Proper settings for YouTube 4k HDR

Hi all,

I have been struggling trying to get YouTube to recognize my 4k videos as HDR. I am using the latest version of Resolve (Free) as of today's date. I have looked thru this forum and everywhere online and everything that people are posting doesn't seem to work. Obviously I am doing something wrong.

I start out with videos captured by nVidia's replay software on my Win 10 machine which is capturing HDR properly. I can confirm this by uploading a file directly to YouTube and it will show it as HDR.

When I edit the file in resolve, I can see it as 10-bit and looks fine when editing it. However, no matter what combinations of options and settings I try, it looks like it is an HDR file on my windows machine (via MediaInfo.exe) but when it gets uploaded to YouTube, it does NOT show up as HDR; just plain old 4kHD.

Can someone please tell me specifically what settings/options (and specifically where in DR) that I need to set/check/etc to get YouTube to recognize my HDR footage? Both in the project settings, rendering and/or any other pages needed to make it work. Even screenshots if you could please.

Thank you in advance.

Anything exported as HDR can be confirmed in MedaInfo's Video section provided it was exported in 10 bit format, ("Main 10" encoding profile). A valid HDR file will be reported as having BT.2020 color primaries and a transfer characteristic of PQ or HLG. PQ usually has a Full color range and HLG would be Limited.

I would make sure you have "Main 10" setting in export.

Thanks for the reply.

I have it all set like that and it appears in MediaInfo like that but YT still will not make it HDR (see attached).

That's why I was hoping someone can just confirm the specific settings on the rendering screen needed to assure 4k HDR recognition by YT when rendered. Perhaps I am missing some small detail in the settings (see attached).

Thanks

Your MediaInfo screenshot shows Transfer Characteristics as BT.709 which is SD, not HDR. Go to project settings > Color Management > Color Space & Transforms and ensure Output color space is set to either Rec.2100 ST2084 for PQ or Rec.2100 HLG for HLG.

Thank you.
So I have my project settings like this now, and I rendered and got this from MediaInfo (see attached)
Have not uploaded to YT yet. Do you feel this is now correct?

Also, do you know if it takes YT longer to actually generate the HDR content vs the standard 4k? I read somewhere that it can take (sometimes) hours for the HDR portion to appear on YT. IDK if there is any truth to that.

Thank you SOOO much also. Jay

Update, I uploaded it to YT and it still shows as 4K only. Not HDR.
Perhaps I am still missing something in the settings on the screenshots I included above?

Sorry but I don't have experience uploading to YouTube myself, all my stuff goes elsewhere but it looks okay to me for the encode except for one thing I mentioned in my first post... "PQ usually has a Full color range".
You can set this in Project Settings > Master Settings > Video Monitoring > Data levels. If you do this and re-encode your MediaInfo should then show FULL instead of Limited. This would not prevent HDR but would not have correct luminance levels, pale or opposite.

Ok, I changed that setting, re-rendered and it still says "limited" in mediainfo.
BUT, it says limited for the raw clip that I uploaded which DOES register as HDR in YT.

Here are the 2 mediainfo's next to each other:
The left is the one using all the settings recommended above (edited thru DR from the raw nvidia file).
The right side is the raw file from nvidia that YT DOES recognize as HDR (not processed by DR at all).

I'm so confused. They are exactly the same except for the bitrate.

Jay

Someone has mentioned in other forums that YT takes a much longer time to activate the HDR version of a video. Give it a day or two.

Youtube takes 4 to 24 hours to show the HDR version, can take longer too depending upon how long is the video duration & what codec you upload.
I mostly upload in H265 10bit mov files, my videos are short & I get to see HDR version within 4 hours.

Youtube takes 4 to 24 hours to show the HDR version, can take longer too depending upon how long is the video duration & what codec you upload.
I mostly upload in H265 10bit mov files, my videos are short & I get to see HDR version within 4 hours.

Thanks.
Yeah I am uploading as H.265, main10 also (But I am using MP4). See attached.
For that test video that I uploaded, it is only 15 seconds long and it is still not marked as HDR and it has been almost 24 hours. I will wait till later today and check again.

However, the RAW HDR video from nVidia that I uploaded (which had the same exact settings, see the above attachment of settings comparison) which was about 30 seconds ended up getting the HDR designation in about 20 mins.

So, the video has been up on YT for almost 48 hours now and it still just shows 4k.
Is there something else I am missing?

It just makes no sense since the RAW video shows as HDR within an hour (actually within 10 mins) of being uploaded.
And MediaInfo shows basically the same for both files (see above).

