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

[testiles]

But for those challenging triple layer discs, I've always maintained a native official firmware works best.

Well friendly drives were built and intended to read discs up to 100G -- but data discs, not retail UHD's.

Still, an interesting thought...

I'll restore one of my NS60's and compare -- before I convert them all (currently have 4).

Which still requires MakeMKV on newer drives.

Can you explain further?

'Cause after you flash the new drive to friendly firmware, is makeMKV still required??




T

 

[SamuriHL]

Well friendly drives were built and intended to read discs up to 100G -- but data discs, not retail UHD's.

Still, an interesting thought...

I'll restore one of my NS60's and compare -- before I convert them all (currently have 4).

And UHD is based on the same mdata standard that the friendly drives can read, which is why they work. But the official drives were made to read UHD's for playback on a PC. So the firmware is more geared toward UHD format than the mdata that friendly drives were made for. It "shouldn't" matter and most of the time it doesn't, but, on those trouble triple layer discs, official drives are my go to for getting through them.

Can you explain further?

'Cause after you flash the new drive to friendly firmware, is makeMKV still required??

"after you flash".....and...what do you flash with? That's my explanation. When you buy a new drive, it's almost guaranteed to come with an encrypted firmware that needs to be flashed to an MK version. To do that requires MakeMKV. After you put the firmware you want on the drive, then no, it won't require it if it's a friendly firmware.

 

[OakLeaves]

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.

Well I'm buying my drives from sellers on MakeMKV forums because I don't want to purchase bad drives once again. I guess if I get a WH16NS40 as a second drive I should be OK. But I also have a Pioneer BDR-212UBK and a Pioneer BDR-209DBK which maybe could be worth a try...

 

[SamuriHL]

Well I'm buying my drives from sellers on MakeMKV forums because I don't want to purchase bad drives once again. I guess if I get a WH16NS40 as a second drive I should be OK. But I also have a Pioneer BDR-212UBK and a Pioneer BDR-209DBK which maybe could be worth a try...

Hold please. Your BDR-212UBK is, as of this afternoon, LibreDrive compatible. I know cause I just got one yesterday to test with. The 209 might be but you'd have to check MakeMKV and look at the info screen. Now, the thing is, at this very moment in time AnyDVD doesn't work with Pioneer drives and LibreDrive. A couple of us have asked RedFox to change that so we'll see what happens there. Hence the please hold before buying another drive. Cause you may not need to.

 

[OakLeaves]

And damn me on my third computer I have an LG BH16NS40 from 2016 LOL so it should be compatible out of the box. It seems that my past mistakes were not mistakes, it's just that the software was not there yet I'm gonna try with my other drives this week and report the results!

 

[SamuriHL]

Be careful with that drive. Please do not flash it. What needs to happen is to look at it in makemkv and check the info window to make sure it's a 1959 chipset. If it says 1939 is a no to using it.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

 

[OakLeaves]

I think my old LG BH16NS40 is OK:

 

[SamuriHL]

Yup. Don't touch the firmware on it at all. Leave it right as it is. Nice.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

 

[testiles]

And UHD is based on the same mdata standard that the friendly drives can read, which is why they work.

Yup.

So the firmware is more geared toward UHD format than the mdata that friendly drives were made for.

Wonder if that makes much difference in reality.

... on those trouble triple layer discs, official drives are my go to for getting through them.

Fair enough.

I'll be running some comparison tests in the future using difficult-to-read UHD's on both a friendly- and an official- flashed 60.

When you buy a new drive, it's almost guaranteed to come with an encrypted firmware... After you put the firmware you want on the drive, then no, it won't require it if it's a friendly firmware.

Sure, ofc.

The way you stated it one could think you meant makeMKV is required after you flash the friendly firmware.

At least now it's clear that's not the case.

Well I'm buying my drives from sellers on MakeMKV forums because I don't want to purchase bad drives once again.

Could be wrong but my understanding was those are just drives that someone has already flashed the firmware for you.

Could just as easily buy the drives from normal channels and do it yourself these days with a simple tool. (It's really so easy.)

Especially if those pre-flashed drives on the other Forum cost substantially more.

If not, I guess it's a moot point.

I'm just more of a DIY person, myself.

I think my old LG BH16NS40 is OK:
View attachment 63512

Yup. Don't touch the firmware on it at all. Leave it right as it is. Nice.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

You are so lucky!!!

That puppy is already good to go. LOL!

It seems that my past mistakes were not mistakes, it's just that the software was not there yet

Exactly.

Good thing you still have them.

Enjoy!




T

 

[James]

I normally use PowerDVD to play discs and I thought that with AnyDVD it would be seamless

It is.
If you use a drive supported by AnyDVD.

 

[whirlpool]

It is.
If you use a drive supported by AnyDVD.

And there are a couple of caveats to this if the requirement is to play UHD 4K blu-Ray.
1. You need AnyDVDHD
2. Sometimes you have to wait for new UHD movies to be supported by RF.

 

[OakLeaves]

So just a conclusion to this thread... My year long quest to play 4K discs on my PC & HTPC is finally over! With AnyDVD and MakeMKV on my PC with an LG WH16NS60 everything works OK. On my HTPC I had an LG BH16NS40 which I purchased in 2016 (and which had the proper firmware already) that I reinstalled. With AnyDVD all works OK too.

I play discs with PowerDVD 21 and so far everything is flawless. Thanks AnyDVD! I'm pleased with my lifetime purchase!