How in the world can I still not record in HDR? (not to mention stream)

Mark Kaine · February 27

I guess this is a rant and a call for help... but i don't think it's actually possible for the average user, at least on Windows 10...?

So i set HDR up in windows as you're supposed to, for content *and* for video "streams", easy enough.

The thing is my games that support it work just fine with HDR and it looks great - im not even particularly fond of how bright it is but everything somehow appears more sharp, i guess thanks to the higher contrast.

However Shadowplay cannot record it properly it seems - currently what's happening is as soon i start a game in HDR Shadowplay just turns itself off! Its bizarre, takes maybe 10 seconds after starting the game and it's off... cant be turned back on either...

Ok, ok, so OBS... set it up like i thought i should (turns out that wasn't entirely correct but more on that later)

So far so good, it does record at least. Checking the footage with windows media player it looks just bog standard SDR... which is frankly progress compared to a some time ago when i tried this.

Me thinking "well, maybe windows media player doesn't support HDR" checks the same video in VLC and it actually does look better, brighter...! Which is great, right? yes. but the problem is its not even close to how it looks ingame, its darker and less contrasty... so ok fine that's still, good, i guess? <-- yes, it really is.

But then it occurred to me shouldn't windows say "HDR" when this is really HDR footage?

well probably, but it still looks better in VLC, so that's nice even if it may not be actually HDR...

However uploading the same video to YouTube is another matter, looks completely washed out, unwatchable...

and of course doesn't say HDR anywhere either!

Ok, so i set OBS up *exactly* as per instructions...

Now the footage looks completely oversaturated, nothing like it looks in game? and, obviously, windows still doesn't say "HDR" anywhere. Surprise.

But the kicker is, while my games look great and the desktop "ok", i cant watch normal videos anymore when "HDR" is enabled in settings... its like very much oversaturated, and *way* too bright, kinda washed out also actually, like there's some kind of light grey filter over everything...! So annoying?!

Also any screenshots i take of games running in HDR look completely washed out, almost colorless...

So what gives, how do i fix this?

i don't understand why windows doesn't just convert things to HDR when HDR is enabled, that would probably solve so many issues. i know windows 11 supposedly does that, but im not convinced, i couldn't find any reviews, or posts etc that actually say yes, this works - in regards of recording vidoegames in HDR.

Blazepoint5 · February 27

46 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

I guess this is a rant and a call for help... but i don't think it's actually possible for the average user, at least on Windows 10...?

So i set HDR up in windows as you're supposed to, for content *and* for video "streams", easy enough.

The thing is my games that support it work just fine with HDR and it looks great - im not even particularly fond of how bright it is but everything somehow appears more sharp, i guess thanks to the higher contrast.

However Shadowplay cannot record it properly it seems - currently what's happening is as soon i start a game in HDR Shadowplay just turns itself off! Its bizarre, takes maybe 10 seconds after starting the game and it's off... cant be turned back on either...

Ok, ok, so OBS... set it up like i thought i should (turns out that wasn't entirely correct but more on that later)

So far so good, it does record at least. Checking the footage with windows media player it looks just bog standard SDR... which is frankly progress compared to a some time ago when i tried this.

Me thinking "well, maybe windows media player doesn't support HDR" checks the same video in VLC and it actually does look better, brighter...! Which is great, right? yes. but the problem is its not even close to how it looks ingame, its darker and less contrasty... so ok fine that's still, good, i guess? <-- yes, it really is.

But then it occurred to me shouldn't windows say "HDR" when this is really HDR footage?

well probably, but it still looks better in VLC, so that's nice even if it may not be actually HDR...

However uploading the same video to YouTube is another matter, looks completely washed out, unwatchable...

and of course doesn't say HDR anywhere either!

Ok, so i set OBS up *exactly* as per instructions...

Now the footage looks completely oversaturated, nothing like it looks in game? and, obviously, windows still doesn't say "HDR" anywhere. Surprise.

But the kicker is, while my games look great and the desktop "ok", i cant watch normal videos anymore when "HDR" is enabled in settings... its like very much oversaturated, and *way* too bright, kinda washed out also actually, like there's some kind of light grey filter over everything...! So annoying?!

Also any screenshots i take of games running in HDR look completely washed out, almost colorless...

So what gives, how do i fix this?

i don't understand why windows doesn't just convert things to HDR when HDR is enabled, that would probably solve so many issues. i know windows 11 supposedly does that, but im not convinced, i couldn't find any reviews, or posts etc that actually say yes, this works - in regards of recording vidoegames in HDR.

If you're using an external capture card, make sure it supports HDR passthrough and recording. The Elgato 4K60 Pro MK.2 and the AVerMedia Live Gamer 4K are examples of capture cards with HDR support.

In OBS, you need to configure the color space and color range settings to properly capture HDR content. Set the color space to "Rec. 2100 (PQ)" and the color range to "Full" in the OBS settings. Also, ensure that you're using the right encoder settings for your GPU (e.g., NVIDIA NVENC or AMD VCE). Some recording software may not properly support HDR recording. In your case, OBS is a good choice, but you might want to try other options like ShadowPlay (if you have an NVIDIA GPU) or Radeon ReLive (for AMD GPUs).

Mark Kaine · February 27

1 hour ago, Blazepoint5 said:

In OBS, you need to configure the color space and color range settings to properly capture HDR content. Set the color space to "Rec. 2100 (PQ)" and the color range to "Full" in the OBS settings. Also, ensure that you're using the right encoder settings for your GPU (e.g., NVIDIA NVENC

thats how i set it in OBS... it still doesn't record or stream in HDR.

1 hour ago, Blazepoint5 said:

but you might want to try other options like ShadowPlay (if you have an NVIDIA GPU)

as i said, that for some strange reason doesn't work, infact Shadowplay turns itself off as soon i start a game with HDR enabled.

Blazepoint5 · February 27

8 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

thats how i set it in OBS... it still doesn't record or stream in HDR.

as i said, that for some strange reason doesn't work, infact Shadowplay turns itself off as soon i start a game with HDR enabled.

Go on youtube and search a game play hdr videos , short it by date and find one. Go to the comment and ask how they record.

LAwLz · February 28

An easy way to verify whether or not a video is in HDR is to use the program "MediaInfo".

That will show you the metadata which will tell you if the video is HDR or not. That way you don't have to guess based on what the video looks like.

Have you enabled HDR recording in OBS? It isn't enough to just enable it in Windows. You also need to switch a few other settings.

The format has to be set to HEVC or AV1.

The color space has to be set to Rec 2100 PQ.

The color format has to be set to PO10.

I am fairly sure Nvidia has a good guide on how to do all of this in OBS. It's not as simple as just enabling HDR in Windows and then everything works.