[therealjoeblow]

I used RipBot v1.23.1 to convert a 2160p HDR x265 video to a 1080p SDR x264 using the BT.2020->BT.709 Tonemap option, and while it did correct the HDR and remap the colors/levels, the end result still looks a bit too bright. Whites in very light scenes look a bit blown out, and during the end credits where the background should be pure black, it's not quite, its dark grey.

Almost like it needs TV->PC level conversion, but not quite - when I ran a second encode and added that option, then it was too dark, with blacks being crushed and losing all detail in dark parts throughout.

So it needs a tweak in-between.

Does anyone know if this is normal, and in that case, are there "standard" additional changes I would need to the brightness and contrast settings to get the levels correct? Or do I need to just keep doing test encodes until I find the right balance?