Any other thoughts?
Or any ideas where I could get more help?

Thanks to all that have assisted so far. I very much appreciate it.

All looks fine and limited levels is a correct setting.

So, the video has been up on YT for almost 48 hours now and it still just shows 4k.
Is there something else I am missing?

Only other way I can think is that you upload the original video on gdrive or dropbox & I can then test upload & check to confirm if its HDR on youtube or not?

I maybe wrong but does Resolve free version support HDR output?

UPDATED
A quick search on chatGPT (The info may be wrong or Newer version might have the HDR ability)

The free version of DaVinci Resolve does not support HDR output on Windows. While it allows users to edit and grade video, the specific HDR features, including HDR grading and mastering, are exclusive to the DaVinci Resolve Studio version. Users have reported that the HDR options are greyed out in the free version, indicating that HDR capabilities are not accessible without upgrading to Studio

I am 99.9% sure you can do HDR in the free version, just not the Dolby HDR version and the advanced mastering stuff.

I ran into that same post you got from chatGPT and that was from 3 years ago. Perhaps back then you could not. They mention the options being "greyed out". In the current version of Resolve, only the Dolby HDR stuff is greyed out now.

I will put the RAW HDR file and my test HDR rendering from DR up on a google drive in the AM. I appreciate you taking a look. If someone figures this out, it's gonna make a LOT of people happy because it seems like not many are able to get it to work properly based on web searches.

Thank you.

Jay

So, the video has been up on YT for almost 48 hours now and it still just shows 4k.
Is there something else I am missing?

Only other way I can think is that you upload the original video on gdrive or dropbox & I can then test upload & check to confirm if its HDR on youtube or not?

Here is a link to a shared Google Drive with the 2 files above we have been talking about.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Thank you so much for looking at these.

does this help.

does this help.

Just finished watching it. It's from a Resolve version 3 years ago but 99% of the screens are the same.
There was only one small thing he was doing different than I was, in the project settings, related to the TimeLine Color Space (and this looks screen different in the current resolve but close enough for me to duplicate). And I was using a preset YouTube render with all the same settings he selected, but this time I just copied using his method of selecting custom instead of the YT preset (even though all the settings matched anyways).

I re-rendered and everything looks exactly the same in mediainfo as it did when I rendered it all the other times with my original settings but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I and am uploading to YT now. Will wait an hour or so and see what happens.
Will let you all know if that made any difference.

Thanks again for the help!

Here is a link to a shared Google Drive with the 2 files above we have been talking about.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Thank you so much for looking at these.

I uploaded 2 videos on Youtube &
Sniper Elite 5 2024 gets HDR enabled (Original)
where as TestAsHDR (Out from Resolve) doesn't get HDR at all even after 12 hours.

Next I am going to try using Sniper Elite 5 2024, then output via Resolve Studio to HDR PQ & upload on youtube to see what happens.

Thanks Ranjan!

It's crazy isn't it? It makes no sense. The same thing happened with me. The original gets HDR the resolve one does not.

The one I uploaded using the settings from the instructional video that was posted still is not HDR after 6 hours now either.

Thank you SO much!!

Here is the Davinci Resolve Studio HDR version (I am on M2 macbook)
YouTube converted HDR version in 4 hours.

There has to be something else. Your settings are correct.
Is your test upload UHD or HD?

I assume you are watching it on HDR capable monitor?
Post link to your sample. Maybe it triggers HDR for others.

There has to be something else. Your settings are correct.
Is your test upload UHD or HD?

I assume you are watching it on HDR capable monitor?
Post link to your sample. Maybe it triggers HDR for others.

Hi thanks for the reply. I posted a google drive link to the 2 files above.
And the mediaInfo for both of them is above also.

And yes, I am using an HDR monitor. It's the same monitor that the footage is being captured/recorded from.

This is crazy.

Here is the Davinci Resolve Studio HDR version (I am on M2 macbook)
YouTube converted HDR version in 4 hours.

So that is the file AFTER rendered thru Resolve? And it is showing up as HDR on YouTube?
Can you screenshot your settings pages please?

So that is the file AFTER rendered thru Resolve? And it is showing up as HDR on YouTube?
Can you screenshot your settings pages please?

Yes Rendered through Resolve
Yes its showing as HDR after output on my mac locally as well as on Youtube.

Here are simple settings which I used.

screenshot_406.jpg (64.08 KiB) Viewed 8771 times

So that is the file AFTER rendered thru Resolve? And it is showing up as HDR on YouTube?
Can you screenshot your settings pages please?

Yes Rendered through Resolve
Yes its showing as HDR after output on my mac locally as well as on Youtube.

