Microsoft announces VSR for Edge
Microsoft is enabling Video Super Resolution for their Edge browser.
The video upscaling feature is now available to GeForce and Radeon users. Microsoft confirms that all RTX models (20, 30 and 40 series with Tensor cores) and Radeon RX 5700-7800 series will support this technology.
The AI technology will only work if the video resolution is lower than 720p but not smaller than 192 pixels wide or high. Furthermore, it only works for video content that is not protected by DRM (PlayReady or Widevine), so it may not work for sites such as Netflix or other streaming services.
Microsoft’s VSR technology is said to remove compression artifacts and enhance text crispiness. The feature is now available to 50% of users and will be enabled for the rest later. However, users can now enable this feature manually by changing the browser’s flag:
edge://flags/#edge-video-super-resolution
Another condition that must be met is AC power, it will not work on a battery-powered device. However, Microsoft is already working on supporting multiple GPUs and hybrid technology, so there is a chance that it will utilize both the iGPUs and dGPUs at the same time in the future.
Due to the computation power required to cleanup and upscale videos, video super resolution (VSR) is currently offered only when the following conditions are met:
- The device has one of the following GPUs: Nvidia RTX 20/30/40 series OR AMD RX5700-RX7800 series GPUs.
- The video is played at less than 720p resolution.
- The device is connected to AC power.
- Both the height and width of the video are greater than 192 pixels.
- The video is not protected with Digital Rights Management technologies like PlayReady or Widevine. Frames from these protected videos are not accessible to the browser for processing.
We are working on automatic Hybrid GPU support for laptops with multiple GPUs. Meanwhile, you can try VSR by changing Windows settings to force Edge to run on your discrete GPU.
The feature is currently available in the Canary channel for 50% of users and will be enabled when the above conditions are met. When the feature is enabled, you will see an HD icon in the address bar. Clicking the icon will allow you to enable or disable the feature.
If you would like the try the feature out manually, you can enable the feature in edge://flags/#edge-video-super-resolution
We are excited for you to try this out! We’d love to get your feedback on this feature, so don’t forget to click the thumbs up 👍 or down👎buttons (edge://settings/system) to let us know what you think!
Source: Microsoft Edge via @9550pro
