NEW OPTION: 'UHD Friendly' Firmware Downgrade / Cross-Flash Using Official (Modified) ASUS Flasher

[SamuriHL]

P. S. I believe you can cross flash the ns55 with the Asus mk 3.10 firmware and that will also make it uhd friendly.

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[John Bank]

The software does not work with DeUHD for sure. Look anyway thank you for your kind help. Can you tell me link to make donation to support Redfox and the community.

 

[Ch3vr0n]

There isn't one. Redfox does not accept donations like that You could buy (another) license to show support, or contact support and perhaps make a bitcoin donation.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[John Bank]

There isn't one. Redfox does not accept donations like that You could buy (another) license to show support, or contact support and perhaps make a bitcoin donation.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Ok I will look into how to get bitcoin and send, This will probably be fun. Thanks Ch3vr0n

 

[SamuriHL]

The software does not work with DeUHD for sure. Look anyway thank you for your kind help. Can you tell me link to make donation to support Redfox and the community.

Look I don't really want to argue with you but the Asus mk 3.10 firmware most definitely works in all software that work with a friendly drive. The ns55 mk firmware may not. That's due to the changes LG made to the 1.03 firmware for that drive. The downgrade enabled version ie 1.02 of the ns55 definitely does work with all uhd friendly software.

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[theosch]

Afaik SamuriHL told me s.th. that the main firmware outside of the encryption data+cb-data hex range would control the ripping speed behavior (I'd assume the drive speed drive main- drive firmware "trusts" in itself to try out), and the CB-data eg. for finding out the proper needed the laser adjustments to be able read/write any type of media at all.

So a thought:
That some BH16NS55s crossflashed to an Asus BW16D1HT could have issues e.g. with writing and perhaps also with ripping UHD/or with certain UHD software, could it have s.th. to do that the original BH16NS55 laser-calibration-data transferred over along, that it might be because it doesn't play together with the main target Asus BW-16D1HT firmware?

So that the main-firmware trusts in itself to turn the disc too fast which could make problems with some laser-CB-data not compatible to higher speeds?

Just an idea
(afaik read s.th. that some CB-data along with the encryption data from other dumps exported worked fine even when it was from a Bh16NS55 to BW-16D1HT in a lucky case.)

Or did I miss s.th. and maybe rather implausible?

Anyway I'll leave my BH16NS55 with the "DE_flash_HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_BH16NS55_1.02.bin" as it is. Just being nosy

 

[SamuriHL]

We've not seen any issues with reading on cross flashed drives. We have for writing. And i just tested it again with a different flashing method and still have issues writing when I cross flash my NS60 to the ASUS 3.10 MK firmware (using the patched ASUS flasher from Marty). Yes, I can make it work as we know using dosflash but I wanted to test it again to see if anything had changed. I'll do some more testing later.

But anyway, for reading, only one scenario comes to mind where reading got screwed up during a cross flash and that's flashing an old ns40 drive with the wrong SVC code. That's just bad in general. Other than that, the calibration data hasn't made any difference for reading.

 

[John Bank]

Look I don't really want to argue with you but the Asus mk 3.10 firmware most definitely works in all software that work with a friendly drive. The ns55 mk firmware may not. That's due to the changes LG made to the 1.03 firmware for that drive. The downgrade enabled version ie 1.02 of the ns55 definitely does work with all uhd friendly software.

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Ok, I am going to refresh LG-BS16NS5 with the UHD friendly flasher and the 1.02 software which I have not yet tried.

I do think it would be a great idea if the flasher had a facility to backup original software especially on new drive. I apologise if I seem to be arguing. I really am very grateful to you for your kind help so a big thank you. I test with Mike MK 1.03 and DeUHD did not like it.

When I disassemble to night I will spend day testing and I am sure you will be 100% right about everything.

Will buy extra licence tonight.

