• AnyStream is having some DRM issues currently, Netflix is not available in HD for the time being.
    Situations like this will always happen with AnyStream: streaming providers are continuously improving their countermeasures while we try to catch up, it's an ongoing cat-and-mouse game. Please be patient and don't flood our support or forum with requests, we are working on it 24/7 to get it resolved. Thank you.

Will I be able one day to play my UHD discs on my PC!?

O

OakLeaves

Member
Thread Starter
Joined
Jan 22, 2022
Messages
10
Likes
2
I want to be able to play the 4K discs I purchased on my PC. At first (many years ago) I tried the "legit way" with SGX and all that crap. I also play games on my PC so my gaming graphics card don't have the DRM pipeline (no gaming GPU ever had it AFAIK). I learned it the hard way by purchasing 2 different UHD drives (I thought that it was the drive and not the DRM $hit).

Now, last week I purchased a lifetime AnyDVD license so that I can get rid of that pesky DRM layer. I also followed https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19634 and purchased a third drive: an LG WH16NS60 and f me it still doesn't work! I know I can rip with it but at the moment I don't rip I just want to play discs.

Can anyone tell me which drive they use to play their discs (with AnyDVD of course)? What's the best drive to get now? Is there a way to salvage my LG WH16NS60 to play discs (without bricking the ability to burn the occasional data disc or Windows ISO)?

Thanks!
 
Well, you're not giving any information as to HOW you're trying to play the UHD's on your PC. Forget powerdvd. Completely. That's not helpful anymore.

I personally use JRiver MC. It has UHD support so long as the AACS protection is removed (hello, AnyDVD!). If configured properly, it'll even do menus in most cases. There are other software out there that'll do the same thing. Hell, even MPC-HC configured with LAV filters and madvr will give you UHD playback. With menus if you set it up correctly, as well. All of that will work with your NS60 drive with AnyDVD so long as you have MakeMKV installed.
 
I normally use PowerDVD to play discs and I thought that with AnyDVD it would be seamless but I willing to switch (I can't say that I like PowerDVD).

OK so without MakeMKV AnyDVD can't work with my specific drive or with all 4K drives?
 
Your drive as is won't work without libredrive. It can be flashed to another firmware that can work with anydvd without libredrive if you want.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk
 
OakLeaves said:
I normally use PowerDVD to play discs and I thought that with AnyDVD it would be seamless but I willing to switch (I can't say that I like PowerDVD).

OK so without MakeMKV AnyDVD can't work with my specific drive or with all 4K drives?
Click to expand...

The NS60 is what's called an "official" UHD drive.

The recent release of AnyDVD can play UHD's with it, but it needs makeMKV to also be installed to work, makeMKV release 1.16.5 or better.

Not just your drive, same for any official UHD drive.


I use PowerDVD in conjunction with AnyDVD to play UHD's and haven't had any trouble playing them.

Not sure why SamuriHL says it's not helpful, unless there are recent changes I'm not aware of.

I also use JRiver from time-to-time, but mostly PowerDVD.




T
 
There's just no reason at all to use an official player when you've removed protection. While I'm sure PowerDVD works for you, it's nowhere near the best solution for UHD playback on a PC. Couple that with the recent changes to the Intel chipset and PowerDVD can no longer claim to be an official player for much longer. SGX is required and Intel has removed SGX from all future chips. Cyberlink has no replacement for that and will be forced to drop UHD support for any new systems going forward. Also, afaik, Intel is not releasing SGX for Windows 11 even for older chips (unless that's changed since I last bothered to look) so again, PowerDVD as an official player is dead. Which goes back to "sure it's fine if you remove the DRM from the disc." But if you're doing that anyway, why not use a much better playback mechanism? JRiver, as an example, has built their own video renderer so that the complexity of madvr is no longer required for those that want "plug and play". Just configure it to use JRVR in the settings, determine if you want HDR output or not, and off you go. No messing around.
 
OK, so which drive would you recommend that AnyDVD supports out of the box?
 
SamuriHL said:
... Which goes back to "sure it's fine if you remove the DRM from the disc." But if you're doing that anyway, why not use a much better playback mechanism? ...
Click to expand...

