Upscale 40 clips of 22 seconds: $7.92 on Sume video upscale

Upscaling 40 clips of 22 seconds on Sume's video upscale costs $7.92: 40 x 22 = 880 seconds at $0.009 per second. A single clip is $0.198, and the 30-second maximum input is $0.27. Image upscale is a separate product at $0.20 per image, so it does not make sense to upscale a clip frame by frame.

The unit price

The catalog prices Video Upscale 1.0 at $0.009 per input second, with a 30-second maximum and a minimum charge of 1 cent. If you omit duration_seconds the request reserves 5 seconds, which is 4.5 cents rounded up to 5.

For 22-second clips: 22 x $0.009 = $0.198 each, 40 x $0.198 = $7.92. Pass the real duration; if you let it default to 5 seconds the hold will not match the real length.

Why not upscale frames

Image upscale is $0.20 per image and reserves around 16 megapixels of output. At 24 frames per second, a 22-second clip has 528 frames. Upscaling each would cost 528 x $0.20 = $105.60 per clip, against $0.198 for the video upscale: over 500 times more.

The comparison is a unit-price argument, not a quality claim. Use image upscale for stills (product shots, thumbnails) and video upscale for clips.

• Video upscale: $0.009 per second
• Image upscale: $0.20 per image

Handling clips longer than 30 seconds

Input is capped at 30 seconds. A 75-second clip must be split, for example into 30 + 30 + 15 seconds. The cost is the same per second: 75 x $0.009 = $0.675, so splitting adds no price penalty. A flat $0.02 video trim job per cut adds up, though: two cuts are $0.04.

You then rejoin the pieces in a Timeline render at $0.10 per output minute (ceil), here $0.20 for 75 seconds.

A second scenario

Pass the duration. If you omit duration_seconds, the catalog reserves 5 seconds. For 40 clips that is a hold of 40 x 5 cents = $2.00, while the real cost is $7.92. The hold is not the price, but a hold that is far below the real amount tells you nothing useful about whether your balance will cover the batch, so give the real length.

Should you upscale at all

If you generate at 720p and need 1080p, compare the two routes. A 22-second Seedance 2.5 clip at 1080p is 22 x $1.42155 = $31.27. At 720p it is $12.71, plus $0.198 to upscale, $12.91. The upscale route is cheaper, but the output is an upscale, not a native render, so judge a sample first.

Reproduce the numbers

Open https://api.sume.com/v1/catalog, which needs no key, and find the entry for the product. Each model_pricing row carries price, unit, pricing_basis and the estimated, minimum and maximum cents. Multiply the unit price by your quantity and round only at the end. The catalog also has applied_* fields that include an agent fee of 550 basis points; the figures in this post use the base prices.