Oxidoreductase with strong preference for NAD (PubMed:18926804). Active in both the oxidative and reductive directions (PubMed:18926804). Oxidizes all-trans-retinol in all-trans- retinaldehyde (PubMed:18926804). No activity was detected with 11-cis- retinol or 11-cis-retinaldehyde as substrates with either NAD(+)/NADH or NADP(+)/NADPH (PubMed:18926804). . This is the function of SDR16C5 (short chain dehydrogenase/reductase family 16C member 5, Ensembl gene identifier ENSG00000170786).