A Comprehensive Review of Nero AI Video Upscaler

Delve into our thorough review of Nero AI Upscaler to uncover its features and performance & determine whether this AI-backed solution is the perfect choice for enhancing your videos.
Nero AI Upscaler Review: Is It Worth the Hype?

Introduction

AI video upscaling leverages machine learning and AI to boost video resolution and quality. Unlike traditional methods that merely add new pixels, AI-driven upscaling creates pixels that align perfectly with the original ones, enhancing detail and clarity in videos. This review will cover Nero AI Video Upscaler's key features, pros, cons, price, and a walkthrough of the user interface. We’ll also introduce you to UniFab Video Upscaler as a superior alternative. You can choose the one that best fits your quality needs, budget, and the video type you wish to upscale. Let’s dive in. 

What is Nero AI Video Upscaler? 

The Nero AI Video Upscaler is a cutting-edge solution that leverages AI and machine learning to enhance video quality. Featuring an intuitive user interface, it provides seamless access to advanced capabilities such as 8K super-resolution upscaling, noise reduction, and precise clip selection. By employing neural networks to reconstruct intricate visual details, it revitalizes older or degraded content, making it ideal for preserving cherished memories or enhancing promotional materials.

Nero AI Video Upscaler

Let's now examine the performance of each model in Nero.

A Detailed Nero AI Video Upscaler Review

The Nero AI Video Upscaler blends a user-friendly interface with advanced features such as resolution enhancement, noise reduction, and accurate clip selection. In this review of Nero AI Video Upscaler, we will thoroughly examine these key features and provide a comprehensive analysis of their performance.

4 AI Models of Nero Upscaler

With four distinct AI models ('Fast,' 'Animation,' 'Realistic,''Versatile'), Nero AI caters to various video enhancement needs and preferences, ensuring optimal results for every project.

Fast Model 

General purpose model with fast processing speed, ensuring productivity for time-sensitive projects.

Nero AI Video Upscaler 4k processing effect

Strengths:

  • Subtle Clarity Boost: Nero AI Video Upscaler offers a slight enhancement in overall video clarity, making the video appear marginally sharper.
  • Preservation of Original Quality: The software maintains the integrity of the original video without introducing noticeable artifacts or distortions during the upscaling process.

Weaknesses:

  • Insufficient Detail Enhancement: The upscaling effect is minimal, with only a slight improvement in sharpness and no significant enhancement of finer details or textures.
  • Limited Visual Impact: The final output remains very similar to the original, which may not meet user expectations for substantial visual upgrades when increasing resolution.

Animation Model

Enhance 2D cartoon, animation or AI-generated content, preserving intricate details and enhances visual fidelity.

Nero AI Video Upscaler-Animation Model processing effect

Strengths:

  • Enhanced Color Vibrancy: Nero AI Video Upscaler effectively enhances the color vibrancy of the animation, making the visuals more striking and lively.
  • Maintained Sharpness: The upscaling process retains the sharpness of the original lines and edges in the animated content, ensuring that the characters and objects remain well-defined.

Weakness:

  • Overemphasis on Color: The increased vibrancy may lead to an overly saturated look, which could detract from the original artistic style of the animation.

Realistic Model 

Enhance video footage to achieve true-to-life quality, captivating viewers and improving overall engagement.

Nero AI Video Upscaler-Realistic Model processing effect

Strengths:

  • Skin Smoothing: Nero AI Video Upscaler applies a skin-smoothing effect, making the subject's skin appear smoother and more even.
  • Detail Simplification: Simplifies details to help reduce texture flaws in the video.

Weaknesses:

  • Reduced Visual Quality: Due to excessive smoothing, the processed image may appear overly simple, lacking depth and dimension.
  • Texture Loss: Blurring of details may result in the loss of texture and detail in the video, potentially making it unsuitable for scenarios requiring high detail.

Versatile Model 

Enhance video quality with less sharpness and keep more details.

Nero AI Video Upscaler-Versatile Model.jpg

Weakness:

  • Inadequate Noise Reduction: The noise reduction capability shows little to no difference from the original video, leaving the processed footage grainy and lacking in improved visual sharpness. The minimal enhancement results in substantial noise and a continued lack of clarity.

How Much Does Nero AI Video Upscaler Cost?