Here are simple settings which I used.

screenshot_406.jpg

Ok, what about your rendering screen settings? Could you screenshot that also please?

Ok, what about your rendering screen settings? Could you screenshot that also please?

screenshot_407.jpg (67.14 KiB) Viewed 8750 times

For HDR, use Rec.2100

Ok, what about your rendering screen settings? Could you screenshot that also please?

The attachment screenshot_407.jpg is no longer available

So mine look almost exactly the same as yours. I am using version 19.1
But I am using the free version, not studio so maybe that is why there are minor differences in the screen?
These are my settings. The framerate IS different. You have 59.94 and I have 60. Could that have any effect?

5 hours later and still not HDR on YT. Settings are shown above and pretty much match what you have in your screenshots. I don't get it. This makes no sense.

I am starting to wonder if you must have the studio version for ANY HDR. The website said you need studio to do HDR grading and stuff like that. But maybe something changed? I am not opposed to buying the studio version if I know that is what it will take to make this work. But I don't want to waste $$ on it if it will not because I would never use any of the OTHER studio features.

Any other thoughts?
Do actual RESOLVE employees/support people ever read these posts that could clarify?

Your exported files look fine in terms of flagging. Studio won't change anything.
You don't need studio do grade HDR in the form way how you need it.
Try doing the same just export different codec: ProRes or DNxHR.

YT says that flagging as yours is enough. There is extra/optional HDR metadata, but they don't say it's mandatory.

Your issue may be related to the fact that HDR flagging is only present at container level not h265 private headers. For this you do need Resolve studio if I'm correct.

Your issue may be related to the fact that HDR flagging is only present at container level not h265 private headers. For this you do need Resolve studio if I'm correct.

Other file from your gdrive does have private headers in h265, so 99% this is the issue.

First try different codec than h265. Try DNxHR. Will be big (so just do 3sec.) but it may work.
Resolve Studio exports h265 with correct private headers, so it's either free version limitation or maybe change GPU driver. Which driver do you have?

As in latest Resolve Manual, August 2024, Chapter 10, page 249

hdr.png (100.7 KiB) Viewed 8562 times

Not sure about that, but that may be it. Only have Studio versions on my machines so can't test it.

You can do basic HDR work in free version as well. Studio has more HDR orientated features including advanced options like DolbyVision support, etc.
Problem is bit limited support for h264/5 in free version on Windows.

Your issue may be related to the fact that HDR flagging is only present at container level not h265 private headers. For this you do need Resolve studio if I'm correct.

Other file from your gdrive does have private headers in h265, so 99% this is the issue.

First try different codec than h265. Try DNxHR. Will be big (so just do 3sec.) but it may work.
Resolve Studio exports h265 with correct private headers, so it's either free version limitation or maybe change GPU driver. Which driver do you have?

I am using the latest Nvidia driver. I have an rtx4090 GPU.

Your issue may be related to the fact that HDR flagging is only present at container level not h265 private headers. For this you do need Resolve studio if I'm correct.

Other file from your gdrive does have private headers in h265, so 99% this is the issue.

First try different codec than h265. Try DNxHR. Will be big (so just do 3sec.) but it may work.
Resolve Studio exports h265 with correct private headers, so it's either free version limitation or maybe change GPU driver. Which driver do you have?

So are you saying that the sniper file from the Google drive which was the raw file that was captured using the Nvidia software has all of these proper headers versus the one on the Google drive which was sent through resolve does not?
If If that is what you're saying, then all of this is starting to make sense what everybody is saying related to these headers or metadata.
I'll try the other export formats mentioned. I wish there was someone else on this forum that has the free version, not studio, that could take that file from my Google drive and process it through their resolve using the settings that they know will produce the proper HDR video. Just to maybe confirm the whole studio versus free version potential limitation.

But again tomorrow morning I will try exporting using the alternate export format.

I very much appreciate everyone's help. If there was a way I could buy you all a beer or a coffee I absolutely would.
Thanks again.
Jay

My youtube HDR videos can take a while to process. Usually, the longer the video the longer the processing. But it's VERY randomly variable. I had one video that took 3 weeks to process for viewing in HDR. That's 3 weeks, no typo.

If you are truly outputting an HDR file and the tags are wrong, I'd think the initial SDR youtube would look very wrong, extremely desaturated and low contrast. If it looks like a correct SDR downconversion than that's a clue the tags are correct.

For about a month or two all my uploads that use youtube's SDR downconversion lut system were showing up completely wrong, with color channels being swapped, with orange turning blue. It looked like the two color channels in the LAB color space were reversed, with a color negative looking result. After a couple of months I could upload properly again, no changes to the files. Just another point that youtube can really be screwy with HDR sometimes besides just the long processing.

