There is a sample and it was quite visible. If it works for your use case great.
I can’t believe how bad that image was of Alan Partridge! I have never seen anything like that and I’ve been using CoreELEC, and before that, LibreELEC for over 5 years.
I did find a 3-second sample in that thread called “bn10_copy.mkv” and that plays back fine with super scaler turned on. I could not find any other sample.
It seems that in your case the super scaler upsclales from SD to HD and the rest HD to 4k is done by the TV.
Maybe the cartoon look appears if the super scaler upsclales from SD to 4k by itself.
One thing I can say for sure - upscaling from SD to 4k that is done by my TV looks ugly and both other options (SD → 4k by CoreELEC and SD → HD by CoreELEC + HD → 4k by TV) are acceptable for me.
I have no SD videos. All videos are either 720p (HD Ready) or 1080p (Full HD). AFAIK SD is 480p. I agree though that the TV does the heavy lifting to get the native image upscaled from 720p or 1080p to 4k, as I have whitelisted all the available TV resolutions. It must be that the amlogic super scaler applies some extra enhancements on the final image after it has been upscaled by the TV, or it applies it before the image is upscaled by the TV. Either way, it definitely is doing something.
If I disable the super scaler, I can see a difference (not big, but it is there) when viewing long distance shots in particular - ie when you see a landscape against the horizon or a long distance view of a forest etc. There is a slight enhancement on edges that is not there when the scaler is disabled. The edges just look sharper. For facial closeups etc, I can’t really see a difference. However, my TV is “only” 43 inches. It would be interesting to see what the comparison looked like on a 65 inch TV.
The box outputs a 720P signal to the TV, it can’t (and doesn’t) do any processing after your TV upscales the signal to 4K.
Yes, I don’t know why I thought that amlogic would perform some processing after the image is passed on to the TV. So, yes, the processing must take place before. I just revisited some scenes where I can see a (small) difference and I can definitely see a very slight improvement. From some very brief tests, it appears the effect is more pronounced on native 720p videos than on 1080p videos. As I said, all resolutions are whitelisted and I can verify with the ‘o’ on the keyboard that the amlogic display resolution is 720p for 720p videos and 1080p for 1080p videos.
Of course, it’s possible that I may be “wishing” that there is an improvement and maybe there actually is none at all. Still, I suppose that does not matter, as I have convinced myself there is a slight sharpening effect occurring.
In my honest opinion, there is absolutely no way the eye/brain can make out small differences in picture quality unless they are literally side by side. You can make yourself believe there is or isn’t, but unless side by side it’s all guesswork.
Sie by side is always great but if you have a specific video and can mark out definitive areas for comparison then you can define metrics to make comparison viable, especially from repeated viewing.
I agree. I saw the difference by repeatedly playing back a specific 5 seconds of video with the amlogic scaler enabled and disabled. I was able to repeat playback very quickly, as I had a PC that was “ssh’ed” into CoreELEC and was able to “echo” the scaler value from 0 to 1 very quickly and replay that specific section of video on the TV. I repeated this about 5 times and the total time taken was less than a minute.
I’m 99% certain there is a subtle difference in sharpness (only noticeable in certain sections of video). That’s why I left the sharpening enabled as there has been no downside in leaving it enabled - ymmv.
Thanks very much for that link. I downloaded the images and I’ve been able to use a free utility called “video-compare” ( GitHub - pixop/video-compare at 20200724). It allows a rudimentary (but effective) side-by-side slider comparison of png files. By dragging the slider back and forth, I can see the differences. These differences are small to non-existent at normal viewing distance but proves, to me, that there is something happening under the hood. As said in prior posts, I see no downside to turning on the amlogic superscaler.
I would rank them:-
- Pixop AI Super Resolution image
- Shield 2019 AI Low
- CoreELEC + SuperScaler and the Dune Real Vision 4k about tied, then the rest in no particular order.
I found by dragging the slider quickly to the left and right shows up the differences clearly. Comparing the two CoreELEC images, there is a sharper picture on the SuperScaler image. I also see the SuperScaler image is slightly sharper than Shield 2019 Enhanced. It does appear that the AI algorithms are the best, but I think amlogic superscaler fares well.
Does anybody know of a better comparison tool with a slider??
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I wonder if there is a chance to add sharpener to CE?
Those android boxes running Ugoos ATV have a setting for that.
You can do it by looking at my earlier post.
- Create file “autostart.sh” and place in “.config” folder.
- Add the following line to “autostart.sh” - “echo 1 > /sys/module/amvideo/parameters/super_scaler” (without quotes)
- Reboot
Done that with no visible effect on Matrix.
Should I use Nexus Alpha for that?
No need. Sometimes the difference is non-existent. I would guess that the larger the TV screen, the more effect it may have. The differences are usually seen in long distance shots. I have found that scenes containing lots of greenery, like forests for example, can show more apparent detail.
As I said, leaving it on does no harm. Oops, just realized there is a typo in the command I gave you. It should be echo 1 > /sys/module/amvideo/parameters/super_scaler. I left out the “>”. That would explain why you are seeing no change 
PS. With SSH, use the “cat” command to verify and the value returned should be “Y”. So:-
cat /sys/module/amvideo/parameters/super_scaler
I still think the effects are so minor they are difficult to distinguish. You’re kinda making it out like it’s this revolutionary change. Even the images above are basically the same when tested. It’s marginal if anything. I’d be happy with it enabled or disabled, it’s so minor.
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I think, the disadvantage of SuperScaler is too much noise reduction.
Please see this compare with an old movie: https://slow.pics/c/PGjjaEFP
It’s definitely not my intention to make it out as some kind of revolutionary change. I said myself, sometimes the differences are non-existent. However, I can see a “slight” difference on certain types of scenes. To me, the differences are noticeable but slight, not revolutionary.
It’s something to try, and can easily be disabled - ymmv. If it came across that the change is revolutionary, then I must apologize - it is not.
I feel that if amlogic have a “superscaler”, then why not try it out. Also, it’s relatively easy to enable/disable.
There is a particular scene in the opening episode of the TV show “Cursed” at about 2m 15s in and it was that scene where I noticed the difference. There was nothing wrong with the original image, but having the superscaler turned on gave those few seconds extra pop when watching from several feet away.
Given a choice, I would prefer a slightly sharper image and not worry so much about noise reduction.
Since most (if not all) videos made in the past decade are digitally shot, they have much less grain at source than the older films. I just prefer the cleaner image. I appreciate many people prefer the grain and that’s absolutely fine. All these extra settings can easily be disabled to preserve the original look of the film - I just like a bit extra sharpening.
My choice would be to go for a little bit more sharpness, as it just gives the image a little extra pop when you are sitting several feet away. If I were to watch from 1 foot away, I would not like the sharpening effects so much. Viewing distance, screen size, the quality of your own eyesight and your personal preferences for grain vs no grain all come into play.
I admit that sometimes I am guilty of wanting an over-sharpened picture, and that can look pretty ugly. Still, the ability to quickly toggle on/off a feature gives you the chance to compare.
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