To me Artifacts are the information plaques that are attached to paintings to tell you who painted that splotch with one eye that hangs in the museum.
So what is Mike talking about?

I made a very small video to do a show and tell and set us on the right track.

https://youtu.be/lTxKcqMVSvE

Fred

Re.
Not for me I think! This is a great improvement, especially as I regularly take high contrast images with highlights and deep shadows.
I was privileged to do some beta testing on this one for Mike along with Fred and checked about 30 different images that had been difficult to process in the past. With the new Fill algorithm and HDR 2 I was able to make a much better job on them and reduce the amount of work needed in the editor with curves etc.
I would say in summary QU v2016.126: -
Improves clarity and smoothness at high contrast boundaries.
Enables greater contrast in bright areas such as cloudy skies"
Higher levels of fill are possible and HDR 2 can then easily recover the
bright areas to return them to how they should look - or possible give more drama to the shot.

On the DDI-QU website there are some comparisons that Mike has updated.
See http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u/tech-hdr.htm
The image of the boat (at Upton Upon Seven) is one of mine from 2010 taken with my old Canon 350D.
To show the difference between v125 and v126 raw processing, here are some larger images on my Flickr site. (EDIT see the next post too: Reply #4)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/terry-m_flickrphotos/albums/72157660185692670/with/22019967963/
V125 version


v126 version, note the improved shadow detail in the raft by the boat and the quay steps. The sky with its nice clouds looks good too.


Terry

Thank you very much, this is - for me - one of the best updates.

Took some shots yesterday of autumn colours, one of the shots did not process very well, fine detail in trees against blue sky took on an unnatural look.

A quick flick of HDR2 - fantastic all recovered.

This one alone is worth the $20 annual forum/update.

Jeff - not so grumpy

     

Hi Jeff,
(= .125)
Thanks for sharing that image. Yes, HDR 2 in Refine completely solves the problem of strange fringes of things like tree leaves and branches against the sky. The old version required care not to push too much; now there is no danger of that occurring at all.

I'm pleased to hear you are mellowing in your old age 
Terry

Right click on the image in your internet gallery and you should see something like View Image Info. Open that and scroll down until you find a row that ends in .jpg.
Copy that row to paste into the forum post using the Insert Image icon, second from left.
Terry

Surprise, Surprise it almost did.

Like it, where was that and did HDR 2 help?
Terry