Table of Contents

Since 2016, HDR video has moved from labs into living rooms across discs, streaming, and games. In this guide, I explain HDR, HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision in plain terms—what they are, how they differ on real screens, and what to expect on today's TVs, players, and PCs. Drawing on my own tests and vendor specs, I'll also outline practical playback and backup workflows. If you need a reliable way to preserve HDR10 or Dolby Vision when ripping or converting your UHD Blu-rays, I'll show where DVDFab fits into that toolkit—objectively, with settings that actually work.

Exploring HDR, HDR10, and Dolby Vision in Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs

Introduction to HDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision

 Quick Answer
  • HDR is short for High Dynamic Range. It lets a video show brighter highlights, deeper shadows, and richer color than SDR.
  • HDR10 is the base HDR format. It is the one you can count on most often. Nearly every HDR-capable TV, streaming box, and 4K Blu-ray setup supports it.
  • HDR10+ builds on HDR10 by adding dynamic metadata. In simple terms, it can adjust brightness instructions scene by scene instead of using one set of instructions for the whole movie.
  • Dolby Vision also uses dynamic metadata. It is the more advanced and more tightly controlled format. In the right setup, it can look more refined than HDR10, especially in hard scenes with both bright and dark detail on screen at the same time.

    The main idea is easy to remember: HDR10 is the baseline, while HDR10+ and Dolby Vision try to improve tone mapping with dynamic data.

What's HDR?

High Dynamic Range (HDR) is a technology that lets videos show brighter highlights and darker shadows, giving more contrast and richer color than Standard Dynamic Range (SDR). Most HDR formats use 10-bit color, which helps reduce visible banding in smooth gradients.

HDR also includes metadata — extra information sent with the video signal that tells the display how the content was mastered (how bright the peaks are, and how dark the shadows). This metadata comes in different types: static metadata, which stays the same throughout the movie, and dynamic metadata, which adjusts scene by scene or frame by frame in formats that support it.

When the content, the display and the environment all work well together, HDR usually makes a visible difference. HDR preserves the gradation from dark to light in a way that SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) cannot. This allows both dark and very bright points of light to be fidelized with a great deal of detail and color.

sdr vs hdr

What's HDR10?

HDR10 is an open standard for HDR video. It uses static metadata, which means the information about brightness and color volume is set once for the whole movie. Most HDR10 content is mastered for peak brightness between 1,000 and 4,000 nits, with 10-bit color depth and wide color gamut (BT.2020).

Because of these specs, HDR10 can show brighter lights and darker shadows than SDR in many cases. It offers a much larger color palette (over one billion shades) compared to SDR's typical 8-bit / Rec.709 color space. But how good it looks depends heavily on your display's peak brightness, its ability to interpret the static metadata, and your viewing environment. If your TV is dim or has limited color volume, the extra range might be less visible.

HDR10's metadata includes values like MaxCLL (maximum content light level) and MaxFALL (maximum frame-average light level), which help displays decide how to map the content to their own capabilities. However, these metadata items do not change during the movie, so scenes with very bright or very dark lighting may not be handled optimally by every display.

What's Dolby Vision?

dolby vision vs hdr

(Image from Dolby)

Dolby Vision (DoVi) is an advanced HDR format created by Dolby Labs. It supports dynamic metadata, which means the content can send instructions that change scene by scene, or even frame by frame, depending on the profile used. Dolby Vision is capable of up to 10,000 nits peak brightness in theory, and up to 12-bit color depth. 

On Ultra HD Blu-ray discs that use Dolby Vision Profile 7, video is packaged in two layers. The base layer (compatible with HDR10) carries a standard signal, and the enhancement layer adds extra information to improve color, brightness, or detail. If your display supports Dolby Vision Profile 7, it will use both layers together. If not, it will fall back to using only the base layer.

Using dynamic metadata allows Dolby Vision to better preserve detail in bright and dark areas than formats using only static metadata. I tested the city-night scene from Blade Runner 2049 on my LG OLED G1 using the Dolby Vision UHD Blu-ray version. That scene has neon signs, mist, and distant building edges. In the HDR10 versions, the neon signs are vivid but you get noticeable haloing and bleeding around bright edges; transition between misty light and shadow feels harsh. Under Dolby Vision, the dynamic metadata adjusts the scene's brightness curve: neon edges are sharper, the lights in the mist don't over-spill, and you can make out texture in the street paving even in deep shadows. When I turned off all the ambient room lights, the difference became especially obvious.

