Upscale any video of any resolution to 4K with AI. (Get started for free)

How can I transcode 4K HDR movies to 1080p without losing quality or information?

Transcoding 4K HDR movies to 1080p while maintaining HDR quality is a complex task due to the large amount of data in 4K HDR videos.

When transcoding 4K HDR movies to 1080p, the HDR color information is often lost because the HDR metadata is not compatible with the SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) format.

QuickSync, a hardware transcoding feature in some Intel CPUs, can be used for transcoding, but it also results in loss of HDR color.

The loss of HDR color during transcoding is not fully understood and is often attributed to internet upload speed and client hardware limitations, but the exact cause is unclear.

Some users have found that enabling subtitles can cause video transcoding, resulting in loss of HDR benefits.

Transcoding 4K HDR videos to x264 SDR results in loss of HDR benefits, as the x264 codec does not support HDR.

Transcoding efficiency can be improved with powerful CPUs and GPU support, as hardware acceleration can reduce the load on the CPU.

Some users have achieved high-quality transcoding using a Beelink N100 mini PC or desktop PC with NVidia GPU.

Handbrake and FFMPEG are popular tools for transcoding, but they have a steep learning curve.

Plex has improved hardware transcoding and added tone mapping to address color conversion issues, but HDR data retention in the output is not yet possible.

Transcoding 4K content to 1080p or lower should be kept to a minimum as it can cause server performance issues.

Dolby Vision is a different standard than HDR10 and HDR10+ and has its own set of transcoding challenges.

Upscale any video of any resolution to 4K with AI. (Get started for free)

Related

Sources