All "technobabble" aside if you will, I simply enjoy playing UHD's on PDVD better than on JRiver.

I find the GUI easier to work with and the features more tuned to what I need when I play UHD -- and more easily accessible.

I also find PDVD to be more reliable in offering Menu access than JRiver is. And playing with Menus is my preference.

If PDVD loses official player status, I'm cool with that because with AnyDVD it should play the UHD's anyway.

At least, I hope that's the case.


OakLeaves said:
OK, so which drive would you recommend that AnyDVD supports out of the box?
Click to expand...
SamuriHL said:
Yours. With a UHD friendly firmware if you don't want the MakeMKV requirement for LibreDrive. ..
Click to expand...

Like SamuriHL says, you already have a great drive for UHD's. I have the NS60 as well.

When I got mine (back when), you had to flash what's called "friendly" firmware to get it to play nice with UHD's.

I flashed NS40 firmware and it's all worked out great.


But now that's totally unnecessary with the latest AnyDVD version.

All you have to do is install 8.5.9.0 and makeMKV 1.16.5 on your computer, which is free ofc, and you should be good to go!

I have not personally tried using an official drive with 8.5.9.0 , but James has assured us it works perfectly.

I have not heard anyone claim otherwise so far...



T
 
I use it with my bu40n and official ns60 all the time. So yes, as long as the latest makemkv is installed anydvd will just work with lg official drives like the ns60. No need for friendly firmware in that case.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk
 
So I installed MakeMKV alongside AnyDVD and now my LG WH16NS60 is able to play my 4K discs!

If I were to purchase a second drive (to install in a second computer) which drive would you get (for variety - in case a disc in the future is faulty of if a rip fails). I was thinking LG BH16NS40 but maybe having another brand would be better (and I would like that second drive to be AnyDVD "native" complaint without MakeMKV).
 
I have / use a friendly LG BH16NS55 flashed to ASUS 3.10. Works great for me. The sellers over at makemkv recommend the slim drive BU40 for best reading performance but then you need to invest in an adapter to fit it in a regular 5,25" slot in you desktop. Or invest in an enclosure for USB attachment. Let me know which way you want to go. BTW- for the slim drives you need makemkv support since it is an official drive.
 
I prefer 5.25" since my HTPC enclosure only have that (It would not support the slim even with an adapter) and an external drive would look jank with my home theatre setup :)
 
Then go with the BH16NS55 or Asus. Depends which is cheaper for you. Same hardware.
 
For the time being you can also flash your BH16NS60 to NS55 or ASUS BW-16D1HT 3.10
 
OakLeaves said:
So I installed MakeMKV alongside AnyDVD and now my LG WH16NS60 is able to play my 4K discs!
Click to expand...

Excellent!!


Maybe now I'll go ahead and flash my NS60's from NS40 back to 60 firmware.

My hesitation is I'm a firm believer in "it ain't broke don't fix it" -- but I think it may be optimal for the drive to have the firmware it was intended to work with.

Guess I'll try re-flashing just one of the 60's and see how it goes...


OakLeaves said:
I would like that second drive to be AnyDVD "native" complaint without MakeMKV
Click to expand...

If you mean you want to buy a different drive that is AnyDVD UHD-compliant straight out-of-the-box, I don't think that's possible any more.

Manufacturers have changed the firmware on all new drives so that they can't be used to play UHD's in the way AnyDVD allows.

You would need to flash the new drive to an older "friendly" firmware for it to work with AnyDVD.


So you only have the 2 choices, rely on makeMKV or flash your new drive...



BTW, I initially flashed my NS60 to ASUS friendly firmware, which worked great for reading and ripping UHD's but caused the drive to incorrectly burn discs.

Which is why I re-flashed to NS40, since it's the closest to an NS60 that is friendly.





T
 
testiles said:
but I think it may be optimal for the drive to have the firmware it was intended to work with.
Click to expand...

It is. The thing about official drives with official firmware is they were designed to read UHD's. So-called "friendly" drives were not. They just happen to share a similar technology to what UHD uses which was a happy coincidence. But for those challenging triple layer discs, I've always maintained a native official firmware works best. Just ask my bu40n. LOL My NS60's all use the original 1.00 firmware, as does my bu40n. But the MK firmware will work just as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top