Hello,
Im looking for software be it paid or free that can edit and export HDR files.
Can this program export HDR? If not, is there a plugin that can do it?
Rant: Im looking for novice friendly software that can edit HDR files, mainly HEVC BT2020 with some VP9 BT2020 [PS5 internal capture].
I dont mind for paid software but NOT pro level like davinci resolve that confusing to novice user and really i only need to cut files, make videos out of them and add images in between, basic stuff.
I checked EVERYTHING: latest Cyberlink power director, can import HDR but no export, MAGIX Movie studio and so on, many can accept HDR files but not export.
So far it looks like if a noob wants to edit HDR videos is to either buy an iPad Pro M4 or iMac Mini M1 and get LumaFusion.
Thank you for pointing me to the roadmap, if its there its great news, ill be waiting, maybe the dev will surprise us before years end.
A question, would you say that Shotcut is more like Luma Fusion [novice friendly] or Davincis Resolve [complicated]?
Not sure what Shotcut is like compared to the others. I only exist in the HD world of video, and Shotcut is the only video editor that I know and have used to make videos with. Eventually I see myself only existing with a Linux computer and aligning myself with software that works well for Linux is my main goal.
If you want to learn more specifically about Shotcut as far as hard specifics, read through the “News” link, which is really a blog, listing all changes each version.
Shotcut also has a built-in Convert to Edit-Friendly feature that can turn an HDR source into SDR for editing purposes. Granted, it puts you back in the SDR world, but depending on the video game being played, the difference may not be terribly noticeable. Hopefully the audience will be more interested in what’s happening rather than how bright the screen is. But I understand if HDR is a non-negotiable.
I am not familiar with LumaFusion. Resolve uses a node-based system that is powerful but also a large concept for new users. Shotcut is not node-based and keeps things pretty simple. But it’s still very powerful for people that take time to understand what all the filters can do.
Concerning the learning curve and simplicity for novice editors i would say SC is very easy to learn with a steep learning curve and in most cases is very intuitive. I have tried just a few simple video editors and SC is one of the easiest to learn if you once got the overall concept (which is similar to many or most editors). You just can’t redo everything as simple as expected sometimes and it doesn’t have some advanced features as some professional tools have.
I think the developers would also need to have a long hard think about which formats to support - the 2 main ones are very different:
a format which is scene-referred (like BT.709, BT.2020 et. al) where you can just edit a sequence and the rendering is handled in the display (according to rules set out in the spec.)
a format which is display referred and is encoded for rendering on a specific display.
BT2020 is not an HDR specification, it uses the same transfer function as BT709, albeit with greater precision in the formula, but with a wider color gamut.
BT2100 is the HDR specification and has 2 options as listed previously.
The iPhone uses the scene-referred variant in BT2100.
We are talking here about HDR10 format, the one used in BluRays and video games and streaming, DolbyVision is a different issue, its propriety and not used for capture or online sharing.
I been using HDR since 2016, and HDR movies [bluray rips], and HDR video game capture be it from PS5 Internal capture or capture cards like Avermedia Live Gamer 4K - GC573 [which I own] all come in identical format: HEVC/10Bit/4:2:0/BT2020
these files will automatically enable HDR on HDR TVs in my case OLED, be it on internal video player or windows using Madvr plugin.
BTW here is how to export same format in Davinci
P.S. Here is metadata from HDR video game capture
Video
ID : 1 Format : HEVC Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding Format profile : Main 10@L5.1@High Codec ID : hvc1 Codec ID/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding Duration : 2 h 2 min Source duration : 2 h 2 min Bit rate : 112 Mb/s Width : 3 840 pixels Height : 2 160 pixels Display aspect ratio : 16:9 Frame rate mode : Variable Frame rate : 30.000 FPS Minimum frame rate : 27.314 FPS Maximum frame rate : 33.620 FPS Color space : YUV Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 Bit depth : 10 bits Bits/(PixelFrame) :* 0.450 Stream size : 95.6 GiB (100%) Source stream size : 95.6 GiB (100%) Title : VideoHandle Encoded date : UTC 2021-08-04 03:28:09 Tagged date : UTC 2021-08-04 03:28:09 Color range : Limited Color primaries : BT.2020 Transfer characteristics : PQ Matrix coefficients : BT.2020 non-constant mdhd_Duration : 7335635 Codec configuration box : hvcC
The color primaries and matrices of BT.2100 are identical to those of BT.2020 so the tags are not replicated, but as I said BT.2020 is not an HDR format. The codec is irrelevant. You could equally flag the video essence as BT.2100 PQ with no metadata or BT.2100 HLG (which doesn’t need metadata) and TVs would switch to the correct mode.
HDR 10 is a distribution format which adds metadata to the PQ production format (as are HDR10+, Dolby Vision, SL-HDR and most of the Dolby Vision classes), it’s not really needed in the editing process.
Any editor working in HDR needs to be able to import BT.2100 HLG, BT.2100 PQ, BT.2020 and BT.709 files and map them to a common timeline format, output to those 4 formats, and allow the user to calculate the HDR10 metadata if you choose to have a PQ output format (this isn’t automatic as you need to know the gamut and peak brightness of the monitor you edited on).
