Sun Oct 24, 2021 7:57 am
Jason, what Marc and Walter are saying is absolutely valid for delivery to Broadcast, Netflix and cinema, where there are delivery specs that must be adhered to and there are no shortcuts with the equipment required to deliver to this standard and in that context their advise is almost universally agreed upon. For YT there are no penalties or prison sentences for using less expensive solutions and the best alternatives are some good consumer HDR sets and the other advice in that regard is valid to. The US 4K Mini will also flag HDR over both SDI and HDMI (to a proper HDMI 2.0+ input) BTW.
HDR is a minefield at the moment - I have been grading and onlining for UK broadcast in SDR for years and I find HDR, ACES etc. very confusing too, whereas I am entirely at home with SDR. One day it will settle as to how we work with HDR but that seems far off at the moment. Everything, as Marc said, is so much cheaper now - I remember paying £25K for an Avid Adrenaline BOB, without the HD card years ago alone. The only thing that is not cheaper are colour critical grading monitors. My 17" HD only monitor at home cost nearly £4K and I can not justify yet, or afford £20K+ for the work I still mainly do.
Much of the HDR content I see is variable and sometimes gimmicky, to my eyes too, a bit like 'Why does the dog...', 'because it can'. Squid game, for example, whilst an excellent series, was almost painful in exteriors, whilst a series like 'Midnight Mass', to my eye was a beautiful example of what can be achieved - very natural and almost, at times, like perfect magazine stills. Worse still are some classic films re-mastered to Dolby Vision - 'Vertigo' has been ruined IMV and is better on the HD Blu-Ray, whilst 'My Fair Lady' was brilliantly done and shows Dolby can really work for re-mastering, when done well. Too much dynamic range in picture is not natural because our eyes adjust in the real world and our ears find it difficult to 'focus' comfortably outside of a classic cinema 30db range - it can be painful for both sometimes. I think this will all settle in the next 5 years or so and I am won over to the possibilities of HDR as a new and original look in it's own right.
In short there is some good advice in this thread, there is nothing to stop you producing HDR work for You Tube and I wish you well in your choice.