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HDR video, short for High Dynamic Range videos, signifies advanced entertainment that delivers an engaging visual experience marked by vibrant colors, increased contrast, and improved brightness. This technology enables the ability to keep subjects and backgrounds in sharp focus while dynamically adjusting brightness levels. Common HDR standards include HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision and HLG.
Difference between SDR and HDR
SDR and HDR are similar in that they both have 4000 resolution. Although they have the same amount of horizontal resolution, they have different picture quality.
HDR significantly enhances your viewing experience by offering greater detail and richer colors, especially in scenes with a high dynamic range. Unlike SDR, which has limited color depth and contrast, HDR provides a more vivid, lifelike image, allowing you to see nuances and details that are often lost in SDR content.
As HDR content becomes increasingly ubiquitous, the demand for HDR playback escalates. While some high-end SDR videos can deliver extremely high picture quality, this still can't match the high contrast offered by HDR.
Improved visual quality:
HDR brings a noticeable enhancement to the visual experience, providing richer colors, deeper contrasts, and more realistic images. HDR enriches the contrast and intricacy of the picture, thereby enhancing its overall quality. This makes action scenes more dynamic and landscapes more breathtaking.
Enhanced immersion:
The increased range of brightness and color can create a more engaging experience, drawing viewers deeper into the story and making them feel more connected to the content.
Better detail in highlights and shadows:
HDR technology allows viewers to see fine details in both bright and dark areas of the image. For example, in a sunset scene, you can see the vibrant oranges in the sky without losing details in the darker foreground.
UniFab HDR Upconverter is the first AI-powered solution for SDR to HDR conversion. It utilizes a vast library of cinematic pictures for training. It intelligently fine-tunes color and luminance to enrich detail, contrast, and dimensionality, rendering videos with heightened realism.
UniFab HDR Upconverter AI
OS: Win
Price: $119.99 (Lifetime)
Best For: beginners or semi-professionals
Step 1: Launch UniFab and Select HDR Upconverter
Open UniFab and select the mode to enhance your videos.
Step 2:Upload, Customize, and Preview Your Video
Import your video file into UniFab. Adjust the settings to your liking. Finally, preview the processed result to ensure it meets your expectations.
Step 3: Start to Process the Video
Click the start button to upgrade videos from SDR to HDR10/Dolby Vision.
The Topaz Video AI converts SDR to HDR by “Up Mapping”. This process uses the luminance values within the limited/clamped SDR imagery to “add” values or push more range to create a larger scope of color data, making the result viewable on an HDR screen.
You can find the SDR-to-HDR mode on the upper screen right side of the application. The “Hyperion - HDR (ALPHA)” is the model that does the inverse tone-mapping that increases color depth, contrast and increased peak brightness.
Pros
AI Adjust Exposure: AI Model will intelligently choose the areas to brighten based on the video content.
Clear Output Effect: The brightness adjustment is intuitively noticeable
HDR Identification Support: Capable of displaying HDR indicators on TVs
cons
Video with very muddy and dark imagery may not work so well
The final effect similar to native SDR video
Overall visual saturation is too high
The processing speed is slow, about 14-15hours.
OS: Win/Mac
Price: $299 (Lifetime)
Wondershare Filmora is a video editing software supporting SDR to HDR conversion. Upgrades are visible under BorisFX effects, like the improved split mode function, Denoise effects, etc. What's more, it offers a lot of tools allowing easy customization and editing of the HDR video.
You can choose among the newer options like BCC Optical Diffusion, BCC Warp, and BCC Grads and Tints to upconvert to HDR quality. When exporting, the color space is set at SDR by default.
Pros
Clean, simple, and dark interface, with intuitive icons
Processing the video while displaying a live histogram
The converting speed is fast
Cons
The Brightness will be too high
Some AI tools can't achieve the expected effects.
OS: Win/Mac
Price: $59.99 (Lifetime)
Tekno3d.com aka VISIONPLUSHDR Team is a UHD HDR tracker. This advanced software solution converts SDR media content into stunning HDR format. The converter employs cutting-edge algorithms to analyze SDR content and apply intelligent HDR enhancements, resulting in vivid colors, improved contrast, and enhanced details.
Pros
Achieves Dolby Vision with official tools
Supports options to choose even A.I. Upscaling using Nvidia, AV1 Encoding
Fast processing speed, 1h takes about 40s
Cons
Relatively difficult to use with complicated settings
Higher equipment requirements
Severe color deviation may occur in some modes
OS: Win
Price: $749.99 (1 year)
EncodeGUI is an open-source and free video encoder that works with AI integration to optimize overall video encoding and decoding functions. It delivers a video transcoding enhanced by AI. This tool not only boasts sophisticated encoding capabilities but also includes various filters like SDR to HDR conversion, frame rate upscaling, noise reduction, and more.
Pros
Supports around 10 formats like MKV, Mp4, FLV, etc
Explore the live-encoding process with a preview option
Retrieve the advanced metadata for the source video
Cons
The SDR to HDR conversion process is complicated and slow
No color-correction or special effect-adding options
No video customization or editing option
No available on Mac
OS: Win
Price: free
Product | UniFab HDR Upconverter | Topaz | Wondershare | Tekno3d | EncodeGUI |
AI-Powered | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
Free Version | ✅ 30 days for all features | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
easy to use | easy | difficult | easy | difficult | difficult |
OS | Win | Win/Mac | Win/Mac | Win | Win |
Price | $119.99 (Lifetime) | $299 (Lifetime) | $59.99 (Lifetime) | $749.99 (1 year) | Free |
Performance Comparison
I tested the actual effectiveness of these programs:
It can be clearly seen that Unifab has the best effect, which is the closest to the original HDR10 video.
In conclusion, we offer insights into the benefits of HDR and a detailed comparison of the top 5 HDR video enhancers. Searching for an SDR to HDR conversion tool often presents few choices. For a superior and user-friendly alternative, consider UniFab HDR Upconverter AI, offering top-tier video editing and customization features. After your video is upscaled to HDR10, if you are still wondering how to play it, PlayerFab will be your savior.
Is HDR Video Better Than 4K?
While 4K UHD offers increased resolution and detail, HDR provides better color and contrast.
HDR delivers a higher contrast—or larger color and brightness range—than Standard Dynamic Range (SDR), and is more visually impactful than 4K.
Which is better: HDR10 or Dolby Vision?
The choice between HDR10 and Dolby Vision depends on your devices and personal preferences. HDR10 is widely compatible and commonly used in mainstream content and gaming, offering broad support across various devices. Dolby Vision provides a superior, cinema-like experience with enhanced color and detail but is supported by fewer devices.
What are the minimum system requirements for using the UniFab HDR Upconverter?
To perform SDR to HDR conversion, it is recommended to use Windows 11/10 (64-bit), at least 16GB of RAM, and an Nvidia RTX 30 series graphics card with 8GB VRAM. Ensure your playback device or monitor supports HDR for optimal results.