 

[theosch]

Thanks for your kind and extremly good and short explanation SamuriHL and help to all others including Mike etc
I'm irritated by some further below statement quotes 4) and 5) which got me to below thought

"That some BH16NS55s crossflashed to an Asus BW16D1HT could have issues e.g. with writing and perhaps also with ripping UHD/or with certain UHD software, could it have s.th. to do that the original BH16NS55 laser-calibration-data transferred over along, that it might be because it doesn't play together with the main target Asus BW-16D1HT firmware?

So that the main-firmware trusts in itself to turn the disc too fast which could make problems with some laser-CB-data not compatible to higher speeds?"

1)

I did use both version of firmware which all work brilliant with MakeMKV.

See MK versions attached. But this software is not compatible with DeUHD, AnyDVDHD or DVDfab.
{...}

2)

Look I don't really want to argue with you but the Asus mk 3.10 firmware most definitely works in all software that work with a friendly drive. The ns55 mk firmware may not. That's due to the changes LG made to the 1.03 firmware for that drive. The downgrade enabled version ie 1.02 of the ns55 definitely does work with all uhd friendly software.
{...}

3)

For the ns55 you really do not need to be screwing around with dosflash. Just get the 1.02 DE version of the firmware and flash it with the same windows flasher. Done.

4)

I did use both version of firmware which all work brilliant with MakeMKV.

See MK versions attached. But this software is not compatible with DeUHD, AnyDVDHD or DVDfab.

So has I said brilliant improvement for MAKEMKV but not for the other third party softwares.

---
Here it's about playback having issues with BH16NS55 crossflashed to BW-16D1HT.

5)

Interesting results. My LG BH16NS55 flashed fine to the ASUSW-16D1HT_302.bin. But my Pacific Rim UHD disc freezes exactly in the same moment as before.

But my new ASUS drive BC-12D2HT (downgraded to 3.00) plays perfectly fine without freezing... So it is working better than the LG.

---

 

[SamuriHL]

Ok, I am going to refresh LG-BS16NS5 with the UHD friendly flasher and the 1.02 software which I have not yet tried.

I do think it would be a great idea if the flasher had a facility to backup original software especially on new drive. I apologise if I seem to be arguing. I really am very grateful to you for your kind help so a big thank you. I test with Mike MK 1.03 and DeUHD did not like it.

When I disassemble to night I will spend day testing and I am sure you will be 100% right about everything.

Will buy extra licence tonight.

The 1.02 firmware will for sure work in DeUHD, AnyDVD, DVDFab, MakeMKV, etc. That is a UHD friendly firmware before they took out the UHD friendly code. Mike restored enough functionality in the MK firmware to allow LibreDrive to work. In the case of the ASUS 3.10 MK firmware, it also had the side effect of restoring the drive to UHD friendly status. That does not appear to be the case with the NS55 1.03 MK firmware, which isn't surprising. But yea, use the downgrade enabled version 1.02 and that drive will work just fine everywhere.

Also just a note...you can't backup the firmware from a Windows flasher. They are only using the drive's built in self-update feature to flash the firmware. To read the EEPROM directly requires a different way of accessing the drive and we only seem to have that in 32 bit Windows with dosflash 2.0 but it requires the drive to be on a SATA port that is set to IDE mode.

 

[SamuriHL]

Thanks for your kind and extremly good and short explanation SamuriHL and help to all others including Mike etc
I'm irritated by some further below statement quotes 4) and 5) which got me to below thought

"That some BH16NS55s crossflashed to an Asus BW16D1HT could have issues e.g. with writing and perhaps also with ripping UHD/or with certain UHD software, could it have s.th. to do that the original BH16NS55 laser-calibration-data transferred over along, that it might be because it doesn't play together with the main target Asus BW-16D1HT firmware?

So that the main-firmware trusts in itself to turn the disc too fast which could make problems with some laser-CB-data not compatible to higher speeds?"

1)


2)


3)


4)



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Here it's about playback having issues with BH16NS55 crossflashed to BW-16D1HT.

5)

---

I don't want to make assumptions about something I don't KNOW for sure. As such the only thing I can say here is that in that particular case of the NS55 cross flashed drive, you would need to cross flash it using the unsafe dosflash method using BW-16D1HT calibration data with the NS55's encryption data and test playback on that exact same disc to know for sure if it's the calibration data that's causing issue. I can't say for sure that it's not, but, my gut feel is that it's not the calibration data that caused that issue. But that's a guess and I don't like going by guesses.

