. I tried the same with Artemis MQ and Proteus and they were identical.
So i decided there was no point to run those with a tweaked command prompt.

Maybe it happens only on very certain videos.