Smart HDR Manager 2.5.1 (Beta)

Big update based on your feedback from the first release – thank you!

Highlights

• 🎬 Videos tab – RTX Video HDR for local videos. Video players decide at playback start whether they output HDR, so switching HDR a moment later was too late for RTX Video HDR. Now the app switches HDR on before the player starts. Click Default app… once, and every double-click on a video plays it with HDR. Tested with MPC-HC (recommended), VLC and PotPlayer – the player settings are in the README.
• 🎮 Launch with HDR for games that hide their HDR option when HDR was off at startup – one-click Steam launch option or desktop shortcut (game › Options).
• 🔴 No HDR while OBS is running – no more blown-out recordings.
• 📚 Ubisoft Connect, EA app and Rockstar games are found automatically.
• ⚙️ Reorganised Settings, browser script status, reset to defaults.

Fixes

• Elden Ring / Alan Wake 2 / Cyberpunk showed up as HDR games although not installed – removed.
• Status card could stay coloured although HDR was off.
• Games that switch HDR themselves are no longer fought by the app.
• Premiere Pro now switches to SDR; mpv.net, MPC-BE and Kodi added.

Full list: CHANGELOG.md

Download

File	Use it if …
SmartHdrManager-v2.5.1-win-x64-standalone.zip	Not sure? Take this one. Runs on any 64-bit Windows 10/11.
SmartHdrManager-v2.5.1-win-x64.zip	You have the .NET 10 Desktop Runtime installed (smaller).
SmartHdrManager-v2.5.1-win-arm64-standalone.zip / …-win-arm64.zip	Windows on ARM (experimental, untested).

Updating from 2.5.0: exit the app (tray › Exit), replace the files in your folder, start it again – settings and games are kept.

"Windows protected your PC"? The app is not code-signed: More info › Run anyway. Check the files with SHA256SUMS.txt or the VirusTotal scans:

• x64 standalone: VirusTotal report
• x64: VirusTotal report
• arm64 standalone: VirusTotal report
• arm64: VirusTotal report

Browser script: unchanged (v3.0) – no need to update it.

Tested on Windows 11 25H2, RTX 5070 Ti, one HDR monitor. AMD/Intel, multi-monitor and laptops are still untested – please report problems in Issues with the log file (Settings › Advanced › Open log file).

Built with a lot of help from AI (Claude). Free, open source, no telemetry.

Smart HDR Manager (Beta)

First public release (beta). Switches Windows HDR on automatically for HDR games, YouTube HDR, local HDR movies and (optionally) SDR videos with NVIDIA RTX Video HDR, and back to SDR afterwards.

Which download?

• …-standalone.zip – not sure? Take this one. Runs on any 64-bit Windows 10/11.
• …-win-x64.zip – smaller, needs the .NET 10 Desktop Runtime.

Unzip to a permanent folder and start SmartHdrManager.exe. Windows SmartScreen will warn because the app isn't code-signed: More info › Run anyway.
For YouTube HDR and browser videos, install the included Tampermonkey script – step-by-step guide in the README.

Virus scans: standalone · small version
Checksums: see SHA256SUMS.txt

Tested on Windows 11 25H2 with an NVIDIA RTX card. AMD/Intel and multi-monitor setups are untested – please report problems in Issues with your log file (Settings › Open log file).

Windows on ARM builds added (experimental, untested – feedback welcome)