I have a fair amount of photos, somehow I’m almost 40 years old. And I took them quite a bit iPhone 16 pro max, and on old digital cameras and smartphones from the days when 5 megapixel seemed like a fairy tale. In general, this is the problem of my generation, as before it was the problem of the generation using photographic film, you can’t see anything, maybe there is a “red-eye” effect and all this without any clarity and beauty. So I decided to do something about it and found this wonderful application on the web – Topaz Video Enhance AI. It will not only make my photo library more modern, but the video from the graduation will not be ashamed to show my grandchildren.
What Makes This AI Video Magic Happen?
Without further ado, Topaz Video AI is a software to improve and restore your videos that you have long forgotten in the darkest corners of your PC. This is the flagship video enhancement tool from Topaz Labs, the same guys who gave us Photo AI and other image enhancement software.
I would like to make a disclaimer, many video editors with AI and “video restoration” do the same thing, just sharpen until your video looks like something from instagram with a bunch of filters on top. And Topaz Video Enhance AI really understands what it’s looking at. Neural networks have been trained on gigantic amounts of video footage to recognize what people, objects, and scenes should look like, so it can fill in missing details without creating weird artifacts or changing faces and objects in the video.
What sets this AI video enhancer apart from cheaper alternatives is its ability to make intelligent decisions about processing. Rather than applying one-size-fits-all filters to your low res video, it analyzes each frame to determine the best enhancement strategy. This is video enhancement that actually enhances instead of just… well, making things worse in a different way.
The Cool Stuff It Actually Does
Resurrecting the resolution: I’ve already mentioned that I still have some videos that I made on my Nokia N73, and the quality is “not very good”. Topaz can upscale the resolution of a video from 480p to 4K or even 8K without it looking like a blocky mess. But there are caveats that some videos can no longer be restored.
Working with frame rate: The standard 24 and 30 fps can be sped up, it’s a question of whether it’s necessary, but I tried it and it worked fine. Enhanced video contains brand new frames created between existing frames, and lets you guess what motion might have occurred if your camera was more advanced.
Detail preserving noise reduction: Probably one of the most important features for me is noise reduction. Topaz’s noise reduction capabilities allow you to eliminate visual clutter without blurring important details. I would like to point out that many video editors are able to work with noise reduction, but Topaz AI is the best.
Deinterlacing: if you have footage with annoying horizontal lines (the scourge of old TV footage), Topaz can handle them better than a regular video editor. This is just a disclaimer and more of a feature story, I haven’t had such videos, but you should know about such things.
Real Talk: The Experience of Using Topaz
Setting up Topaz Video AI is extremely simple and straightforward. Choose what and where you want to fix, how to fix it and click the buttonThe interface will not scare you, unless you are not intimidated by the clean design and clearly labeled buttons.
If you are familiar with other programs, such as those for working with photos from Topaz Labs, you will immediately feel at home. The company has maintained a consistent design style across all of its products, so switching between Photo AI and video restoration tools feels natural.
As for processing time, it all depends on your PC. I worked on an i7-14700k and rtx 4080, and the software loaded the PC quite heavily. You also need to consider the length and number of videos. Yes, you can edit them in a stack right away, but then you’ll have to leave your PC to Video AI and go take a walk. But if the video is short and doesn’t require major changes, then time is on your side.
However, the results speak for themselves. When you first see your old home movies looking as if they were shot yesterday, you will forgive the wait. Personally, I liked everything, and I am sure you will too.
I first learned about this video editor on SoftExpo.com. These guys have created an excellent informative database about software in various fields. I didn’t have any issues working with Topaz AI, but the Photoshop Guide was extremely useful. I would like to note their structure and integrity, excellent website, and wonderful specialists!
Workflow Integration: Playing Nice With Others
For serious video editors, Topaz Video AI works beautifully as part of a larger workflow. You can use it to enhance footage before bringing it into DaVinci Resolve or your preferred video editing platform. There’s even a handy plugin that lets you apply Topaz enhancements without leaving your editing software.
This makes it the perfect tool for any project, whether you’re working with old videos or footage that was recently shot but didn’t turn out perfectly. First, process the problematic clips with Topaz, then add the improved video to your main project — no one will ever know you didn’t work with the original material.
Worth It For Who?
If you are a professional video editor, Topaz Video Enhance AI will be an excellent addition to your toolkit. If you are just an amateur with a huge amount of old videos and no desire to select the entire folder and click “delete,” then this software is extremely important.
The software itself can be found on the official website, just like any other Topaz product. But as I wrote above, you can go and look for it among the video editors on SoftExpo. There may be alternatives for obtaining it there.
You might be wondering if you need both Topaz’s Photo AI and their video restoration tools. The answer depends on your content – if you primarily work with still images, Photo AI and its targeted image enhancement algorithms might be your best bet. But for anyone with video footage that needs saving, Video Enhance AI offers specialized tools you won’t find in photo-focused software.
My opinion is, of course, just my opinion. But I used Topaz AI video restorer for a month, retrieved my videos from the archive, took low-resolution videos, and I liked it. Like any AI, there were some “glitches” inherent in such software, but I would chalk them up to error. What’s the bottom line, you ask? Definitely worth using, just like its sibling Photo AI. They are definitely among the top AI video editors out there. Thank you for your attention, and have a great day!