 

[theosch]

I don't want to make assumptions about something I don't KNOW for sure. As such the only thing I can say here is that in that particular case of the NS55 cross flashed drive, you would need to cross flash it using the unsafe dosflash method using BW-16D1HT calibration data with the NS55's encryption data and test playback on that exact same disc to know for sure if it's the calibration data that's causing issue. I can't say for sure that it's not, but, my gut feel is that it's not the calibration data that caused that issue. But that's a guess and I don't like going by guesses.

Well yes, the other way around in his case (if he keeps his CB-data from the safe method), that the main target BW-16D1HT firmware instead causing the issue (in his case), not being compatible to his specific's unit CB-data.
So if using another new/newer BW-16D1HT UHD-friendly-main target-firmware (prepared by Mike), with the safe methode it might work with his unit's CB-data

Other people like coopervid says his BH16NS55 crossflashed to BW-16D1HT doesn't have any of issues if I understood him correcty.

Afaik "John Bank" still had issues with Mike's MK firmware pack with Bh16NS55 to BW-16D1HT 3.10 with those libre vendor command patches , crossflashed to, didn't he with 3 types of ripping software????

Big apology I have now found the 3.10 file sorry about that.

I will test tonight, if your drive is an friendly drive by dos flasher 3.02 do you need to restore factory 3.03 with dos write so that drive is back to factory condition before you flash with 3.10?

So just go be 100% sure I flashed my friends drive last week using dos flash to 3.02.

So what you are telling me I can flash 3.10 straight over this version. Sorry for mishap not finding 3.10 1st time. Will buy glasses

Ok I am about to try and update the firmware on BW-16D1HT with UHD friendly software in it done by dos flash. I have 2 firmware flashers by mike. I do not know which one to use so I have uploaded both so maybe you can tell me?

I did use both version of firmware which all work brilliant with MakeMKV.

See MK versions attached. But this software is not compatible with DeUHD, AnyDVDHD or DVDfab.

So has I said brilliant improvement for MAKEMKV but not for the other third party softwares. Buy I understand this it is business. Mike's interest and time are invested in developing MakeMKV work better and be compatible with more drives and I support this and will be making a donation now in my appreciation of what he has done.

Well Done Mike

Coopervid didn't mention any such issues with his BH16NS55 crossflashed to BW-16D1HT, not anything about that he did that complicated trick like you seperating your unit's CB-data off by another one to the target BW-16D1HT firmware, which with your NS60 would be fully functioning. Afaik as I had understood you
---

OK but anyways there are many few contradicting statements, it's very problematic to believe for general crossflashing possabilities without resulting issues, when people come with stating such problems, without real prooving !
I hope it's clear being nosy then and making guesses, because I don't want to pretend when not sure, but then rather asking back some guessing thoughts

Well yes, then I rather tend to believe SamuriHL.

 

[SamuriHL]

Well yes, the other way around in his case (if he keeps his CB-data from the safe method), that the main target BW-16D1HT firmware instead causing the issue, not being compatible to his specific's unit CB-data.
So if using another new/newer BW-16D1HT UHD-friendly-main target-firmware (prepared by Mike), with the safe methode it might work with his unit's CB-data

Other people like coopervid says his BH16NS55 crossflashed to BW-16D1HT doesn't have any of issues if I understood him correcty.

Afaik "John Bank" still had issues with Mike's MK firmware pack with Bh16NS55 to BW-16D1HT 3.10 with those libre vendor command patches , crossflashed to, didn't he with 3 types of ripping software????

Coopervid didn't mention anything about that he did that complicated trick like you seperating your unit's CB-data off by another one to the target BW-16D1HT firmware, which with your NS60 would be fully functioning. Afaik as I had understood you
---

OK but anyways there are many few contradicting statements, it's very problematic to believe for general crossflashing possabilities without resulting issues, when people come with stating such problems without real prooving !

