Something to look forward to: It seems as if everyone is working on an AI machine learning-based method to clean up low-resolution streaming video in web browsers. Following announcements from Nvidia and Intel, Microsoft has become the latest tech giant to jump on the bandwagon. Although it's exclusive to the company's Edge browser, it's the only one, so far, that works on AMD graphics cards.
From today, 50 percent of Edge Canary branch users can try Microsoft's newly-unveiled take on Video Super Resolution. It sounds similar to recently revealed techniques from Nvidia and Intel but with slightly different system requirements and specs.
Users who are part of the test will see an "HD" icon in the address bar which they can click to enable or disable the feature. Manually activate it by typing "edge://flags/#edge-video-super-resolution" into the address bar. To provide feedback, click the thumbs up or thumbs down buttons in "edge://settings/system."
Microsoft Edge Video Super Resolution uses AI and machine learning to improve visual quality in any stream in the Edge browser with a resolution below 720p but above a width or height of 192 pixels. Nvidia's and Intel's versions, meanwhile, can upscale 1080p videos in Edge and Google Chrome.
Microsoft's method supports a wider range of hardware. Nvidia Video Super Resolution, which Team Green launched at the end of February, currently only works on the company's GeForce RTX 30 and 40 GPUs, though RTX 20 series support is coming.
Microsoft's upscaler, however, works with all RTX cards and any AMD GPU ranging between the Radeon RX 5700 and RX 7800 series. Those system requirements presumably include all RX 6000 series cards.
Those who try Edge Video Super Resolution on a laptop with integrated and discrete GPUs should make sure to set Edge to automatically use dedicated graphics. Microsoft plans to eventually make the feature automatically recognize such hybrid setups.
Depending on the system Intel's method might have the broadest reach because it doesn't require dedicated graphics. It supports integrated graphics chips from the last several years of Intel CPUs. The company hasn't officially unveiled its upscaling technology, but users can test it now in Chrome.
Like the Nvidia and Intel implementations, Edge Video Super Resolution can't touch DRM-protected content, with Microsoft specifically mentioning PlayReady and Widevine technologies. It also uses some GPU resources, so users shouldn't try to play games or run other GPU-intensive tasks while upscaling videos.