How good is Super Scale in DaVinci Resolve 18.5?

I'm going to to be taking the same clip from multiple resolutions:
1440, 1080, 720, 540, 360 & 240

Then compare them to the 4K version and see how well the built in AI Super Scale Up Res software in DaVinci Resolve 18.5 works.

Hopefully it looks good all the way through!

With the latest updates in DaVinci Resolve 18.5, one standout feature, Super Scale, has been around for a while, but it's now conveniently moved to the Inspector Tab. Designed to upscale low-quality footage to a higher resolution, we're putting this feature to the test. However, a quick heads-up: Super Scale is exclusive to the Studio (paid) version of DaVinci Resolve, so if you're on the free version, you won't have access.

🎥 Testing the Waters with Different Resolutions

We've grabbed stock footage from Pixels in various resolutions: 4K, 1440, 1080, 720, 540, 360, and 240.
No proxies, full timeline resolution, and we're ready to see if Super Scale lives up to the hype.
🔍 Analyzing the Results

4K: Not much difference, expected as it's already high-quality.
1440: Subtle improvements, skin looks smoother.
1080: Noticeable enhancement, sharper details, especially in contrasty areas.
720: Quality starts dropping, but still usable. Details like crow's feet are noticeable.
540: Lower quality, more artifacting. Applying noise reduction helps a bit.
360: Deteriorating quality. High noise reduction required, and it starts looking like a watercolor filter.
240: Quality is significantly compromised. Super scaling challenges evident.
🔧 Fine-Tuning for Better Results

Experimenting with settings like noise reduction and sharpening to salvage lower-quality footage.
Realizing that Super Scale performs better with less motion blur or movement in the shots.
Acknowledging that 720p is likely the limit for passable results; anything lower presents noticeable quality loss.
👉 Final Verdict

Super Scale is promising but requires refinement, especially for resolutions below 720p.
Quality heavily depends on the original footage and its resolution.
Room for improvement, but potential for effective upscaling in certain scenarios.
🔗 Comparing with Topaz Labs

Mentioning the interest in comparing DaVinci's Super Scale with Topaz's upscaler for future exploration.
Welcoming suggestions for more DaVinci Resolve Studio features to explore in the comments.
📈 Stay Tuned for More Insights!

If you found this video helpful, consider subscribing for more DaVinci Resolve tips and explorations.
Dive into the suggested video for additional insights into the world of video editing. 📽️✨ #DaVinciResolve #SuperScale #VideoEditingMagic

[TheAmericanLoudmouth]

It should be said that YouTube's INSANE video compression is going to make any difference in video quality hard to see.

[bardoomguy]

Just did a quick test on a clip comparing Davinci and Topaz upscaling. Topaz seems to have quite a lead, but that's to be expected from a software that specializes in this thing

[SweetSweetCandyBoyz]

If you want some Topaz Video AI footage to compare against, we have a ton of examples from DVD-Rips of 90’s TV posted on our channel. If you have some custom footage you want us to take a swing at, I’d be more than happy to see how it compares - CapCut also recently added their image quality “upscale” feature.

[Workday]

I'd agree, this can save 720p footage! Beyond that it seems like a strange sharpening tool otherwise...

[JonathonBarton]

7:18 I think that when you take into consideration the use case for upscaling 240p or 360p video - sort of "rescuing" really old videos from 10, 15, 20 years ago - or a use case where a 360p scan was made 15 years ago of, say, a historical film from the first half of the 20th century, and it's being upscaled to 4k - that outcome from really looks fine - not when you can compare the exact same footage as a 1440 -> 4k upscale, of course, but when you consider that there is plenty of source video that never was more than 360 to begin with, that's a really nice improvement.
Again, not great if you compare the 1440 to the 4k - but if you compared the 4k upscale with the 240/360p original just zoomed to fit the frame, the improvement would be astonishingly good, I think.

[juststeve]

I'd say that trying to "rescue" footage by more than a factor of 2 is being a bit "hopeful"!

I have had quite a bit of success rescuing 360p to 720p with low motion for use on social media.

[smartduck]

Client sent me 144p footage 😅😢 trying my best to work with what they sent half way around the world

[MK_vortex]

I have both 1080p and 4K clips on my timeline. I want to enable superscale in the output option in timeline settings. Will 4K clips also be upscaled to 8K if I select enhanced or will davinci detect that they are already in 4K and leave them as is? Thank you in advance for your answer.

[KZ-yujz]

Just used super scale (2X with 0.5 Sharpness and Noise Reduction) with 18.6.4 and I am getting some huge blocky artifacts. Have you experienced the same? When I took super scale off, no

[gerrypi]

I have HD material from 2006 (called HDV with Sony's first HD camera Z1 with sensor 1440x1080 and export 1920x1080). Does an upscale from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 make sense in order to then burn the 3840x1080 clip on BluRay at 1920x1080 again? Does this achieve a better result?

[kwisatzhaderach]

Seems like it would be really useful for product showcase shots

[simplifyhandles]

Cool video and it’s great to see the different scaling and results.

[rightOrWrongMyContry]

That's ok for digitized tape footage.

[OllieTheVer]

I'm not understanding how it works and also not sure that you do either? Do you not have to also change the resolution timeline settings? There are also two 2x options. One has enhance written next to it while the other does not. Why is that?

[Ktvk-xepg]

On 1440p, which is more than enough, can't see the difference really

[randallburgess]

Your video for the most part is rather pointless because between the YouTube compression and the fact that I’m trying to see it on a cell phone, it’s really hard to see a lot of the stuff that you’re seeing so without you zooming in to specific areas we can’t really tell what the heck is going on

[F_HITS]

meanwhile me watching this in 480p and wonder why all look bad
🤣