Computer

Microsoft Edge adds VSR technology, which works on almost any graphics card

VSR is an image upscaling technology for streaming video based on AI technology. It allows you to scale a video from a 720p resolution, for example, to a 1080p resolution. What this allows is that those who have a “slow” internet connection can enjoy the content at its best.

Microsoft Edge improves streaming video quality

The technology implemented by Microsoft’s browser is basically the same as the technology implemented by AMD. It not only implements AI technology for image scaling and enhancement, it is also used for more. Allows video encoding and compression, requiring less bandwidth. It also improves the sharpness of images.

But, there are limitations in the implementation and use of this technology. Supports only standard definition videos and with definitions less than 720p. Another limitation is that the width and height of the video cannot be less than 192 pixels. The content also No should have protection from digital copyright or DRM.

According to the Microsoft post, this implementation supports the following graphics cards:

  • NVIDIA RTX 20 Series, 30 Series and 40 Series
  • AMD Radeon RX 5000 Series and RX 6000 Series

Microsoft Edge vsr

We see how the publication does not mention in no time the cards intel graphics. Additionally, this implementation opens up to NVIDIA’s RTX 20 Series and two generations of AMD graphics cards.

Microsoft is working, on the other hand, to implement it on laptops with discrete + dedicated graphics. We know little else in this regard. What we do know is that in laptops the power mode must be active, can not be in battery modesince the energy consumption is increased.

Currently, Microsoft Edge VSR is not accessible to everyone, only approximately 50% of users. If you want to try this technology, you must enter the following command in the address bar:

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

Little hardware impact

The technology introduced by NVIDIA has four levels of image quality enhancement. As we saw last week, activating this technology does not mean a large increase in consumption. For the highest image quality, consumption is increased by just 10W, on an RTX 4090.

It is not a demanding technology for graphics cards and that is always a positive. That a technology allows to improve the quality or benefits, is always positive. The problem is when this technology requires a lot of resources and involves a large increase in consumption, such as Ray Tracing.

VSR has the strength that it is only for video, so the needs are low. The problem with Ray Tracing is that the calculations are in real time and this requires brutal hardware. Hence, DLSS (or AMD FSR) has been developed to compensate for frame losses.

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