Netflix 4K too expensive? Nvidia RTX Video Super Resolution could be the answer

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By Muskaan Saxena
published

Crystal Clear

Astonished woman watching television
(Image credit: Ollyy / Shutterstock)

Nvidia has released new GPU drivers that can upscale the video quality of old web videos on RTX 30 series and RTX 40 series graphics cards. The RTX Video Super Resolution feature could potentially put an end to blurry YouTube videos and low-resolution Netflix films with new AI upscaling technology that’ll work within the Chrome or Edge web browsers to improve the video quality of any video by sharpening edges and reducing video artefacts.

This feature will support videos between 360p and 1440p and upscale them to 4K resolution, regardless of original video quality, in the same way, that the Nvidia Shield TV and Nvidia Shield TV Pro upscaled videos (and where 4K video upscaling of this kind was first introduced). RTX Video Super Resolution will operate in a similar way thanks to advances in the Chromium engine (which both Chrome and Edge use) and will be compatible with any PC using an RTX 30 or RTX 40 series GPUs.

upscaling

(Image credit: Nvidia)

Since this is browser-based rather than platform-based, you’ll be able to upscale content from Twitch, YouTube, Netflix or anywhere else you’ll be streaming and watching video content. 

This is a huge bonus since platforms like Netflix charge extra for 4K streams. While it’s unlikely that RTX Video Super Resolution will be able to match native 4K content on Netflix, based on the success of its DLSS upscaling tech used in many of the best PC games, it could certainly give 1080p and standard definition footage a boost, so some people may not feel the need to shell out more for the 4K tier.

I’m certainly excited to rewatch my favorite videos from yesteryear on YouTube without blur and static. 

Gaming Experience 

Lizard

(Image credit: Future)

Nvidia is of course no stranger to utilising AI technology to improve games and videos. DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is one of its most popular features, and the driver launched last year that included DLDSR was welcomed with open arms by the community. I have no doubt that RTX Video Super Resolution will be just as popular. 

You can read more about the new driver's capabilities on Nvidia’s official website, and if you’re looking to dive right in you can download the GeForce Game Ready Driver now. 

Muskaan Saxena
Muskaan Saxena
Computing Staff Writer

Muskaan is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing writer. She has always been a passionate writer and has had her creative work published in several literary journals and magazines. Her debut into the writing world was a poem published in The Times of Zambia, on the subject of sunflowers and the insignificance of human existence in comparison. Growing up in Zambia, Muskaan was fascinated with technology, especially computers, and she's joined TechRadar to write about the latest GPUs, laptops and recently anything AI related. If you've got questions, moral concerns or just an interest in anything ChatGPT or general AI, you're in the right place. Muskaan also somehow managed to install a game on her work MacBook's Touch Bar, without the IT department finding out (yet).