A streaming original mastered in HDR is not one deliverable. It is a Dolby Vision IMF package from which the platform derives multiple downstream streams — Dolby Vision, HDR10, and an SDR fallback. The mastering studio that treats this as a single line item on a quote is going to be doing creative work for free.
Most do.
What Netflix actually asks for
Netflix originals delivered in HDR must be mastered in Dolby Vision and packaged according to the platform's IMF specification. From that single package, Netflix derives every downstream version a viewer might receive. Dolby Vision for compatible TVs. HDR10 for sets that do not speak Dolby Vision. SDR Rec.709 for everything else.
The current version of the spec accepts Dolby Vision 4.0 deliveries. The earlier 2.9 spec is still supported. Both versions require Level 1 image-character analysis on every shot — that is the baseline. Without it, the metadata is incomplete and the package fails QC at intake.
The trim pass nobody bids for
Level 2 metadata, with the TID 1 designation, is the SDR Rec.709 trim pass at one hundred nits. It is not technically required to ship. It is included only if creative talent decides additional color adjustments need to be made on a scene-by-scene basis to keep the SDR experience faithful to the HDR intent.
In practice, on any project where the colorist is doing their job, this trim pass exists. A grade that lives at one thousand nits in HDR does not collapse cleanly to one hundred nits SDR by default. Some shots breathe wider, some skin tones shift cool, some highlight rolls flatten where they should hold. The colorist watches the SDR derivative and dials each scene back to the intent.
That is not a deliverable. It is a creative pass. It takes hours per reel. It is almost never on a quote.
“If you are mastering in HDR, you are mastering twice. Price it that way.”
What a complete HDR quote actually contains
- Dolby Vision grade in P3-D65 on a calibrated reference monitor — P3 is the largest gamut current mastering monitors can faithfully reproduce; Rec.2020 is delivered, not viewed
- Level 1 image-character analysis on every shot — the metadata baseline
- Level 2 SDR Rec.709 100-nit trim pass, scene by scene
- IMF package authoring per the platform spec, with the Dolby Vision version explicitly named (4.0 or 2.9)
- QC pass against the platform's automated and human review tracks before delivery
- Re-grade contingency for failed QC, costed at a defined hourly rate, not absorbed into margin
Why this matters beyond the spreadsheet
The temptation to absorb the trim pass is real. It feels generous. It feels like a way to win the next bid. It is also why mastering houses keep going under. The economic structure of HDR mastering assumes the trim pass is paid work. When the studio absorbs it, the platform's calculus stays the same and the studio's margin disappears.
There is no version of this conversation where the client suffers. They get the same finished package either way. The only question is whether the studio gets paid for the second creative pass it actually performed. We bid for it. We expect it. We deliver it. And we explain it on the front page of the quote, not buried in an appendix.
