Microsoft Edge can use VSR to upgrade low-quality YouTube videos

It’s debatable, but I think sometimes Microsoft Edge It is my favorite browser. I like the built-in PDF and Edge viewer The ability to “read out loud”. And soon, Edge will be able to upscale low-resolution YouTube videos, such as Clippings from old episodes of MTV’s The real world.

in blog postMicrosoft has laid out its plans for a video ultra-high resolution, or VSR, just like Microsoft nvidiamore demanding Super accuracy Technique I finally got to the audience. It was the Intel version too a leak around. VSR uses machine learning to improve the appearance of low-res videos, so they look sharper and higher-res. It’s similar to FSR and DLSS, technologies commonly used in games to reduce the load on your hardware, but it’s designed specifically for video. Microsoft says its version works on YouTube and other video streaming platforms “without sacrificing bandwidth.”

The offer is currently available at Edge Canary, which is a beta version of the browser, for a limited number of Windows Insider users. But you must have a file GPU to run it: You’ll need an Nvidia RTX 20/30/40 series or an AMD Ryzen RX 5700-Rx 7800 series GPU in your setup. The feature starts at startup on video with a resolution of 720p or lower. The media can’t be DRM either, so it likely isn’t something you can use through the major streaming services. Microsoft suggests using open source Big Bunny Buck A video clip as a test clip (I used it before to benchmark devices). When VSR is running in the background, you’ll see a small “HD” button pop up in Edge’s address bar.

Laptop users with hybrid GPUs can force Edge Canary to use the discrete GPU through Windows settings and try the feature that way, though Microsoft also Still working on the automatic capabilities of those settings. If you plan to experiment, laptops should stay charged and plugged in, as VSR is a heavy load on the GPU. Microsoft says the feature “can be computationally intensive.”

The rest of the blog explains how VSR works in the background. Microsoft built it using the open source Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX) Runtime and native DirectML. The company says it has plans to bring the technology to older graphics cards in the future.

Ideally, this feature would aid me in my quest to re-watch videos from the TV shows I enjoyed growing up. it should also help Improve broadcast quality where bandwidth can be an issue. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the demo to work on my Dell XPS 15 with an Nvidia GeForce 3050 Ti laptop GPU. I just downloaded Edge’s Canary update, so it’s possible that I might need to set aside some time or a reboot before it kicks in.