What's HDR10+?

hdr 10 vs hdr 10+

HDR10+ is a royalty-free HDR format created by a group including Samsung, Panasonic, and 20th Century Fox. As the name suggests, HDR10+ takes all of the good parts of HDR10 and improves on them. In theory, HDR10+ supports mastering brightness up to 10,000 nits, though in practice most content is mastered in the 1,000 to 4,000 nits range. Devices also vary in how much of that brightness they can actually display. Because it uses dynamic metadata, HDR10+ can adjust settings per frame, improving contrast and detail (as shown in the image on the right).

When I watched Fury (4K HDR10+ streaming version) on my Samsung QLED Q90T in a dim living room with ambient backlight, I compared the same explosion scene in HDR10 and HDR10+ versions. In the HDR10 version, the blast's highlights were painfully bright, the clouds in the sky were washed out, and details in the dark wall were lost. But in the HDR10+ version, the fire's brightness did not simply clip out; I could still see texture in the clouds, and the shadows on the wall retained the cracks in the broken bricks. The overall contrast felt better balanced, and even though the TV's peak brightness wasn't extremely high, the picture looked more natural and lifelike.

Comparison: HDR10 vs. Dolby Vision vs. HDR10+

The dynamic metadata formats Dolby Vision and HDR10+ are enhancements over the HDR10. Their streams can usually be played back as HDR10 on players or displays that don't support dynamic HDR. HDR10+ is a simpler approach, considered "good enough" for most uses, while Dolby Vision is the most complex and thus capable of them all, sometimes adding a second layer of information aside from metadata to assist with delivering the filmmaker's vision.

  HDR10 HDR10+ Dolby Vision
Bit Depth 10 bit
1.07 billion colors		 10 bit
1.07 billion colors		 12 bit
68.7 billion colors
Peak Brightness Mastered from 1000 to 4000 cd/m² Mastered from 1000 to 4000 cd/m² Mastered from 1000 to 4000 cd/m²
Tone Mapping Varies per Manufacturer Tones that extend past the TV's range are mapped using the PQ transfer function Tones that extend past the TV's range are mapped by a Dolby chip* using the PQ transfer function
Metadata Static Dynamic Dynamic
TV Support
Nearly all HDR-capable TVs
 Samsung, Panasonic, Philips, TCL, Toshiba, Hisense LG, Sony, Vizio, TCL, Panasonic, Philips
Licensing
Open / royalty-free
Open / royalty-free (logo program admin fee)
Licensed (device/content certification)
Content Availability
Universal baseline across discs & streaming
Growing: Prime Video, YouTube, Apple TV+, Disney+ and Netflix (2025)
Widespread across major services (Netflix, Apple TV+, Disney+, Prime Video, Paramount+, etc.)
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One HDR format that should be mentioned is HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma), created by BBC and NHK it is mostly used in television broadcasting. It is therefore used on UHD BDAV2 discs in Japan. It does not use metadata and it’s sort of an extension to SDR.
 
HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision or HDR formats from Technicolor and Philips are not compatible with SDR and HLG, because they use a different way (PQ transfer function) to digitize light.

Application of HDR and Dolby Vision

4K TV & Player

Many 4K and some 8K TVs support HDR10, but not all support HDR10+ or Dolby Vision. You need to know about it before you watch the HDR contents. But generally speaking:

  • Most 4K TVs released since 2018 support HDR10.
  • It will also support HDR10 if it supports Dolby Vision or HDR10+.
  • The 4K HDR projectors only support HDR10 for now.

Here we listed the popular TVs and standalone players only here. Please check the TV specification yourself if not list your TV.

4K TVs Size HDR10 HDR10+ Dolby Vision
LG B8 OLED 55' 65' √ × √
LG B9 OLED 55' 65' 77' √ × √
LG SK9500 65'  √ × √
LG SK8000 49' 55' 65' √ × √
Panasonic TC-55GZ1000 55' 65' √ √ √
Panasonic TC-40GX700 40' 65' 58' 50' √ √ ×

 

4K Standalone
Players		 HDR10 HDR10+ Dolby Vision
LG UBKC90 √ × √
LG UBK80 √ × ×
Philips BDP7502 √ × √
Panasonic DP-UB820-K √ √ √
Sony UBP-X800M2 √ × √

UHD Blu-ray Discs

UHD Blu-ray discs are the best way to enjoy HDR movies at home. Greater capacity (up to 100 GB) and newer codec (HEVC) allow for movies to shine at their best. From the very beginning, UHD Blu-ray specs included HDR10 and Dolby Vision, with movies encoded with these HDR formats appearing in 2016 and 2017 (for DoVi). HDR10+ was added later and first discs to include it appeared in 2018. Because of a "format war" between some popular TV manufacturers (LG and Samsung) and their exclusive support for one format over the other, some studios (Lionsgate, Warner, Universal) even included both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ on their discs. Others, favor one format over the other: Paramount uses DoVi and Fox uses HDR10+ mostly.

