Model Bakeoffrendered on fal · 2026-09-03

Legible text on a sign

Five words of neon have to stay readable through a push-in while something moves in front of them.

establishing frame
the establishing frame, generated with Flux
Slow push in toward the diner. The neon sign reading OPEN ALL NIGHT stays sharp and legible the whole time. A cyclist rides through the foreground from right to left. Rain keeps falling and the reflections shimmer. Ambient rain and distant traffic, no music.
2 models received different prompt text — show each

Each model is given the prompt its input contract calls for: a multi-reference model is told which reference is which character, a segmented model gets shot segments. The frame, the references and the requested length are identical throughout. This is the honest version of "the same prompt".

H3 Max, H3 ref2v, Wan 2.7, Seedance 2.0, LTX-2

Slow push in toward the diner. The neon sign reading OPEN ALL NIGHT stays sharp and legible the whole time. A cyclist rides through the foreground from right to left. Rain keeps falling and the reflections shimmer. Ambient rain and distant traffic, no music.

Kling v3 Pro

[{"prompt":"Slow push in toward the diner. The neon sign reading OPEN ALL NIGHT stays sharp and legible the whole time. A cyclist rides through the foreground from right to left. Rain keeps falling and the reflections shimmer. Ambient rain and distant traffic, no music.","duration":"5"}]
5 s asked9:16Text 9e102b9b277c
0.0 ssound: off — click a take
H3 Max $0.40 · 6s · 768×1344 motion 3.44
H3 ref2v $0.30 · 3:34 · 768×1344 motion 2.04
Kling v3 Pro $0.98 · 3:16 · 1072×1928 motion 2.37
Wan 2.7 $0.50 · 2:19 · 720×1280 motion 1.62
Seedance 2.0 $0.90 · 3:06 · 720×1280 motion 2.58
LTX-2 $0.22 · 47s · 576×1024 motion 3.33
H3 MaxH3 ref2vKling v3 ProWan 2.7Seedance 2.0LTX-2
Lines heard
Voicemodel's ownmodel's ownmodel's ownmodel's ownmodel's ownmodel's own
Motion3.442.042.371.622.583.33
Scene changes000000
Loudness / peak-23.8 / -12.8-24.9 / -13.2-25.4 / -3.9-43.2 / -23.6-30.9 / -14.3-26.9 / -4.8
Length5.18s5.18s5.04s5.04s5.06s4.92s
Frame768×1344768×13441072×1928720×1280720×1280576×1024
Wait6s3:343:162:193:0647s
Attempts111111
Cost$0.40$0.30$0.98$0.50$0.90$0.22

The read

Every model kept OPEN ALL NIGHT legible for the full push-in, which is better than the folk wisdom about text in video models. The differences were in the cyclist: H3 Max, H3 reference-to-video, Kling and Seedance all put a rider through the foreground on cue; Wan's arrived late and dim; LTX's was a dark smear at the bottom of the frame. H3 Max was again the most directed take — lamp glow, window detail, rain — in 6 seconds. Seedance's mix sits at −31 LUFS, quiet enough to read as silence next to the others.

One person's judgment from the takes above, 2026-09-03. The table is the evidence; this is the opinion.

what whisper heard