H3 Max Recast price: why a 12.4-second clip bills 13 seconds

H3 Max Recast has no duration you choose. The output keeps the length of the source video, so what you pay is set by the clip you upload, not by a number you type. Sume's Video Router docs say the duration you send must be the inspected source length in seconds, rounded up, and that the model accepts 5 to 30 seconds with no single shot longer than 15 seconds. A 12.4-second clip is therefore a 13-second job.

This post turns that rule into numbers. The per-second rates are Sume's billable rates for h3-max-recast: the provider list, $0.30 per second at 768p and $0.45 at 1080p, times the 1.25 house margin that every Video Router row carries, which is $0.375 and $0.5625 per second. Sume's catalog is the source for all of it, and GET /v1/video-router/models returns the live row, so check it before you budget.

What does a Recast clip cost at each length?

Multiply the rounded-up seconds by the rate for the resolution you pick. The default is 768p; 1080p is the other option. The totals below round up to the next cent, which is how Sume's Video Router docs describe the billable amount.

Notice the step at each whole second: a clip that runs 21.01 seconds costs the same as one that runs a full 22. Trimming the last half second off a source that is just over a boundary is the one cheap saving you control.

How do I read the exact source length first?

Do not guess from a file manager. Sume's Video inspect endpoint probes one clip that is already hosted on media.sume.com and returns its facts, and the Recast row wants that inspected duration, rounded up. Use the probe result as the duration you send, not the length the editor displayed, because a clip that shows 12 seconds on a timeline can carry a few extra frames.

If the probed length is under 5 or over 30 seconds, the model will not take it. Trim or split it first, as covered in Recast a video longer than 30 seconds. The same inspect-first habit applies to the other source-driven row, described in Genjutsu source video duration.

Where does the rounding bite in a real budget?

For a batch of social cutdowns that all land at 14.1 to 14.9 seconds, every clip is a 15-second job at the full rate, so budgeting at 14.5 seconds understates the bill by a few percent. Budget on the ceiling of your longest expected clip instead.

Also remember that Recast prices output seconds, not the number of people you swap. One to four reference photos cost nothing extra in the catalog row; the swap count changes the job, not the rate.

• Sume reserves the amount when you submit, then captures the final billable amount, so a balance that dips on submit is expected.
• Resolution is the only price lever: 768p is 1.5 times cheaper than 1080p per second.
• The related post on held, debited and refunded amounts shows how a finished job settles.

What should I do before submitting?

Probe the clip, round the duration up, pick 768p for the first pass, and read the live rate from the catalog row. If the 768p take looks right, rerun at 1080p; Recast has no seed on Sume, so a rerun is a new take rather than the same one in higher resolution. For the request shapes, see the API reference paths under Video Router.