Microsoft's video upscaling tech to boost blurry videos quality via AI

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft has introduced an experimental video enhancement experience -- powered by AI technology -- called "Video Super Resolution" (VSR) for its Edge web browser that uses machine learning to increase the resolution of the low-quality video.

"This can be accomplished by removing blocky compression artifacts and upscaling video resolution so you can enjoy crisp and clear videos on YouTube, and other streaming platforms that play video content without sacrificing bandwidth no matter the original video resolution," according to the Edge Insiders blogpost.

Due to the computation power required to clean up and upscale videos, video super resolution (VSR) is currently offered only when the device has one of the following GPUs -- Nvidia RTX 20/30/40 series or AMD RX5700-RX7800 series.

In addition, the video should be played at less than 720p resolution, the device should be connected to AC power, and both the height and width of the video are greater than 192 pixels.

The feature is currently available in the Canary channel for 50 per cent of users and will be enabled when the above conditions are met, the company said.

When the feature is enabled, users will see an HD icon in the address bar.

The tech giant said that they are working on automatic Hybrid GPU support for laptops with multiple GPUs.

Meanwhile, users can try VSR by changing Windows settings to force Edge to run on their discrete GPU.