Basically it's an accurate sharpener + antiringing. Usage: glsl-shader="~~/SSimSuperRes.glsl"

SSimSuperRes.glsl

// SSimSuperRes by Shiandow
//
// This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
// modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
// License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
// version 3.0 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
// 
// This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
// Lesser General Public License for more details.
// 
// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
// License along with this library.

//!HOOK POSTKERNEL
//!BIND HOOKED
//!SAVE LOWRES
//!HEIGHT NATIVE_CROPPED.h
//!WHEN NATIVE_CROPPED.h OUTPUT.h <
//!COMPONENTS 4
//!DESC SSSR Downscaling I

#define axis        1

#define offset      vec2(0,0)

#define MN(B,C,x)   (x < 1.0 ? ((2.-1.5*B-(C))*x + (-3.+2.*B+C))*x*x + (1.-(B)/3.) : (((-(B)/6.-(C))*x + (B+5.*C))*x + (-2.*B-8.*C))*x+((4./3.)*B+4.*C))
#define Kernel(x)   MN(0.334, 0.333, abs(x))
#define taps        2.0

#define Luma(rgb)   dot(rgb*rgb, vec3(0.2126, 0.7152, 0.0722))

vec4 hook() {
    float low  = ceil((HOOKED_pos - taps/input_size) * HOOKED_size - offset - 0.5)[axis];
    float high = floor((HOOKED_pos + taps/input_size) * HOOKED_size - offset - 0.5)[axis];

    float W = 0.0;
    vec4 avg = vec4(0);
    vec2 pos = HOOKED_pos;
    vec4 tex;

    for (float k = low; k <= high; k++) {
        pos[axis] = HOOKED_pt[axis] * (k - offset[axis] + 0.5);
        float rel = (pos[axis] - HOOKED_pos[axis])*input_size[axis];
        float w = Kernel(rel);

        tex.rgb = textureLod(HOOKED_raw, pos, 0.0).rgb * HOOKED_mul;
        tex.a = Luma(tex.rgb);
        avg += w * tex;
        W += w;
    }
    avg /= W;

    return vec4(avg.rgb, max(abs(avg.a - Luma(avg.rgb)), 5e-7));
}

//!HOOK POSTKERNEL
//!BIND LOWRES
//!SAVE LOWRES
//!WIDTH NATIVE_CROPPED.w
//!HEIGHT NATIVE_CROPPED.h
//!WHEN NATIVE_CROPPED.w OUTPUT.w <
//!COMPONENTS 4
//!DESC SSSR Downscaling II

#define axis        0

#define offset      vec2(0,0)

#define MN(B,C,x)   (x < 1.0 ? ((2.-1.5*B-(C))*x + (-3.+2.*B+C))*x*x + (1.-(B)/3.) : (((-(B)/6.-(C))*x + (B+5.*C))*x + (-2.*B-8.*C))*x+((4./3.)*B+4.*C))
#define Kernel(x)   MN(0.334, 0.333, abs(x))
#define taps        2.0

#define Luma(rgb)   dot(rgb*rgb, vec3(0.2126, 0.7152, 0.0722))

vec4 hook() {
    float low  = ceil((LOWRES_pos - taps/input_size) * LOWRES_size - offset - 0.5)[axis];
    float high = floor((LOWRES_pos + taps/input_size) * LOWRES_size - offset - 0.5)[axis];

    float W = 0.0;
    vec4 avg = vec4(0);
    vec2 pos = LOWRES_pos;
    vec4 tex;

    for (float k = low; k <= high; k++) {
        pos[axis] = LOWRES_pt[axis] * (k - offset[axis] + 0.5);
        float rel = (pos[axis] - LOWRES_pos[axis])*input_size[axis];
        float w = Kernel(rel);

        tex.rgb = textureLod(LOWRES_raw, pos, 0.0).rgb * LOWRES_mul;
        tex.a = Luma(tex.rgb);
        avg += w * tex;
        W += w;
    }
    avg /= W;

    return vec4(avg.rgb, max(abs(avg.a - Luma(avg.rgb)), 5e-7) + LOWRES_texOff(0).a);
}

//!HOOK POSTKERNEL
//!BIND PREKERNEL
//!BIND LOWRES
//!SAVE var
//!WIDTH NATIVE_CROPPED.w
//!HEIGHT NATIVE_CROPPED.h
//!WHEN NATIVE_CROPPED.h OUTPUT.h <
//!COMPONENTS 2
//!DESC SSSR var

#define spread      1.0 / 4.0

#define GetL(x,y)   PREKERNEL_tex(PREKERNEL_pt * (PREKERNEL_pos * input_size + tex_offset + vec2(x,y))).rgb
#define GetH(x,y)   LOWRES_texOff(vec2(x,y)).rgb

