Can that be done? And would it yield a 10 or even 12 bit image? That would be awesome!
As for whether this changes anything for Despecialized, yes, the change is that I will now definitely be waiting for the 4K Blu-Ray or at least a full bitrate 4k web-dl as a source.
If you’re asking if it’s possible to extract the flat image? Yes. The HDR grade is stored as metadata on UHD discs, so you can easily retrieve the flat image. As for the bit depth, I believe they’re all 10bit video files.