Step aside AI; a new buzzword is in town: Video Super Resolution (VSR). It’s a new technology that uses your GPU’s hardware to upscale video content viewed in a browser. Nvidia was first out of the gate with RTX Video Super Resolution, which launched a week ago. Then it was discovered that some Intel GPUs also support a version of it. Now Microsoft has announced a version, too. Notably, Microsoft’s version works on Nvidia and AMD GPUs, including older ones–with several caveats.
Microsoft made the announcement in a blog post about new features in the Canary version of its Edge browser. This version is available to Insiders for testing and is usually the most buggy due to its experimental nature. The company says one-third of videos played in Edge are 480p resolution or lower. This could be due to the source being low-res or the viewer not having a fast internet connection. To combat this, it’s using machine learning to upscale these videos automatically. Microsoft doesn’t say what resolution VSR is scaling up to, just that it improves video quality. It does this by removing artifacts and increasing resolution.
This kind of upscaling can require significant GPU resources in some scenarios. Because of that, Microsoft only allows it if specific criteria are met. First, it only works on Nvidia GeForce 20/30/40 series GPUs. On the AMD side, Microsoft bizarrely states it works with anything newer than an RX 5700, including the “RX 7800 series,” which has never been announced. Still, that’s an extensive range of GPUs. It contrasts with Nvidia’s version, which only works on 30-and-40 series GPUs.
Next, the video has to be 720p or lower, with a height and width greater than 192 pixels. You must also be connected to AC power. A similar flag was left in the developer comments regarding Intel’s version: It can’t be run on battery. Finally, the video can’t be protected by any DRM.
If you have all those things in place, you should be able to run VSR in Edge. If you want to try it manually and use the Canary channel build, enter this flag: edge://flags/#edge-video-super-resolution in the address bar. The company says it’s still trying to figure out the best way to enable it on laptops with dual GPUs (discrete and integrated). You can now change Windows settings to force Edge to run on the dGPU.
As Tom’s Hardware notes, Microsoft’s version of VSR is a bit more limited than Nvidia’s. For example, with Nvidia’s version, you can upscale a 1080p video to 4K. This would benefit those with high-resolution monitors who watch a lot of YouTube. Also, since it’s Microsoft’s first attempt at this technology, future versions could scale higher. Nvidia’s version also works on both Edge and Chrome, whereas Microsoft’s version is just for Edge. Also, Nvidia allows you to adjust the amount of upscaling in the Nvidia Control Panel. With Microsoft’s version, it’s just a binary toggle.
Despite the differences, it’s still good for the market that companies are working on these projects. Low-quality video has been annoying people since the Internet was invented. Plus, most of us have powerful GPUs with untapped resources standing by while we’re consuming content online. Finding a way to put those resources to work to benefit humankind is a laudable goal. However, Microsoft has not provided any visual guide showing the benefits it offers. Therefore, the jury will be out on whether it’s great. Hopefully, it’ll reach the public’s version of Edge soon, and we can all take it for a spin.
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