Super Resolution

Practical super-resolution for high-quality upscaling of video

Short Description

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Usually, video resolution is increased by using static image resizing methods. Such static upscaling methods work reasonably well, but for moving pictures it is possible to noticeably increase the quality of upscaled video by using information from neighboring frames. A number of these so-called super-resolution (or SuperResolution) methods are known, but their main weakness is extremely high complexity and, therefore, dramatically lower processing speed.

We have developed the YUV Super Resolution technology to provide competitive-quality video at a much faster speed, thus making the technology suitable for practical use. YUV Super Resolution uses a high-quality static image upscaling algorithm and high-resolution image refinement based on information from neighboring frames.

Examples of work

Super Resolution comparison with common upscaling, should be viewed in 720p and full screen for thorough visual experience:

please install flash

Another Super Resolution comparison:

please install flash

Selected processed frames

Original frame 222 from “Flower” sequence
Bicubic resampling YUV Super Resolution
Original frame 163 from “Stefan” sequence
Bicubic resampling YUV Super Resolution
Results of processing a frame from “Stefan” sequence with artificially added noise:
YUV Super Resolution without noise detection YUV Super Resolution for noisy video

                                                            

Objective results

The table below shows the comparison with a common upscaling method using the PSNR metric and standard video sequences (high-resolution video is compared against known original). Results pertain to the latest version and better than those presented in the demo video.

Video Y-PSNR, dB
Bicubic YUV Super Resolution Improvement over bicubic
Akiyo 34.2 35.9 +1.7
Crew 34.2 36.8 +2.6
Flower 22.1 24.9 +2.8
Foreman 30.2 32.8 +2.6
Mobile 22.3 23.9 +1.6
News 29.0 30.8 +1.8
Stefan 25.8 29.4 +3.6

Primary Applications

  • Video transcoding including high-quality standard definition to high definition (SD-HD) conversion
  • Flat-panel LCD and plasma displays
  • Restoration of video

Key Features

  • Maximum-quality multiframe super resolution with video upscaling by any power of 2 (other scaling factors are also possible, but they result in lower-quality video)
  • Relatively fast processing, thus making the algorithm practical (the speed of a reference implementation in C is about 1.5 fps for a 704×352 to 1408×704 conversion on a Pentium 4 3.0 GHz computer)
  • Adjustable speed/quality trade-off
  • Fully consecutive processing available without the need to use future frames
  • Special algorithm for noisy video upscaling
  • Only integer arithmetic
  • Fully automatic

Basic Deliverables

  • Source code for a reference implementation in C
  • C and assembly language source code for an implementation optimized for the PC (if required)
  • C++ and assembly language source code for an implementation optimized for the PC (if required)
  • Algorithm description
  • Software description
  • Verification instructions

Contact Information

For information on licensing, please contact our sales staff.