Microsoft Announces EDGE Video Super Resolution for NVIDIA and AMD GPUs

Intel recently announced that it’s getting its Video Super Resolution (VSR) ready for Google’s Chrome browsers. In response, Microsoft has also revealed that it’s creating its own version of VSR for use in their proprietary Edge browser, which is based on the Chromium browser.

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Microsoft’s latest video upscaling integration will enable AMD’s Radeon graphics cards and NVIDIA’s GeForce GPUs to access the most recent video enhancement technology. The company has confirmed that the compatibility range for AMD Radeon RX 5700 GPUs to the 7800 series will be inclusive. On the other hand, NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 20 through 40 series, which uses Tensor cores, will have the same capabilities as their rival.

Microsoft’s latest EDGE VSR employs artificial intelligence to improve video resolutions below 720p and at least 192 pixels². However, it’s worth noting that if the video has DRM protection, like Netflix, Prime Video, or Hulu content, the new EDGE VSR may not be entirely compatible.

The technology is capable of enhancing text visibility and eliminating artifacts that arise from video compression.

edge://flags/#edge-video-super-resolution

If your device is powered by a battery, you won’t be able to use this feature. Currently, only 50% of eligible users can access EDGE VSR. According to Microsoft, they’re working on making this feature available on both discrete and integrated GPUs.

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“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!

Via Microsoft