Nero AI Video Upscaler is a paid software. This utility costs $64.95 annually or $144.04 for a lifetime license for 1 PC (Windows 10/11), including automatic updates and renewals. However, it offers a 7-day free trial to explore its full functionality before purchasing (Note: the free version does not support watermark removal). Additionally, you can upscale videos up to 30 seconds long for free using its advanced 3 models.

Steps To Use Nero AI Video Upscaler

 Let's learn the steps involved in upscaling videos using Nero AI Video Upscaler to breathe new life into your videos:

Step 1: Import Your File

Begin by clicking "Import Video" to add your video for upscaling. Alternatively, you can record directly from your webcam. 

Nero AI Video Upscaler-step1.png

Step 2: Set Upscale Options Menu

Choose an AI model and output resolution that best suits your needs. Optionally, you can trim the video clips before upscaling.

Nero AI Video Upscaler-step2.png

Step 3: Preview

Once you have found the best settings for your file , you can preview the video before starting the full upscaling process.

Step 4: Start Upscale & Export Your File

Upscaleby clicking the "Add to job list". Once the processing is complete, choose the output video folder to save your upscaled video.

Nero AI Video Upscaler-step4.png

Pros & Cons of Nero AI

Pros

  • Batch Process - Upload multiple videos, saving users time and effort.
  • Clip Selection - Allows users to selectively enhance specific segments or clips within a video without pre-cutting.
  • Real-Time Quality Preview - Allows you to see a real-time side-by-side comparison of the original video and the upscaled version.
  • Supported Formats - MP4, MOV, AVI, and WMV, ensuring compatibility with standard video formats.
  • Users can customize various settings, including resolution, frame rate, and encoder, to suit their preference.
  • The exe version of Nero AI includes a recording feature, enabling users to record webcam footage and upscale it seamlessly.
  • Processing speed is fast with the Fast Model.

Cons

  • In its efforts to sharpen video content, Nero AI Video Upscaler may sometimes overdo it, leading to exaggerated sharpness and an unnatural visual effect.
  • While Nrero aims to reduce video noise, it cannot handle noisy videos effectively.
  • Processing speed is slow with the Versatile Model.
  • Activating Nero AI Video Upscaler might be cumbersome for novice users.
  • The software's clip selection feature may not always accurately identify and isolate specific video segments for processing, potentially resulting in inconsistencies or inaccuracies.
  • Users can only crop videos after applying upscaling, which could lead to inefficiencies in the editing process and limit creative control.

While Nero AI Video Upscaler remains a popular choice among video enthusiasts, it has limitations. There is room for improvement, particularly for those seeking professional-level editing and enhancements. Users have also noted its sluggish performance, especially with large files. If you want to overcome these challenges and maximize your video editing capabilities, consider trying UniFab All-in-One.

Top Alternative to Nero AI Video Upscaler - UniFab

UniFab enhances the quality of low-resolution videos, upgrading them to impressive 4K/8K resolution while also reducing noise and improving frame rates, resulting in an outstanding viewing experience. Leveraging state-of-the-art GPU hardware acceleration technologies, UniFab completes enhancement tasks up to 50 times faster than other software. Discover UniFab's extensive array of features for advanced video enhancement and experience its full capabilities today.

Next, explore UniFab All-in-One, a leading Nero alternative that offers faster processing, exceptional results, and a comprehensive range of video and audio enhancement features.

Key Features of UniFab All-In-One

UniFab Video Enhancer offers a user-friendly interface, simplifying the video enhancement process. Its features are neatly organized into intuitive sections for effortless navigation.

1. Enhancing Video & Audio

UniFab's AI enhancement model offers a wide range of tools for improving both video and audio quality:

  • SDR to HDR Conversion: Elevate SDR videos to HDR10 or Dolby Vision standards, enhancing brightness, expanding the color gamut, and overall video quality.

SDR to HDR10.jpg

  • Advanced AI Upscaling: It harnesses neural networks and super-resolution technology to upscale videos to various resolutions, including 720P, 1080P, 4K, and up to 8K, filling in missing pixels for improved clarity. If you only want to upscale your video to higher resolution, UniFab's AI Video Upscaler will be the your best choice.

