MacVoices #26151: NAB – Topaz Labs Talks Upscaling, HDR, and Apple Silicon Performance

May 22, 2026 | NAB

At NAB 2026, Russell Pompea, Account Executive from Topaz Labs, discusses major advances in Topaz Video, including Starlight Precise 2.5 for restoring low-quality footage, SDR-to-HDR conversion, and Apple Silicon optimization. The conversation also covers Topaz’s photography tools, model customization, subscription pricing, local vs. cloud processing, and shared responsibility for cloud security.

Show Notes:

Chapters:

0:02 Introduction from NAB 2026
0:13 Topaz Labs booth and what’s new
0:33 Updates to Topaz Video and Starlight upscalers
0:53 Upscaling, denoising, deblurring, stabilization, and HDR conversion
1:15 Starlight Precise 2.5 and low-quality footage restoration
1:40 Restoring older catalogs, DV footage, film scans, and documentaries
2:08 Babylon 5 upscaling and ongoing Topaz improvements
2:46 Apple Silicon optimization and M-series performance gains
3:24 Studio and post-production feedback shaping development
3:56 Topaz tools for photography and still images
4:56 Wonder models for photo restoration and noise removal
5:21 Model choices, customization, and deeper editing controls
6:11 Subscription pricing and Topaz Studio options
7:44 AI processing costs, cloud use, and on-device inference
8:25 Cloud processing, security, and in-house AI models
9:32 Shared security responsibility between vendors and customers
10:57 Where to learn more about Topaz Labs
11:07 Closing comments from NAB