Recommended drives for non-UHD use

[rippernotowens]

Howdy folks,

My 15 year old Lite-On seems to be on its last legs and I'm looking for a new drive primarily for FHD/1080p Blu-rays. I'm open to desktop/slim/external drives. I'm going to be only reading discs, not burning any. I'm in the US.

Considerations (in order of priority) -
1. Great at reading scratched/difficult discs
2. Speed
3. Price
4. I might start buying UHD discs in the future, so UHD support would be a bonus (I'm open to fw flashing)

I will be using it with a PC, and bundled software is irrelevant.

Thanks in advance.

[MrPenguin]

Considerations (in order of priority) -
1. Great at reading scratched/difficult discs
2. Speed
3. Price
4. I might start buying UHD discs in the future, so UHD support would be a bonus (I'm open to fw flashing)

Buy a Pioneer drive, while you still can. Mike has already told us that all Pioneer drives will support UHD eventually, and so since you are not planning to buy UHD disks yet, you can afford to wait.

AFAIK MakeMKV does not need LibreDrive in order to support non-UHD disks.

[Coopervid]

Good advice! Hurry up! Pioneer drives will be sold out soon.

[rippernotowens]

Thanks, @MrPenguin.

I see BDR-212V (internal) and BDR-XD08 (portable) are still being sold. Apart from the read speed (BDR-212V is faster) and convenience (BDR-XD08 being portable), are there any other factors I should consider when choosing one over the other?

[dolphin]

I have the BDR-XD08. My collection is mostly DVDs and only a few dozen HD Blu-rays, so firmware issues weren't a concern. I wanted the external slimline profile to connect to a Mac mini M4 Pro.

That said, the first one I bought stopped reading Blu-rays after about a week of constant use. Who knows? The BD laser or some related component died, but DVD functionality still worked. It was exchanged for the same model which is still working fine.

Performance-wise, I've occasionally seen up to 15x read speeds on DVDs with the XD08. Mostly it reads around 6-8x. My collection is very clean, so I've chalked up the few failures to manufacturing defects in the disks. Spider-Man (2002) and Captain America: The First Avenger are notable failures despite trying different drives and computers.

Given the history you described with your "15 year old Lite-On", I'm thinking you might get better longevity with an internal drive in a good quality enclosure. But if you don't already have an enclosure or spare drive bay, that will add to your cost.

I think the key will be to get one and put it through its paces early on.

[rippernotowens]

Thanks for the input, @dolphin.

I've been reading posts recommending Verbatim 43888 to folks in the UK/Europe, and it looks like it's currently available in the US as well on Amazon. Even has a prime day discount. I guess on the flip side it's a bit slower (4x) and comes with the caveat of needing a USB port that can supply enough power.

[Coopervid]

Thanks for the input, @dolphin.

I've been reading posts recommending Verbatim 43888 to folks in the UK/Europe, and it looks like it's currently available in the US as well on Amazon. Even has a prime day discount. I guess on the flip side it's a bit slower (4x) and comes with the caveat of needing a USB port that can supply enough power.

LG drives tend to die early. And the Pioneers are the better rippers for critical discs, especially 4k discs. Get a 212V if you can. Unfortunately Billycar in the US is sold out. Asmcom in Northern Ireland has still some drives and is shipping worldwide. You might contact him by email to check what's avaialble.
orders@uhdfriendlydrives.co.uk

[MrPenguin]

I've been reading posts recommending Verbatim 43888 to folks in the UK/Europe, and it looks like it's currently available in the US as well on Amazon.

Modern Verbatim 43888 drives are likely to contain an LG BU40N drive. I don't know how many of the earlier models based on the Pioneer BD-UD04 drive are still available.

[flojo]

Get a 212V if you can.

It should be noted that this drive has a very high power requirement compared to others, especially the BU40N which is listed as 2 A. I can testify to this because the 212V is the only drive I have that won't reliably work in my cheap "Kanguru" USB enclosures due to power issues.

From the last page of the 212V's manual, under "SPECIFICATIONS":

Power Supply
DC +12 V, 2.2 A
DC +5 V, 1.4 A

That seems like a crap load even if it's just peak, but that is what the manual states.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/27833 ... e=8#manual
https://www.digikey.ch/htmldatasheets/p ... tions.html

[Coopervid]

Get a 212V if you can.

It should be noted that this drive has a very high power requirement compared to others, especially the BU40N which is listed as 2 A. I can testify to this because the 212V is the only drive I have that won't reliably work in my cheap "Kanguru" USB enclosures due to power issues.

From the last page of the 212V's manual, under "SPECIFICATIONS":

Power Supply
DC +12 V, 2.2 A
DC +5 V, 1.4 A

That seems like a crap load even if it's just peak, but that is what the manual states.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/27833 ... e=8#manual
https://www.digikey.ch/htmldatasheets/p ... tions.html

That's an easy fix to get a higher output power supply.

[flojo]

That's an easy fix to get a higher output power supply.

I have six 212Vs that are waiting for new enclosures because a higher power supply doesn't solve the 212V's power problem with my Kanguru USB 2.0 enclosures or Kanguru USB 3.0 enclosures. Out of the 4 different UHD 5.25 models I have, the 212V is the only one with a problem in these enclosures.

https://imghost.online/ib/XAp8Ew8FAcUyr ... 093429.jpg

[Coopervid]

That's an easy fix to get a higher output power supply.

I have six 212Vs that are waiting for new enclosures because a higher power supply doesn't solve the 212V's power problem with my Kanguru USB 2.0 enclosures or Kanguru USB 3.0 enclosures.

https://imghost.online/ib/XAp8Ew8FAcUyr ... 093429.jpg

Well. Then these enclosures are junk. The drives are fine.

[rippernotowens]

Update on my original situation - turns out my old Lite-On works just fine, it was actually the enclosure (old Vantec NexStar DX) that was the issue. I got the inexpensive Vantec CB-ST00U3 (which is just the SATA adaptor without the enclosure) and the Lite-On is working fine with that.

Having said that, I've been bitten by the Pioneer FOMO bug, so I'm still going to get myself a Pioneer. I'll probably use it for discs that the Lite-On has trouble reading.

@Coopervid and @MrPenguin - thanks for pointing out that Verbatim 43888 is likely LG and not Pioneer under the hood these days.

@Coopervid (and anyone else looking for a Pioneer right now) - 212V is currently available on Amazon and Newegg. Of course, it won't be patched like it would have been if I were to get it from Billycar or Asmcom, but when I eventually start using UHD discs I can reach out you folks and get it flashed.

@flojo - good call out on the power requirements. The Vantec CB-ST00U3 that I just got has a rating of 12V/2A, but I see that NexStar DX2 comes with an adaptor rated 12V/3A.

I think I'm going to go with 212V + NexStar DX2. Man, this research has been a lot of work, I envy the naïve me from 15 years ago that picked a random drive on Amazon without doing any research and got lucky.

A comparison just for fun - the Lite-On + NexStar DX cost me exactly $100 15 years ago. 212V + NexStar DX2 is going to cost me $205.

Appreciate everyone's help with this!