I'd suggest using a color range of full to get the most out of your bits. You don't set that in the project settings though. There's a place to set that on the deliver page. Not sure exactly where right now, my system is running an output and I can't check, but a quick google suggests the video tab under advanced settings.

[/quote]
Here is a link to a shared Google Drive with the 2 files above we have been talking about.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Thank you so much for looking at these.[/quote]

I checked both videos on my TV.
Sniper Elite: This one definitely works with HDR. My TV switched to HDR mode when I played it.
TestAsHDR: Unfortunately, this video doesn't seem to be recognized as HDR by my TV. YouTube will not recognize this video as HDR content either.

Your issue may be related to the fact that HDR flagging is only present at container level not h265 private headers. For this you do need Resolve studio if I'm correct.

Other file from your gdrive does have private headers in h265, so 99% this is the issue.

First try different codec than h265. Try DNxHR. Will be big (so just do 3sec.) but it may work.
Resolve Studio exports h265 with correct private headers, so it's either free version limitation or maybe change GPU driver. Which driver do you have?

I am using the latest Nvidia driver. I have an rtx4090 GPU.

Ok- this will be down to free version then.
On Mac there is no problem as OSX has "better" h265 system encoder.

Here is a link to a shared Google Drive with the 2 files above we have been talking about.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Thank you so much for looking at these.[/quote]

I checked both videos on my TV.
Sniper Elite: This one definitely works with HDR. My TV switched to HDR mode when I played it.
TestAsHDR: Unfortunately, this video doesn't seem to be recognized as HDR by my TV. YouTube will not recognize this video as HDR content either.[/quote]

Expected behaviour. TVs require proper headers in h265 itself, not just on container level. YT most likely requires the same.

I'll try the other export formats mentioned.
Thanks again.
Jay

Yes, try DNxHR which should be flagged properly and YT should detect HDR nature of the file.

You can "fix" those files with ffmpeg:

Code: Select all

fmpeg.exe -i C:\TestAsHDR.mp4 -bsf:v hevc_metadata=transfer_characteristics=16:colour_primaries=9:matrix_coefficients=9 -c copy  -movflags +write_colr C:\out.mov

This will add PQ flagging to your file.

Other solution is exporting to eg. DNxHR and encoding to h265 though 3rd party- ffmpeg, etc.

....I'll try the other export formats mentioned...

HDR distribution is not in a mature state. E.g, on MacOS Safari, HDR is not recognized on Youtube, but it is on Firefox. The same HDR files are recognized by Safari from Vimeo. This is for profesionally-encoded HDR HLG demonstration videos.

If you don't have a true HDR monitor it can be hard to visually see whether it's HDR or not. On desktop Youtube you can right-click on the screen and pick "Stats for Nerds." That will show what color space it's using. Note this is determined by the "handshake" during the connection. It can vary with each type of client machine and device. See attached examples. All three videos were properly encoded as HDR, one PQ and the other two HLG. But when Safari connected to Youtube, during the handshake they decided the 3rd one (HDR/HLG) was not supported, thus the file streamed from Youtube was a Rec.709 (BT.709) version.

Using your files, they are both recognized as HDR during local Quicktime playback on my Mac running Sequoia 15.1.1. However, if I upload those files to YouTube, neither one is recognized as HDR from either MacOS Safari or Firefox. Uploaded to Vimeo, the DVR one is recognized as HDR by Safari but not Firefox. Your other HDR video is not recognized as HDR on Vimeo by either MacOS Safari or Firefox.

In general I suggest you encode your video from Resolve using HLG Rec.2020 or Rec.2100, not PQ. The PQ standard uses absolute brightness encoding, and for web distribution, it seems like HLG is better (but not universally) supported.

....I'll try the other export formats mentioned...

Using your files, they are both recognized as HDR during local Quicktime playback on my Mac running Sequoia 15.1.1. However, if I upload those files to YouTube, neither one is recognized as HDR from either MacOS Safari or Firefox. Uploaded to Vimeo, the DVR one is recognized as HDR by Safari but not Firefox. Your other HDR video is not recognized as HDR on Vimeo by either MacOS Safari or Firefox.

Ok, then something must be happening with what you are doing because BOTH of those files show up and play as HDR on my local machine (and everyone else's here that has tested it).
And The first shows up on Youtube as HDR (takes about 20 mins for it to show up), but the second does not (Which is the whole reason for this thread).

