Search found 42 matches

by VA1DER
Wed Oct 22, 2025 1:54 pm
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: Do I need a specific drive to rip a non-UHD BluRay? Or wait and get one that can rip UHD too?
Replies: 2
Views: 849

Re: Do I need a specific drive to rip a non-UHD BluRay? Or wait and get one that can rip UHD too?

My suggestion is to get a UHD Libredrive capable drive. This means a drive that has a firmware that allows MakeMKV to dynamically tweak its microcode to bypass current and future protection issues. Don't mess around with anything else. I prefer 5.25" "internal" drives. Faster and more...
by VA1DER
Mon Oct 20, 2025 5:45 pm
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported
Replies: 166
Views: 136769

Re: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported

g0th1ckn1ght wrote:
Fri Oct 17, 2025 8:26 pm
Coopervid wrote:
Fri Oct 17, 2025 8:19 pm
You gotta wait until Mike comes up with a solution. No ETA. But he pomised.
No worries. I have an LG that I bought from Marty that I am using in the meantime. Cheers

Word on the street from sources I would consider reliable is that it will be Real Soon Now(tm),
by VA1DER
Tue Aug 26, 2025 5:58 am
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: makemkv LG WH16NS60 4K UHD no disc inserted
Replies: 9
Views: 6414

Re: makemkv LG WH16NS60 4K UHD no disc inserted

Some people use glasses cleaner spray to clean the discs. My go-to is a solution I originally made for print head cleaning, but it works very well on discs as it leaves no residue. Simply one part household ammonia, one part distilled water, and two parts isopropanol or denatured ethanol (better). ...
by VA1DER
Sat Aug 23, 2025 9:42 pm
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported
Replies: 166
Views: 136769

Re: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported

Yeah, but they most likely will be supported in the near future. "Near" is open to interpretation. :roll: That said... Also, since Pioneer ceased manufacturing optical drives several months ago, the worlds supply is dwindling rather quickly! The slimlne XS08 and even the UD04 you can stil...
by VA1DER
Tue Aug 12, 2025 2:53 pm
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: New blu-ray drive - Pioneer not widely available?
Replies: 3
Views: 4929

Re: New blu-ray drive - Pioneer not widely available?

Looks like asmcom is out of the good 5.25" Pioneers. You can find some NOS Pioneers at Ali Express, but you have to be careful there because some vendors have cottoned on to certain Pioneers being quite sought. But you can generally find actual BDR-S13C-X there. You'll pay a lot though. And the...
by VA1DER
Thu Aug 07, 2025 6:50 pm
Forum: UHD discs
Topic: Automatic KH downloading is disabled or failed
Replies: 3
Views: 4106

Re: Automatic KH downloading is disabled or failed

I've started running into this too. With seemingly innocuous VPN endpoints.

Why are some VPN endpoints being blocked? Why would any be blocked? It's not like and bad actors will stop what their doing because one VPN endpoint was blocked.
by VA1DER
Mon Jul 28, 2025 4:18 am
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: What current UHD type drives are recommended retail?
Replies: 2
Views: 5027

Re: What current UHD type drives are recommended retail?

Is there a shortlist of recommended external and internal drives for playing back and ripping DVD, BluRay and UHD movies onto PC? Is internal or external preferred? Is it difficult to set up these days? I would recommend a 5.25", which will mostly mean internals. My primary ripping is done on ...
by VA1DER
Thu Jul 10, 2025 11:55 pm
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: Kinda complicated?
Replies: 4
Views: 3296

Re: Kinda complicated?

A lot of the Verbatim slim-line drives available on eBay are still a Pioneer BDR-UD03 or BDR-UD04. The former can be flashed to the latter, which is usable for UHD-ripping in MakeMKV. There are still (as of right now) listings for used Verbatim slim-lines for as low at $30. It may be worth taking a ...
by VA1DER
Sun Jun 29, 2025 8:45 pm
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported
Replies: 166
Views: 136769

Re: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported

It's 100% ... relevant for people considering paying a lot extra for the even rarer pre-2022-firmware Pioneer drives. If it's going to be on the order of months, then people may want to buy or (stick with already purchased) post-2022 firmware drives and wait for the "fix". If it's going t...
by VA1DER
Sun Jun 29, 2025 4:58 pm
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported
Replies: 166
Views: 136769

Re: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported

So, like, when? No ETA. Just sometime in the future. Fair enough, but if anyone has an idea on what scale of "future" we're thinking about, it would be helpful. Days, weeks, months, years. I don't think anyone is looking for promises, but it would help with purchasing decisions for a lot ...
by VA1DER
Tue Jun 24, 2025 5:01 pm
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported
Replies: 166
Views: 136769

Re: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported

SamuriHL wrote:
Sun Jun 15, 2025 1:16 pm
bird333 wrote:
Sun Jun 15, 2025 1:11 pm
Can you explain how one does this? What software is used, etc?
Use whatever software you want
I think he meant what software do you use to cross flash it.
by VA1DER
Thu Jun 19, 2025 5:30 am
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: Comparing Pioneer UHD Models
Replies: 23
Views: 10029

Re: Comparing Pioneer UHD Models

if a 13 model is worth the price for functionality and not just rarity. What do these more expensive models have that will actually effect my experience as a regular user versus sticking with the 12's I already purchased. Well, it's not quite as simple. The 12 you have is a 2 12, not an S 12. And t...
by VA1DER
Tue Jun 17, 2025 9:00 pm
Forum: Forum and Website discussions
Topic: DNS expired
Replies: 4
Views: 9921

DNS expired

Well, the DNS for the site seems to have expired. I don't know who all will see this, since the expiry seems to have propagated to most of the internet now. You have to edit your hosts manually to get it to work.

I'm happy to pay the registration fee if that'll help. :p
by VA1DER
Tue Jun 10, 2025 5:23 pm
Forum: UHD drives
Topic: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported
Replies: 166
Views: 136769

Re: All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported

Do you people even realize that drives can be fixed when they age? Only for the most basic issues. The most concerning part is the blue laser since it, unlike a red burn laser, has a fixed life. The laser and focusing is intrinsic into the optical pickup unit. The optical pickup unit for most (read...