New smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+ can record videos in HDR10+, a new standard in HDR, which redefine the concept of Higher Dynamic Range (HDR). Watch this video to learn how to record videos in HDR10+, otherwise, continue reading the post…

Differences with HDR and how HDR10+ works…

The standard HDR technology adds up the static metadata to the content (*.MP4 video). This will mean that the parameters are applied at the beginning itself and continue throughout. This causes the bright scenes in a movie look too bright and lose detail, while the dark scenes would continue to look dim. In HDR10+ the brightness boundaries of the video clip is configured and changed in a frame by frame manner, the full-color range is added to every scene dynamically no matter whether it contains only dark or only light scenes.

In other words, HDR10+ ensures that you will end up getting the best details in your videos and images.

How an HDR10+ video is viewed on supported and non-HDR devices

There is a problem, when viewing an HDR10+ video on a device that does not support the HDR10+ standard, the video will be displayed as in the following image on the left (with washed-out colors), while on a Galaxy S10 smartphone or TV that supports HDR10+ you will see it as in the image on the right

So, to view an HDR10+ video on an unsupported device, we must first convert it to a video in SDR (standard dynamic range) which however must retains the same depth and intensity of colors, without washed-out colors, as the original HDR10+ video.

How to convert HDR10+ video to SDR on PC

To make the video conversion from HDR10+ to SDR is very simple on a Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone, but in this article I will explain how to convert it on PC (otherwise, if you want to know how to convert it on Galaxy S10, read this from Samsung).

First of all, you need the ffmpeg software, a free command-line tool that converts audio or video formats; from this link http://ffmpeg.org/download.html look for “Get packages & executable files”, and download the compiled version for your OS (Linux, Windows or Mac).

Step 1 : Extract FFMPEG to a folder

Extract the contents of the zip file to a new folder in “C:\ffmpeg\” (this is a windows path, but you can change it at your convenience).

Step 2 : Create a Batch file and copy your HDR10+ video to convert

Create a new file named “convert.bat” in “C:\ffmpeg\bin” with the following code

C:\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe -i video-input.mp4 -vf zscale=t=linear:npl=100,format=gbrpf32le,zscale=p=bt709,tonemap=tonemap=hable:desat=0,zscale=t=bt709:m=bt709:r=tv,format=yuv420p -c:v libx265 -crf 22 -preset medium -tune fastdecode video-output.mp4

Then, copy your HDR10+ video in “C:\ffmpeg\bin” and rename it in “video-input.mp4”

Step 3 : Open a command prompt and execute the batch

Now, press Windows button+R to open the “Run” box. Type “cmd” and click “OK” to open a regular Command Prompt. Finally, type “C:\ffmpeg\bin\convert.bat” to start the conversion from HDR10+ video to a new SDR video named “video-output.mp4”.

Conversion completed!

At the end of the conversion, you will find the new converted file in the “C:\ffmpeg\bin\” folder.

The new SDR file “video-output.mp4” can be viewed on all non-HDR devices, but with the same brightful colors as the original HDR10+ video.

Have fun converting your movies! 😀

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