Well yes, I then rather tend to believe SamuriHL.

It's not the other way around. It's exactly the same situation. Keeping LG calibration data with an ASUS firmware seems to cause write problems at least on my NS60, and potentially on other drives, as well. But I haven't seen any read issues doing that, but, the one case you quoted would have to be looked into to see if it's calibration data issues or something else.

I think people don't have a clear understanding of what an "MK" firmware is, however. It's not some kind of magic. Mike is doing as LITTLE as possible to the firmware to bring them back into LibreDrive compatibility. That's it. He's not hacking AACS. He's not (intentionally) trying to make the drives UHD friendly. He's restoring the drive's ability to accept vendor commands so he can upload firmware instructions to the drive's memory. Which is not the same thing as making them UHD friendly. In the case of the ASUS 3.03 MK and ASUS 3.10 MK, the side effect of the changes he made DID restore UHD friendliness to those firmware. That MAY NOT be the case for other firmware versions for other drives. It's NOT his stated intention to make them UHD friendly in the first place.

DE firmware, otoh, have the stated intention of return the drive to a known UHD friendly firmware. In the case of DE firmware, the drives will work with all the UHD friendly software out there, including AnyDVD.

No, John Bank had issues with a different drive. He was flashing a couple different drives. He flashed his NS55 with 1.03 MK and it didn't work in DeUHD. That was his only issue.

As for the various "contradicting" statements, I don't tend to see any. With the NS60, testiles and I have writing issues if we try to cross flash to an ASUS firmware. Another user did not have any problems writing. We don't know if he's using the same media that I or testiles is using so it could be down to media in that case. I have ZERO knowledge of cross flashing other drives like the NS55 to ASUS firmware and what problems, if any, might arise from doing so. I actually stated that to a user on MakeMKV forum that is trying to do that and wanted to know if he'd still be able to write with it. Quite frankly, I DON'T KNOW. I only know what I can test which is on my 2 drives. If people want to avoid problems, it's probably better to avoid cross flashing altogether. Buy the drive you want to end up with.

 

[theosch]

Thx for helping. I guess (LOL) I misread again, not entirely through, or misunderstood some context.

Ok Update, I done all my drives and tested 5 different models. Yes they all work with MakeMKV and have micromode enable. Then I tried the LG-BS16NS55 with MakeMKV with mike's 1.03 MakeMKV worked fine, Dehud did not, AnyDVD did not & DVDfab did not. So I am doing disassemble the two versions to compare and also see why deUHD does not work. Great work with MakeMKV but other programs are left behind. Dos version works with all programs but does not do mircocode in to memory.

So what I have done is left one of drive on 3.10 especially for enhanced support with Microcode / Micromode for the best support when using MakeMKV. My other three drives I have left my on Polish software dos method. I have found some faults in this method after making new assembly file and list file which is block 1E8000 - 1E84FF IS OK / 1E9000 - 1EBFFF is wrong, it should be 1E9000 - 1EC056 1F0000 - 1FFFFF & 1EC01B should be 1 byte change for firmware version name display i.e 33, 2E, 30, 31 is output 3.01 and 31, 2E, 30, 32 would be 1.02 etc it is important not to overwrite 1EEC000 - 1EC057 as this is unique to the drive. I have noticed on some clean versions of software that this filled.

I believe mike is on a level on his own and all the other software programs are a few steps behind mike. But bear in mind we still need programs like AnyDVDHD which can rip a Blu-ray disc to an ISO for you own personal backup and also protect your investments. But I believe twenty years from now you will be able just to mount your ISO in Google or other type cloud storage and watch your movie. I believe they will have the ability to let you stream your own ISO's straight to your TV.

Thanks Mike for a super enhanced version of MakeMKV firmware 3.10

I'm I think Mike's 3.10 version (most probably) solves those issues if I understood him and your help explaining correctly.
I've flashed it on my BW-16D1HT.
--

P. S. I believe you can cross flash the ns55 with the Asus mk 3.10 firmware and that will also make it uhd friendly.

Ah that statement to me it's contradicting to first quote here:

The software does not work with DeUHD for sure. Look anyway thank you for your kind help. Can you tell me link to make donation to support Redfox and the community.