IDK why you are getting different results than others. That's odd in itself.

....something must be happening with what you are doing because BOTH of those files show up and play as HDR on my local machine (and everyone else's here that has tested it)...

I stated that both files work OK on my machine for local Quicktime playback. They have varying results if uploaded to streaming services depending on which service and what OS and browser are used for playback.

Using your files, they are both recognized as HDR during local Quicktime playback on my Mac running Sequoia 15.1.1. However, if I upload those files to YouTube, neither one is recognized as HDR from either MacOS Safari or Firefox. Uploaded to Vimeo, the DVR one is recognized as HDR by Safari but not Firefox. Your other HDR video is not recognized as HDR on Vimeo by either MacOS Safari or Firefox.

Reason is simple. YT creates different encodes ( h265, vp9,...) which takes time. Different browsers support different codecs. You need to give it a time to create all profiles.
YT alway re-encodes your source, so you never see your original file. IT needs proper flagging so YT engine knows it's a HDR and properly encodes all profiles.

....I'll try the other export formats mentioned...

Using your files, they are both recognized as HDR during local Quicktime playback on my Mac running Sequoia 15.1.1. However, if I upload those files to YouTube, neither one is recognized as HDR from either MacOS Safari or Firefox. Uploaded to Vimeo, the DVR one is recognized as HDR by Safari but not Firefox. Your other HDR video is not recognized as HDR on Vimeo by either MacOS Safari or Firefox.

Ok, then something must be happening with what you are doing because BOTH of those files show up and play as HDR on my local machine (and everyone else's here that has tested it).
And The first shows up on Youtube as HDR (takes about 20 mins for it to show up), but the second does not (Which is the whole reason for this thread).

IDK why you are getting different results than others. That's odd in itself.

Don't waste your time. Free Resolve output as h265 won't be recognised as HDR as it misses crucial headers. Solutions are in posts above.

....something must be happening with what you are doing because BOTH of those files show up and play as HDR on my local machine (and everyone else's here that has tested it)...

I stated that both files work OK on my machine for local Quicktime playback. They have varying results if uploaded to streaming services depending on which service and what OS and browser are used for playback.

Yes but you also stated "However, if I upload those files to YouTube, neither one is recognized as HDR from either MacOS Safari or Firefox. "

All of us (including myself) have been able to get the first one to be recognized by YT. Just not the 2nd one (again, the point of this thread).
I bet if you wait an hour, the (first) one you uploaded to YT will show as HDR like it has for all of us.

Don't waste your time. Free Resolve output as h265 won't be recognised as HDR as it misses crucial headers. Solutions are in posts above.

I am beginning to think this is the case and someone else above also theorized. Can you confirm this fact in any "current" Resolve documentation? Again, I'll buy studio if I have to. I just will never use any of the other features so kinda a waste of $$ IMO.

Also, what "Solutions" do you feel are in the posts above? because other than the ones posted last night, I have tried all of the others.

Thanks!

....All of us (including myself) have been able to get the first one to be recognized by YT. Just not the 2nd one (again, the point of this thread).

The current state of HDR video streaming is it's dependent on various things, some of which you cannot control. The version of the OS, type of device, version and type of browser, connection speed, etc.

Re why I didn't see HDR and others did -- that is an example. I uploaded your test videos six hours ago, so the non-HDR playback was caused by some other unknown factor. I tested it on several different HDR-capable machines and different browsers. I can see other HDR material, just not yours.

If your goal is to have a varied audience watch your program in HDR, it's good to to understand those things. Otherwise, you'll end up changing config parameters forever. Maybe have a friend with each major type of HDR-capable device, e.g, Windows, Mac, iPad Pro, Android, etc. Have them check your upload before you enable it for wider viewing.

When you (or others) test HDR playback on Youtube, always use the "Stats for Nerds" option to verify your device is connected to an HDR stream. That is a much more reliable method than simply eyeballing it.

Don't rely so hard on Resolve manual or BM info. There are many aspects of Resolve features/quirks which are mentioned nowhere.

Here:

I'll try the other export formats mentioned.
Thanks again.
Jay

Yes, try DNxHR which should be flagged properly and YT should detect HDR nature of the file.

You can "fix" those files with ffmpeg:

Code: Select all

fmpeg.exe -i C:\TestAsHDR.mp4 -bsf:v hevc_metadata=transfer_characteristics=16:colour_primaries=9:matrix_coefficients=9 -c copy  -movflags +write_colr C:\out.mov

This will add PQ flagging to your file.

Other solution is exporting to eg. DNxHR and encoding to h265 though 3rd party- ffmpeg, etc.