Some Microsoft Edge Canary users will finally have access to a feature announced during CES 2023 in January.
according to New article, the feature is called Video Super Resolution (VSR), and it’s an upscaler that uses Microsoft Research’s AI technology to enhance video quality inside the browser. Starting today, 50% of Microsoft Edge Canary users will have the opportunity to test VSR. The feature works by removing block compression artifacts and boosting overall resolution to various streaming platforms.
This should be a very useful feature, because according to Microsoft’s own data, “a third of videos in Edge play at 480p or lower resolution.” It will help users with low network bandwidth or poor video quality.
However, it does come with caveats. For example, VSR requires a discrete graphics card from Nvidia (RTX 20 series and newer) or AMD (RX 5700 and newer). Microsoft says it will drop an update to allow automatic switching between iGPU and dGPU in the near future. You also can’t use the feature on DRM-protected videos or when your laptop is unplugged.
AI upgrades could be the future
it seems artificial intelligence upgrade Might be the future of video upscaling in general, as it’s very similar to what Nvidia has been pushing. According to a statement given, that one is called RTX Video Super Resolution computer gamerwill allow “resolutions beyond 1080p. It will play upscale video at any native resolution between 360p and 1440p, and it can handle video at frame rates up to 144Hz.”
It works on both Chrome and Edge browsers, which means Chrome users won’t be left out in the cold. However, this feature requires an RTX 3000-series or 4000-series GPU, but in return you can upscale video to 4K resolution.
It will be interesting to see if other browsers like Safari, Opera or Mozilla adopt their own upgrades, and if AMD develops a standalone technology to compete with Nvidia.
