This is the English edition of a review from my Japanese YouTube channel, iestaLife. I review gadgets and creator tools from my home studio in Japan. HitPaw provided HitPaw VikPea for this review (sponsored); the opinions are my own.
Quick take
HitPaw VikPea is AI software that upscales and cleans up video. I ran it on my own footage, mainly shots I had cropped in on after filming, and compared the result with a shot that was zoomed in optically. It cannot recreate detail that was never recorded, but for rescuing footage that is just a little short on quality, it works well. Think of it as taking a 70-point clip to 80 or 90, not turning a 30-point clip into 100.
What I tested
- HitPaw VikPea, provided by HitPaw
- Real footage of a person that I cropped and enlarged in editing, then enhanced with the AI
- The same scene shot two ways: zoomed in on the camera, and shot wide then cropped and enhanced afterwards
- Upscaling lower-resolution footage, such as Full HD, to 4K
What I found
- Cropping heavily usually leaves a soft, slightly sleepy image. After enhancement, the edges of the face, clothes and background were clearly sharper and the whole frame looked more detailed.
- It does not look like simply turning up sharpening. The AI fills in detail in a different way.
- Shooting at the right framing in the first place is still best. The AI cannot fully reproduce what an optical zoom records.
- Even so, with a moderate crop, the enhanced result got surprisingly close to natural. Being able to save a shot where I framed too wide is a real benefit when editing.
- Upscaling Full HD clips to 4K can help reduce the jump in quality when older footage, or footage from another camera, sits in a 4K timeline.
- There are limits. With an extreme crop there is too little information to work with, and some parts started to look unnatural.
- It also includes other AI tools, such as video beautification and colour correction, which are an easy starting point if you are not used to adjusting settings one by one.
Who it’s for
It suits people who make videos (for YouTube or for work) and want to crop into shots after filming, improve slightly blurry clips, use Full HD material in a 4K project, reuse old low-resolution footage, or salvage footage that cannot be reshot. For me the most useful part was not “making low-quality video 4K” but making my footage hold up better when I crop in. If you expect it to fully restore very poor footage, you will be disappointed.
The video is in Japanese, but the before-and-after comparisons are easy to follow on screen.
Limitations
This was a sponsored review: HitPaw provided the software. I tested it on my own footage only, and judged the results by eye. How much it helps depends heavily on the source material. I did not compare it against other AI upscalers.
Products
HitPaw VikPea is sold by HitPaw on its official website, so there is no Amazon link for it. Pricing and offers vary by region, so check HitPaw’s site for the current price.
More reviews in English
This review is also available in Japanese.