Microsoft demonstrates SuperResolution in Teams, but we're not impressed

At the beginning of last year, Microsoft announced the AI-powered Super Resolution in Windows. Since then, the technology has been implemented in Photos and games. Now, Microsoft has demonstrated the power of SuperResolution (SR) in Microsoft Teams and published the results in a Teams Blog post.

Is SuperResolution that good in Teams?

The SuperResolution feature is only available for Copilot+ PC that can benefit from the NPU power of the CPU. Of course, the technology aims to upscale the image and deliver a higher-quality video even if the network bandwidth doesn’t help you.

Super Resolution for Teams leverages the power of Copilot+ PC AI to restore video resolution. Instead of relying on conventional upscaling methods, which fall short in delivering clearer images, Teams uses AI to enhance video resolution, producing notably improved video.

Microsoft tested SR on an end-to-end Teams call where they used 360p resolution videos and viewed them as 720p. The result, using SuperResolution indicated an average increase of +0.6 CMOS (Comparative Mean Opinion Score) in quality. However, the assessment is based on users who rated the quality difference on a scale from -3 (Much Worse) to +3 (Much Better). Apparently, 65% of users rated the SR results as being better. The test paper doesn’t mention how many users participated in this test.

As much as I would like to be on the optimist side, I looked at the images and the video several times, and I barely noticed a slight improvement.

By default, the feature is enabled for devices connected to a power supply. This ensures that users benefit from the enhanced video quality without worrying about battery consumption. When devices are running on battery power, Super Resolution is switched off to conserve energy, allowing users to stay mobile without draining their battery. Users may also disable this feature manually via a toggle button in the “Video settings” dialog. Source: Microsoft

The SuperResolution option will be enabled by default if the quality of the video is too low, but it won’t switch on if your laptop is not connected to the power outlet, to conserve battery consumption.

However, you will be able to enable it manually, by accessing the Video effects and settings in Teams, as shown above.

So, there is a slight improvement in the video quality, but not that significant. Honestly, I am more excited about the new AI-powered calendar in Teams.

The SuperResolution feature is now available in public preview and will be generally available in March. Just test it and let us know in the comments if you find it useful.