9.5mm or 12.7mm slim UHD-friendly drive recommendations?

[RedDeadFred]

Looking for a 9.5mm or 12.7mm slim drive that can play UHD discs without decryption software, but also one that is compatible with AnyDVD HD.

If possible, also hoping for one that is slot-loaded and quiet, as it is to go into a HTPC.

Any recommendations?

 

[MartyMcNuts]

@RedDeadFred,

1. If you want to play UHD discs without any decryption software then you are after an official UHD drive.

2. AnyDVD is not compatible with any official UHD drives. (Only "UHD friendly" drives).

Therefore there are no recommendations for what you seek. If you want to use AnyDVD then you need a UHD friendly drive but a friendly drive will not allow you to play UHD discs without decryption.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Thanks so much Marty. I did some googling and learnt about UHD friendly drives. Without you advice I would've wasted days before I stumbled across UHD friendly drives.

If I bought a UHD friendly drive + AnyDVD HD, could I play movies straight off the disc (using AnyDVD HD decryption), without first copying? With a modern CPU, would there be any jitter/speed problems with a high data-rate UHD disc? Would my UHD TV's copy protection reject the video signal?

 

[MartyMcNuts]

Thanks so much Marty. I did some googling and learnt about UHD friendly drives. Without you advice I would've wasted days before I stumbled across UHD friendly drives.

If I bought a UHD friendly drive + AnyDVD HD, could I play movies straight off the disc (using AnyDVD HD decryption), without first copying? With a modern CPU, would there be any jitter/speed problems with a high data-rate UHD disc? Would my UHD TV's copy protection reject the video signal?

With a decent CPU and GPU, you should be able to play a UHD disc with anyDVD running. Not sure about any jitter though. I'm not 100% certain on this as I don't play UHD discs directly. I always rip to MKV files and store them on my NAS. Whenever I want to watch a movie I stream from NAS to my Intel NUC running LibreELEC / KODI. Works perfectly every time!

Another thing to remember is that UHD discs are far more fragile than regular blu-rays and the slightest mark / bit of dust can cause read errors. This is why 99% of folk with UHD discs back them up rather than play them directly.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Thanks a lot Marty. Sounds like a suck-it-and-see situation, and I need to make sure I have enough room to add an official UHD drive if it doesn't work...

So I'm back on the market for a slim UHD friendly drive. Any recommended drives/suppliers? Slot-loaded preferred.

 

[MartyMcNuts]

Thanks a lot Marty. Sounds like a suck-it-and-see situation, and I need to make sure I have enough room to add an official UHD drive if it doesn't work...

So I'm back on the market for a slim UHD friendly drive. Any recommended drives/suppliers? Slot-loaded preferred.

No "UHD Friendly" slot loaded drives that I know of. The only UHD friendly internal laptop drive I am aware of is the LG BU30N. (The LG BU40N is an official UHD Drive. A good drive but not compatible with AnyDVD).