Recast a 22-second explainer host: $8.25 at 768p, $12.38 at 1080p

Replacing the host of a 22-second explainer costs $8.25 at 768p and $12.38 at 1080p with H3 Max Recast on Sume. The 22 seconds only work if the video has at least one cut, because no single shot may be longer than 15 seconds.

The cost at 22 seconds

List is $0.30 per second at 768p and $0.45 at 1080p. Sume multiplies by 1.25 and rounds up to the next cent.

An explainer usually has the cuts this model needs

Explainers tend to alternate between the host, a screen capture and a title card. Each cut resets the shot length, so a 22-second video with a host segment of 11 seconds, a screen segment of 6 seconds and a host segment of 5 seconds satisfies the 15-second rule easily. The risk is the opposite layout: a 22-second host monologue filmed in one take. Add a cutaway in the edit before you submit.

What gets swapped and what stays

Recast replaces the main people in the source with the people in your photos. The output keeps the source motion, camera, cuts and soundtrack. A screen capture without a person is left as is. If the video shows two hosts, send two photos in left-to-right order, and the price still stays per second of source video.

• Billing is by source length in seconds, rounded up: a 21.4-second export bills as 22 seconds.
• Photos are free: 1 to 4, one per new person.
• The prompt is optional and capped at 2,000 characters.

Planning a series

A weekly explainer series at this length costs $33.00 for four episodes at 768p ($8.25 x 4). Run a 768p pass of every episode first, then upgrade only the ones going into paid placement.

What to check in the result

Look at three things before you publish. First, the lips: the original audio is kept, so the new host has to appear to say words they did not speak, and any slip is visible on close-ups. Second, the cutaways: a screen recording that shows the old host's name in a corner, a lower third or a webcam bubble may still show the old person, so check it. Third, the first and last second, where an edit transition can show a flicker. A 22-second explainer is long enough that one weak shot can spoil it, so scrub the whole result once at normal speed and then frame by frame around each cut. If one shot is wrong, a new run of the whole 22 seconds costs another $8.25 at 768p.

Budget the review time as well. A 22-second swap at 768p is $8.25, but a reviewer who watches it three times costs more than the render. Agree on a short checklist, such as face match, lip movement, hands, logo placement and audio, so that approval takes one pass. If you run a series with the same host, keep the same photo file for every episode, so that the new host looks the same from week to week.