4K upscaling.png

  • Smooth Playback: Utilize AI-powered frame interpolation to reduce judder, resulting in smoother motion effects and a higher frame rate for more natural video playback.
  • Denoise Video: Automatically detect and remove video noise caused by low-light conditions, high ISO settings, and compression artifacts, ensuring clear and clean video playback.
  • Deinterlacing: Intelligently convert interlaced video signals to progressive scan signals, enhancing playback quality by eliminating interlacing artifacts.
  • Upmixing: Convert audio channels to formats like DTS 7.1 or EAC3 5.1, enhancing the audio experience for immersive sound playback.

2. Video Conversion & Compression

UniFab provides a comprehensive array of video conversion and compression features for seamless playback across all devices and platforms:

  • Broad Format Support: Effortlessly convert videos to over 1000 formats, ensuring compatibility across various devices and platforms.
  • Lossless Video Compression: Effectively compress high-quality video and audio files without sacrificing fidelity, maintaining content integrity while reducing file sizes.

3. Video Editing

  • Video Editing: With UniFab's video editor, you can elevate storytelling by fine-tuning parameters such as saturation and contrast. This empowers users to effortlessly enhance visual elements and craft compelling narratives.

4. Free AI Tools

  • Vocal Removing: Extracts or removes audio from video files, ideal for karaoke.
  • Remove Video Background: leverages advanced AI video matting technology, delivering precise cut-outs with hairline-level accuracy. 

Steps To Enhance Your Video Quality with UniFab 

Your All-in-One solution for video&audio enhancement

Upscale low-res videos to 720p/1080p/4K/8K

Convert SDR videos to HDR10 or Dolby Vision

Denoise videos for cleaner and sharper quality

Smooth footage for a more refined and polished look

Deinterlace videos to eliminate artifacts and enhance clarity

Upmix audio to EAC3 5.1/DTS 7.1 for a suround sound

Convert videos in 1000+ formats for playback on any device

Compiled upgrade provides 200% faster processing speed

Support video editing to meet your personalized demands

Free Download

Step 1: Launch UniFab and Choose Enhancement Mode

Open UniFab and select the mode to begin enhancing your videos.

UniFab-step1.png

Step 2: Import and Personalize Your Video

Upload your video to UniFab and customize output settings such as format, quality, frame rate, audio, codecs, and subtitles according to your preferences.

UniFab-step2.png

UniFab Video Upscaler AI-step2.png

Step 3: Start Video Enhancement

Press the start button to begin enhancing your video. Watch as UniFab effortlessly improves your video quality.

UniFab All-In-One VS. Nero AI Video Upscaler

Test Machine

GPU : NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070

CPU:AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with Radeon Graphics

Functions & Processing Speed & Pricing

First, check out the comparison of the main functions, pricing and processing speed.

As can be seen from the chart below, if you are a professional video editor with an adequate budget, you can choose Nero AI Video Upscaler.

If you don’t want to spend time choosing models, you can opt for UniFab Video Upscaler AI, which is a cost-effective AI video upscaler with a universal model.

Maximum QualityProcessing SpeedPricing
Nero AI Video Upscaler

8K

Avoid Going Beyond 4x: Higher resolutions may blur the original video.

  • Nero's processing speed is slower than UniFab's with the Versatile model.
  • Nero's processing speed is essentially the same as UniFab's with Animation and Realistic models
  • Nero's processing speed is faster than UniFab's with Fast model.

$64.95 annually

$144.04 lifetime

UniFab Video Upscaler AI8K$69.99 Lifetime

Upscaled Results: Nero vs UniFab

UniFab Video Upscaler AI features a Universal Enhance model, while Nero AI Video Upscaler offers specialized modes: Fast, Animation, Realistic, and Versatile.

To evaluate their performance, let's compare Nero's four models with UniFab's Universal Enhance model by testing them with various types of content: landscape video, animation video, character video, and noisy footage. This comparison will help you determine which results best meet your needs.

Character Video

Nero's Realistic Model vs. UniFab's Universal Enhance Model

Character-Nero-4k vs UniFab 4k.jpg

  • Nero AI Video Upscaler: Applies a basic smoothing effect akin to skin smoothing, resulting in a polished, less detailed image. The output tends to blur finer textures and details, providing a simplified, less intricate visual quality.
  • UniFab Video Upscaler AI: Maintains high texture resolution and enhances fine details, offering a more detailed and realistic depiction of the video. The result is a clearer and more nuanced visual representation compared to Nero's basic smoothing effect.

