Nvidia showed off a variety of new software tricks made possible by its RTX GPUs back at CES 2023 and one that blew us away was RTX Video Super Resolution, which will upscale video resolution by up to 4x.
It was previously available in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge to boost web video, but now support in VLC media player allows you to apply that same software magic to any local video on your laptop as long as you have an RTX 30 series or 40 series GPU (via PCWorld).
The end result will naturally depend on the resolution of the original video that you were starting with, but it's capable of some fairly mind-blowing results. It not only enhances the resolution but also introduces additional contrast while sharpening edges and details in the image. The key to this is RTX Tensor cores in the Nvidia GPUs and an AI model that was trained on millions of low-resolution to high-resolution conversions so it knows precisely what a perfect end result should look like.
If you have an offline video collection that could use a resolution boost, whether that's home videos or a favorite show that never got the HD or 4K treatment, you should video super-resolution a try.
How to use RTX Video Super Resolution with VLC
1. Download and install VLC media player from VideoLAN
2. Download the latest drivers from Nvidia
3. Open Nvidia Control Panel
4. Click on Adjust video image settings
5. Select Super Resolution in RTX video enhancement
6. Choose the quality level (1-4); higher quality is more taxing for the GPU
That's it, VLC should be ready to transform your older videos for you. The original video should be at least 360p and below 4K, but otherwise, it will strive to convert whatever you give it instantly into the best version of that video.