[Edit] OK only issues with DeUHD

So glad that it's really finally working with BH16NS55 crossflashed drive's to BW-16D1HT 3.10 prepared firmware + reprepared Asus flasher by Mike, at least with AnyDVD, makemkv, "dvdfab" not mentioned)

The issue why those old crossflashing issues were interesting to me, sometimes BH16NS55 is cheaper to buy than BW-16D1HT, but still wanting Asus's firmware enhancements.

 

[SamuriHL]

The 3.10 MK firmware is most definitely UHD friendly and IMO is the best UHD friendly firmware out there right now. Mike has said the same thing. That does NOT mean it's necessarily the best idea to start cross flashing drives to it. At least if you care about writing certain media types.

Also note that I said "I believe" as in "don't know for sure, but, some people have seem to have done it". It's likely those people don't care about writing discs or aren't encountering problems. But the two quotes you have quoted are not related at all. He's talking about NS55 1.03 MK which does not seem to restore UHD friendliness therefore does not work with AnyDVD/DeUHD, etc. I was saying that if you just want to make it UHD friendly (again, with potential write issues MAYBE), then you can use the 3.10 MK firmware or you can downgrade it with a DE NS55 1.02. That's it. Not complicated. And not contradicting.

 

[DrinkLyeAndDie]

Does anyone actually have a changelog for the 3.10 firmware. ASUS isn't sharing anything. Seems to me that the firmware is nothing more than another attempt at suckering [regular] people into updating to make things more difficult.

 

[SamuriHL]

Does anyone actually have a changelog for the 3.10 firmware. ASUS isn't sharing anything. Seems to me that the firmware is nothing more than another attempt at suckering [regular] people into updating to make things more difficult.

mikech told us what the fixes are and they are pretty significant. It fixes the sleep bug for one. But also is much more stable overall and seems to be better at handling triple layer discs. They did remove the ability for official 3.10 to be downgraded with downgrade enabled firmware, but, mikech removed the restriction in the MK version, as well. The MK version that he released has all the benefits of 3.02 plus the bug fixes. It's what I put on my drive and have zero intention of going back.

 

[DrinkLyeAndDie]

mikech told us what the fixes are and they are pretty significant. It fixes the sleep bug for one. But also is much more stable overall and seems to be better at handling triple layer discs. They did remove the ability for official 3.10 to be downgraded with downgrade enabled firmware, but, mikech removed the restriction in the MK version, as well. The MK version that he released has all the benefits of 3.02 plus the bug fixes. It's what I put on my drive and have zero intention of going back.

Updating to the 3.10 MK firmware unfortunately has downsides. After updating the ASUS BW-16D1HT is no longer supported by DeUHD. DeUHD informs the user of this. It might (?) impact DVDFab as well since they are working with Arusoft. That said, it's fixable by downgrading to the 3.02 DE firmware using the modified ASUS flasher.

tldr If you only use AnyDVD and/or MakeMKV then the 3.10 MK firmware is great. If you need to also be able to use DeUHD then DO NOT update.

 

[SamuriHL]

Updating to the 3.10 MK firmware unfortunately has downsides. After updating the ASUS BW-16D1HT is no longer supported by DeUHD. DeUHD informs the user of this. It might (?) impact DVDFab as well since they are working with Arusoft. That said, it's fixable by downgrading to the 3.02 DE firmware using the modified ASUS flasher.

tldr If you only use AnyDVD and/or MakeMKV then the 3.10 MK firmware is great. If you need to also be able to use DeUHD then DO NOT update.

That's very messed up cause it's without a doubt friendly on 3.10 MK. AnyDVD works with it just fine so it HAS to be friendly. What weird nonsense is DeUHD doing to cause that??

 

[SamuriHL]

I just tested DVDFab, it has no such problems with the drive. So, um, I'd complain to DeUHD and get them to fix it. Cause that's idiotic.