DVDFab's UHD Backup Solution

DVDFab includes three tools for 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray back-up:

  • UHD Copy— Copy UHD discs with or without compression.
  • UHD Ripper — Convert UHD discs to MKV/MP4 (or other formats).
  • UHD Drive Tool— Check drive compatibility and, where legal, adjust firmware so a drive can read UHD discs.

Before copying or converting your 4K UHD discs in DVDFab, please read the note and make your UHD drive back-up ready.

NOTE:

Not all UHD drives can read or back up UHD discs. Drives are often called either "friendly" or "official."

  • Friendly drives weren't designed for UHD, but their firmware doesn't enforce the strict AACS2 copy protection. That makes them friendlier for backup tools like DVDFab, which can still use them to read and copy UHD discs.
  • Official drives are fully UHD-certified and support AACS2, but because of that strict protection, not every model works with DVDFab.

If your drive can't read UHD discs, you can try DVDFab Drive Tool to check compatibility. In some cases, you can downgrade the firmware so the drive behaves more like a "friendly" one. But only do this if you understand the risks and follow local laws.

HDR Support in Copy Module

DVDFab UHD Copy
  • Copy the UHD discs to BD100/BD66/BD50/BD25 in Full Disc or Main Movie mode, and it will also keep the HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision contents in the output results.
  • For HDR10 and Dolby Vision UHD discs, it will keep the HDR10 or Dolby Vision regardless of the option to compress the movie or not

HDR Support in Ripper Module

DVDFab UHD Ripper
  • Convert UHD discs to MKV/MP4 as lossless copies, or re-encode to smaller files with high quality.

Use the following profiles to preserve HDR correctly with DVDFab UHD Ripper and match your playback setup.

For HDR10 discs

  • Recommended: MKV.Passthrough (lossless video & audio).
  • Smaller file: MKV.4K.HDR10.H265.10Bit (re-encode; HDR10 preserved).

For Dolby Vision discs

  • Container: Dolby Vision is preserved in MP4 output only.
  • Keep Dolby Vision: MP4.4K.DolbyVision.H265.10Bit (preserves DoVi and high audio quality).
  • HDR10-only devices: MKV.Passthrough (lossless HDR10 version).

For HDR10+ discs

  • Keep HDR10+: MKV.Passthrough (lossless).
  • Container note: HDR10/HDR10+ don’t need special container support; if the decoder is HDR10+-aware, it will detect and apply the metadata.

FAQs

Is Dolby Vision better than HDR10 on every TV?

No. Dolby Vision is usually better in theory, but the result still depends on the TV, the content, the picture mode, and the full HDMI chain. On some TVs, the difference is easy to see. On others, it is small.

Why does Dolby Vision look dark on my TV?

Common reasons include a dim room setup, the wrong picture mode, poor TV implementation, a bad HDMI path, or a title that is not actually playing in Dolby Vision on that device.

If my TV does not support Dolby Vision, can it still play the disc?

In many UHD Blu-ray cases, yes. If the disc uses a Dolby Vision profile with an HDR10-compatible base layer, an HDR10-capable TV can still play the HDR10 version.

Why is Dolby Vision not showing on Netflix or Apple TV?

Check the title label, your device model, your HDMI input, your HDMI settings, your cable, and any receiver or soundbar in the middle. On Apple TV 4K, content matching settings also matter.

Is HDR10+ the same as Dolby Vision?

No. Both use dynamic metadata, but they are different formats with different ecosystems and device support. Both can fall back to HDR10 in the right cases.

Conclusion

From fundamentals to real-world viewing, we've broken down HDR, HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision in Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs, and helped you match your UHD Blu-ray discs to the right devices. Enjoy the picture as the creators intended, and don't forget to safely back up and flexibly transcode your library with DVDFab UHD module.