
This is called ‘nearest neighbour resizing’.Īnother approach is creating interstitial pixels, smoothing out transitions between pixels in low-res sources. The simplest way to fill in those additional pixels is doubling, where blocks of pixels repeat the same visual information, leading to block images that are better for retro games than they are for home movies. But 4K TVs have almost 8.3 million pixels, while 8K TVs pack in a staggering 33 million pixels. It’s designed for displays with a little over two million pixels. (Image credit: Panasonic) How does AI upscaling work?

Nvidia’s Shield TV box also has very effective upscaling, should you have a 4K TV with a basic scaler but otherwise satisfying image quality. Sony and Samsung are at the top of the AI upscaler league in the world of TVs. Panasonic does not talk about upscaling as much as its competitors, but its top TVs do have an ‘HCX PRO Intelligent Processor’, which makes comparable calculations. These include its top OLED TVs and the higher-end LG Nanocell screens. LG uses the term ‘AI Upscaling’ too, but for the best results you’ll need a TV with an α9 Gen4 or α7 Gen 4 CPU. Sony’s top upscaling is called X-Reality Pro or XR Upscaling depending on the set you buy. These include the Samsung Q70, Q75, Q80, Q90 and Q900 series – meaning the new QN900A and QN95A are both included. Samsung’s AI upscaling is available in sets with its Quantum Processor hardware. Which TVs have AI upscaling?Īll top-end TVs have a form of AI upscaling, even if the manufacturer doesn’t explicitly use the term ‘AI’.


Both types prep video for displays with a higher pixel count, but ‘AI upscaling’ uses machine learning to improve the image.

AI upscaling attempts to make sub-4K footage (or sub-8K in the case of 8K TVs) look more like video shot at your display’s native resolution. Is it different from regular upscaling, you may be wondering? AI upscaling is simply smarter upscaling.
