# \[Implemented\] HDR-\>SDR Transcoding
**URL:** https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894
**Category:** Feature Suggestions
**Created:** [March 22, 2018, 2:45am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894 "2018-03-22T02:45:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Maxim2018](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Maxim2018)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/21 "2019-06-04T22:40:08Z")
Dear Plex team, are you working on this feature? What’s the status?
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### Author:  [@scarbrtj](https://forums.plex.tv/u/scarbrtj)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2019, 4:01am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/22 "2019-07-16T04:01:35Z")
Still hoping out here in loyal user land
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### Author:  [@Ammageddon](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Ammageddon)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2019, 12:55pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/23 "2019-07-26T12:55:25Z")
Upvoted too. This doesn´t look too great. Maybe this could be solved by allowing external FFMpeg encoders for certain video types? That way the users could adjust FFMpeg to their own liking.
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### Author:  [@Intentt](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Intentt)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/24 "2019-08-01T22:44:04Z")
One of the biggest issues plaguing me right now. Video color quality is unacceptable for all new content. Here is a comparison of Plex vs VLC on the same PC.
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### Author:  [@TeknoJunky](https://forums.plex.tv/u/TeknoJunky)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2019, 10:49pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/25 "2019-08-01T22:49:04Z")
plex is not vlc.
> [@\[INFO\] Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you - aka the rules of 4k](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-4k-transcoding-and-you-aka-the-rules-of-4k-a-faq/378203#Q1):
>
> NOTE: for 2022 – Plex has come a long way since this FAQ was originally written, HW transcoding has become more available and more stable, and tone mapping was recently added to address the hdr/sdr color conversion issues. The first 4 ‘rules’ generally are no longer as important as they once were, but may still be a good thing to bear in mind. Dolby Vision, is an entirely other mess. THIS thread/FAQ is NOT about DV. DV work is still in progress, and there are no perfect TV’s or external devic…
also, they are supposedly working on decoder/encoder upgrades (new ffmpeg).
no its not out, no they won’t tell us when.
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### Author:  [@Intentt](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Intentt)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/26 "2019-08-02T00:43:04Z")
> [@TeknoJunky](#):
>
> The Rules of 4k and plex The first rule of 4k is Don’t bother transcoding 4k The second rule of 4k is DON’T bother transcoding 4k The third rule of 4k is If you cannot direct play 4k, then perhaps you should not even be collecting 4k. The forth rule of 4k is If you don’t have the storage space for a copy of both 4k and 1080/720, then perhaps you should not even be collecting 4k. The fifth rule of 4k is To direct play 4k, your entire playback chain must be compatible with both the …
Yes - I understand that VLC is not Plex, that’s not the point I tried to make. I have multiple 4K devices capable and incapable of HDR. Other non-HDR devices seem to handle the files without issue, so at best, this should be considered missing functionality.
I have nearly 50TB of content, with over half in 4K. Your “rules” suggesting that one should to retain a separate version of all content to direct play to each device (or to not bother acquiring 4K content at all) is unrealistic and burdensome for most users.
Glad to hear they are working encoder upgrades. That’s the reason I voted on this 15 month old idea. The more votes the better.
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### Author:  [@scarbrtj](https://forums.plex.tv/u/scarbrtj)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2019, 3:51pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/27 "2019-08-13T15:51:35Z")
One of the main problems with keeping two copies is that if you play either copy, in your “continue watching” main top nav area, both items appear. Even if you didn’t play one of 'em. So then you have to browse, etc., make sure you don’t play that crappy looking 4K version if you’re looking on a non-HDR playback station.
In other words, and this has nothing to do with 4K per se, if you keep two copies of the exact same movie and place each copy in a separate library, it creates a GUI “hiccup” for the user.
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### Author:  [@Xhaka](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Xhaka)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/28 "2019-08-13T16:20:10Z")
> [@scarbrtj](#):
>
> if you keep two copies of the exact same movie and place each copy in a separate library, it creates a GUI “hiccup” for the user.
This ^^
I’m not 100% certain on this but I believe also that the same movie in two libraries means VP thumbs are generated twice.
Separate libraries for HDR and non HDR movies or any other multi-versioning, isn’t a solution, isn’t common sense, isn’t the “right” thing to do. It is however still a necessity sadly, however much it breaks the otherwise great user experience.
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### Author:  [@TeknoJunky](https://forums.plex.tv/u/TeknoJunky)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2019, 4:23pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/29 "2019-08-13T16:23:01Z")
you avoid this by setting the 4k library to a different metadata provider.
for existing content, you might have to ‘break’ the pair by unmatch \> re-match.
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### Author:  [@Xhaka](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Xhaka)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/30 "2019-08-13T16:45:57Z")
Yeah sure, there is a lot in Plex that can be fixed with a hack or workaround.
It makes it no less broken.
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### Author:  [@TeknoJunky](https://forums.plex.tv/u/TeknoJunky)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/31 "2019-08-13T17:02:21Z")
true, I don’t think that is under dispute. 🙂
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### Author:  [@speeddemon](https://forums.plex.tv/u/speeddemon)
#### Post date: [November 11, 2019, 8:27pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/32 "2019-11-11T20:27:18Z")
It seems like the ideal solution would be for Plex Media Server to support the new Intel Gen 11 GPUs’ hardware HEVC HDR10 Tone Mapping. The benefit to this could be that all transcoding could be done in hardware for HEVC (not sure if QSV can do tone mapping to AVC) compatible SDR Plex endpoints.
This seems like the only easily accessible solution at the moment given the CPU power needed for relatively accurate tone mapping.
I would upgrade the CPU in my Plex Server if Plex supports this.
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### Author:  [@scarbrtj](https://forums.plex.tv/u/scarbrtj)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2019, 5:58am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/33 "2019-12-29T05:58:51Z")
Wonder if Plex is even looking at this
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### Author:  [@jerhol](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jerhol)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/34 "2019-12-29T16:15:08Z")
Need more people to vote on this issue. Washed out 4K HDR videos are awful. Hope they can find a solution and push it out.
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### Author:  [@Cyberpower678](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Cyberpower678)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/35 "2020-03-06T16:55:36Z")
We could try relentlessly spamming this thread until someone from Plex pays attention to this? Just a thought.
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### Author:  [@TeknoJunky](https://forums.plex.tv/u/TeknoJunky)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/36 "2020-03-06T17:36:52Z")
relentlessly spamming won’t speed up the needed time or resources or even the likeliness of implementation.
Just a thought.
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### Author:  [@SE56](https://forums.plex.tv/u/SE56)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/37 "2020-03-06T17:44:32Z")
That will not achieve anything, consensus has been established, so all we can do is wait and see what happens. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Cyberpower678](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Cyberpower678)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/38 "2020-03-06T17:49:48Z")
But it’s likely someone from the Plex team will respond to confirm or deny whether or not they are implementing this feature. Just a thought. 😉
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### Author:  [@Cyberpower678](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Cyberpower678)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/39 "2020-03-06T17:50:08Z")
It might draw out a Plex employee to comment. 😉
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### Author:  [@TeknoJunky](https://forums.plex.tv/u/TeknoJunky)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/implemented-hdr-sdr-transcoding/229894/40 "2020-03-06T17:55:06Z")
does plex ever confirm or deny anything until they are ready to?
nope.
but good luck.
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