#define Luma(rgb)   dot(rgb*rgb, vec3(0.2126, 0.7152, 0.0722))
#define diff(x,y)   vec2(Luma((GetL(x,y) - meanL)), Luma((GetH(x,y) - meanH)))

vec4 hook() {
    vec3 meanL = GetL(0,0);
    vec3 meanH = GetH(0,0);
    for (int X=-1; X<=1; X+=2) {
        meanL += GetL(X,0) * spread;
        meanH += GetH(X,0) * spread;
    }
    for (int Y=-1; Y<=1; Y+=2) {
        meanL += GetL(0,Y) * spread;
        meanH += GetH(0,Y) * spread;
    }
    meanL /= (1.0 + 4.0*spread);
    meanH /= (1.0 + 4.0*spread);

    vec2 var = diff(0,0);
    for (int X=-1; X<=1; X+=2)
        var += diff(X,0) * spread;

    for (int Y=-1; Y<=1; Y+=2)
        var += diff(0,Y) * spread;

    return vec4(max(var / (1.0 + 4.0*spread), vec2(1e-6)), 0, 0);
}

//!HOOK POSTKERNEL
//!BIND HOOKED
//!BIND PREKERNEL
//!BIND LOWRES
//!BIND var
//!WHEN NATIVE_CROPPED.h OUTPUT.h <
//!DESC SSSR final pass

#define oversharp   0.5

// -- Window Size --
#define taps        3.0
#define even        (taps - 2.0 * floor(taps / 2.0) == 0.0)
#define minX        int(1.0-ceil(taps/2.0))
#define maxX        int(floor(taps/2.0))

#define Kernel(x)   cos(acos(-1.0)*(x)/taps) // Hann kernel

// -- Input processing --
#define var(x,y)    var_tex(var_pt * (pos + vec2(x,y) + 0.5)).rg
#define GetL(x,y)   PREKERNEL_tex(PREKERNEL_pt * (pos + tex_offset + vec2(x,y) + 0.5)).rgb
#define GetH(x,y)   LOWRES_tex(LOWRES_pt * (pos + vec2(x,y) + 0.5))

#define Luma(rgb)   dot(rgb*rgb, vec3(0.2126, 0.7152, 0.0722))

vec4 hook() {
    vec4 c0 = HOOKED_texOff(0);

    vec2 pos = HOOKED_pos * LOWRES_size - vec2(0.5);
    vec2 offset = pos - (even ? floor(pos) : round(pos));
    pos -= offset;

    vec2 mVar = vec2(0.0);
    for (int X=-1; X<=1; X++)
    for (int Y=-1; Y<=1; Y++) {
        vec2 w = clamp(1.5 - abs(vec2(X,Y)), 0.0, 1.0);
        mVar += w.r * w.g * vec2(GetH(X,Y).a, 1.0);
    }
    mVar.r /= mVar.g;

    // Calculate faithfulness force
    float weightSum = 0.0;
    vec3 diff = vec3(0);

    for (int X = minX; X <= maxX; X++)
    for (int Y = minX; Y <= maxX; Y++)
    {
        float R = (-1.0 - oversharp) * sqrt(var(X,Y).r / (var(X,Y).g + mVar.r));

        vec2 krnl = Kernel(vec2(X,Y) - offset);
        float weight = krnl.r * krnl.g / (Luma((c0.rgb - GetH(X,Y).rgb)) + GetH(X,Y).a);

        diff += weight * (GetL(X,Y) + GetH(X,Y).rgb * R + (-1.0 - R) * (c0.rgb));
        weightSum += weight;
    }
    diff /= weightSum;

    c0.rgb = ((c0.rgb) + diff);

    return c0;
}

Sadly almost no production has all elements at the same resolution, and a lot of them have to be descaled per-scene if a descale is even possible. Descaling without masking isn't a great idea, and that's where you lose enough performance that your filtering may not be realtime viable anymore. You can use mpv's vapoursynth filtering feature btw.

True. If you'd want perfection you'd add masking. But undoing bilinear/bicubic is enough for my needs.

And yeah, I guess I'll see if I can make the vapoursynth plugin work. But a shader would be more flexible.

@lextra2 No, not interested.

I followed the steps but I can't seem to get it working. It is not listed when I press Shift+I+2. Please help.

Placed the glsl in C:\Users_user_\AppData\Roaming\mpv\shaders\

Tried either of both usage parameters in mpv.config;

glsl-shader="C:\Users\_user_\AppData\Roaming\mpv\shaders\SSimSuperRes.glsl"
glsl-shader="~~/SSimSuperRes.glsl"

@igv how does this shader compares to adaptive-sharpen.glsl? Would those be mutually exclusive or does that make sense to use both at the same time?

SSSR is probably better than AS when upscaling.