Noisy Footage

Nero's Versatile Model vs. UniFab's Universal Enhance Model

Nighttime-Nero-4k vs UniFab 4k.jpg

  • Nero AI Video Upscaler: The noise reduction capability is inadequate, showing little to no difference from the original video. The processed footage continues to exhibit substantial noise, with minimal enhancement in image clarity. The lack of effective noise reduction results in a video that still appears grainy and lacks improved visual sharpness.
  • UniFab Video Upscaler AI: Exhibits superior noise reduction performance. The majority of noise is effectively removed, resulting in a clearer and more refined video. This significant reduction in noise enhances the overall visual quality, making the video appear sharper and more detailed compared to the original.

Animation Video

Nero's Animation Model vs. UniFab's Universal Enhance Model

Animation-Nero-4k vs Unifab-4k.jpg

  • Nero AI Video Upscaler: Provides a slightly superior enhancement in detail and character outlines compared to UniFab. The processed video exhibits improved sharpness and clarity, with a brighter and more three-dimensional appearance, which enhances the visual appeal of the animation.
  • UniFab Video Upscaler AI: Also improves the clarity of the original animation, with noticeable enhancements in overall resolution. However, the detail and character outlines are slightly less refined compared to Nero, resulting in a less vivid and less defined visual presentation.

Landscape Video

Nero's Fast Model vs. UniFab's Universal Enhance Model

Landscape-Nero-4k vs UniFab-4k.jpg

  • Nero AI Video Upscaler: The output is nearly identical to the original video, with only a slight improvement in overall clarity. The enhancement is minimal, and the detailed textures and finer elements of the landscape, such as trees and mountain contours, remain largely unchanged.
  • UniFab Video Upscaler AI: Demonstrates substantial improvement in both detail and clarity. The upscaled video reveals enhanced textures and sharpness, significantly improving the definition of landscape features such as forests and mountain ranges. This results in a more vivid and detailed visual representation compared to Nero.

Summary

Processing Effect

  • For comprehensive noise reduction, texture detail, and overall clarity, UniFab Video Upscaler AI stands out as the superior choice. It delivers substantial improvements in video quality by effectively minimizing noise and enhancing both texture and detail.
  • For animated content, Nero AI Video Upscaler is the preferred option. It excels in preserving and enhancing details specific to animated videos, resulting in a more vibrant visual experience.

Value for Money

  • UniFab Video Upscaler AI offers better value compared to Nero AI Video Upscaler.

Now, have you decided which AI video upscaler is your favorite?

Final Words

Nero AI Video Upscaler effectively analyzes and reconstructs missing details, enhancing edges to create a visually engaging experience for animated videos. If you're passionate about animation, this software provides useful tools. However, some users have noted issues such as distorted results after noise reduction, artificial appearances, and limited editing capabilities. For overcoming these challenges and achieving broader video enhancement, consider transitioning to UniFab Video Upscaler for a more versatile and effective solution.

FAQs 

Does Nero AI Video Upscaler come as part of the Nero AI Suite package?

Nero AI Video Upscaler is a vital component of the Nero AI Suite.OS: Windows 10/11 (64 bit), Processor: 2 GHz AMD or Intel® processor. Memory: 4 GB RAM. Graphics: DirectX 11 Compatible Graphics Card.

What are the system requirements for Nero AI video upscaler?

OS: Windows 10/11 (64 bit), Processor: 2 GHz AMD or Intel® processor. Memory: 4 GB RAM. Graphics: DirectX 11 Compatible Graphics Card.

In what manner does the 'REALISTIC' AI model improve video footage within Nero AI Video Upscaler?

The 'REALISTIC' AI model within Nero AI Video Upscaler elevates video footage to a true-to-life quality. Tailored to enhance the authenticity captured on video, it ensures a top-tier output."

As an avid enthusiast of software testing, AI, and tech, I bring a fervent zeal for precision and innovation to my editorials. With a love for ping pong and badminton, and a passion for exploring new horizons through travel, I live by the maxim "Done is good." My articles aim to serve as your trusty compass in the fast-evolving tech landscape.