MKV Files and HDR

[leosantare]

Hello,

When I rip a 4K UHD blu-ray in makemkv, does the mkv file actually have HDR? For example, the picture appears exactly the same in VLC player if HDR is enabled or not in Windows. When I enable HDR in Windows, I can see the change in Windows. Plus, my display briefly shows the signal has changed to HDR mode. However, there is no difference when playing a mkv file in VLC.

[dcoke22]

If you look at the .mkv file with MediaInfo, the video section will list if the file has Dolby Vision and/or HDR10. For example, here's a movie with only HDR10:

Code: Select all

Video
ID                                       : 1
ID in the original source medium         : 4113 (0x1011)
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                           : Main 10@L5.1@High
HDR format                               : SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                                 : 1 h 57 min
Bit rate                                 : 50.8 Mb/s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.256
Stream size                              : 41.7 GiB (93%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics                 : PQ
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries        : Display P3
Mastering display luminance              : min: 0.0050 cd/m2, max: 4000 cd/m2
Maximum Content Light Level              : 1376 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light Level        : 731 cd/m2
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

and here's an example with both:

Code: Select all

Video
ID                                       : 1
ID in the original source medium         : 4113 (0x1011)
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                           : Main 10@L5.1@High
HDR format                               : Dolby Vision, Version 1.0, Profile 7.6, dvhe.07.06, BL+EL+RPU, no metadata compression, Blu-ray compatible / SMPTE ST 2086, Version HDR10, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                                 : 1 h 47 min
Bit rate                                 : 100 Mb/s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.504
Stream size                              : 75.2 GiB (95%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics                 : PQ
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries        : Display P3
Mastering display luminance              : min: 0.0050 cd/m2, max: 4000 cd/m2
Maximum Content Light Level              : 7130 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light Level        : 545 cd/m2
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

I don't really use Windows or VLC so I can't really make suggestions about them.

[leosantare]

Okay, well hopefully someone can help with Windows and VLC.

[leosantare]

Why isnt there a difference if hdr is enabled in windows or not when playing a mkv in vlc?

[Ezatoka]

I don't know for sure, but maybe VLC automatically issues some tonemapping if it finds a HDR source with a non-HDR display.

[leosantare]

I'm not sure what you mean by that. I know my display is not in HDR unless I enable it in Windows. Like I said, there is no difference in the picture if HDR is enabled in Windows. I understand VLC supports HDR and dcoke22 confirmed that mkv files contain HDR.

[Mr. Red]

You could try MPC-HC with MPC Video Renderer instead of VLC.

[smol_birb]

I'm not sure what you mean by that. I know my display is not in HDR unless I enable it in Windows. Like I said, there is no difference in the picture if HDR is enabled in Windows. I understand VLC supports HDR and dcoke22 confirmed that mkv files contain HDR.

Windows will have the option to enable HDR, even if the display doesn't support HDR. Does your display support HDR?