Make-MKV 1.99 - Loss of BD drive loading status tracking
Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 9:34 am
I've started to use / test Make-MKV in more depth recently after having installed various previous versions of this utility as a standby toolkit. While the decoding and local streaming capability (to VLC-Player) with BDs that have only AACS and also AACS with BD+ which I have tested with this utility so far has shown that it is a very capable BD decoder utility, I've noticed some problems specifically with BD writers which I have installed on my system. These problems and tests were run under Win-XP Pro SP-3 with auto insert notification turned off globally for all drive letters. Four optical drives on this system were tested with Make-MKV 1.99. Two DVD writers (one genuine Plextor, not the later OEMed fake Plextors, one Sony-Optiarc), and two BD writers (a Pioneer 06 series and a Pioneer 09 series).
With all four ODDs, while the utility was smart enough to automatically select the drive that had a disc inserted (tests were only done with only one disc inserted in any of the 4 drives at anytime), it was found that with the Pioneer BD drives, if a BD was inserted (either before Make-MKV was started or while Make-MKV was running) and then ejected once using the utility's eject button, the utility would lose track of the BD drive's loading status permanently during the SAME session of Make-MKV. This means that once a Pioneer BD drive's loaded BD was ejected by the utility, that BD drive's loading status would no longer be recognized any further UNLESS Make-MKV was quit and the restarted. Even if any disc type was inserted into the BD writer, Make-MKV would no longer detect the change in drive loading status (e.g. loading drawer closing).
This problem occurs only with the Pioneer BD writers when BDs are ejected. If DVDs are inserted and ejected (from these BD writers) using Make-MKV's eject button, the utility will continue to correctly indicate the loading status of the ODD in question and display the animated drive correctly (i.e. disc loaded, loading tray opened). However, if BDs are ejected from the Pioneer BD drives, the utility will be stuck on the message UNMOUNTING PLEASE WAIT in the drive status display area of the program and will remain in that status permanently for that drive unless the utility is quitted and restarted.
A further test was performed by ejecting a BD from the BD writers by pressing the drive's eject button instead. The problem is exactly the same - if a DVD is ejected from the BD writer this way, the utility correctly detects this action and tracks the drive's loading status normally. However, if a BD is ejected using the drive's eject button, the utility fails to detect this loading status change and continues to consider the BD loaded. However, in this case if the same BD is re-inserted, Make-MKV then fails to operate normally on the re-inserted BD and that particular BD drive is no longer operable by the utility unless the program is quit and restarted.
Since this system also has various other ODD utilities including Opti-Drive Control ODD disc tester / analyzer, Image Burn, Plextor Plextool, Nero Burning ROM, as well as other well known CD and DVD rippers, and NONE of these utilities have any problems recognizing all 4 ODDs' loading status regardless of disc type inserted or loading drawer status, I would have to suspect that this issue is probably a Make-MKV problem rather than a problem specific to Pioneer BD writers (since I'm not able to test with other brands of BD writers for this test). I would be interested to hear if anyone else might be able to reproduce the same problem on their system with a BD writer and under what Windows operating system that occurs.
Finally, many of the above lists of other ODD utilities' eject button also doubles as a load / eject toggle button to both open and closer the ODD's loading drawer, and I think that Make-MKV would be more user-friendly if the drawer close function would be implemented when the eject button is clicked in the utility to both open and close the ODD's drawer. I would imagine this would not be difficult to implement, if the BD writer's loading status detection loss issue is resolved in future Make-MKV releases.
With all four ODDs, while the utility was smart enough to automatically select the drive that had a disc inserted (tests were only done with only one disc inserted in any of the 4 drives at anytime), it was found that with the Pioneer BD drives, if a BD was inserted (either before Make-MKV was started or while Make-MKV was running) and then ejected once using the utility's eject button, the utility would lose track of the BD drive's loading status permanently during the SAME session of Make-MKV. This means that once a Pioneer BD drive's loaded BD was ejected by the utility, that BD drive's loading status would no longer be recognized any further UNLESS Make-MKV was quit and the restarted. Even if any disc type was inserted into the BD writer, Make-MKV would no longer detect the change in drive loading status (e.g. loading drawer closing).
This problem occurs only with the Pioneer BD writers when BDs are ejected. If DVDs are inserted and ejected (from these BD writers) using Make-MKV's eject button, the utility will continue to correctly indicate the loading status of the ODD in question and display the animated drive correctly (i.e. disc loaded, loading tray opened). However, if BDs are ejected from the Pioneer BD drives, the utility will be stuck on the message UNMOUNTING PLEASE WAIT in the drive status display area of the program and will remain in that status permanently for that drive unless the utility is quitted and restarted.
A further test was performed by ejecting a BD from the BD writers by pressing the drive's eject button instead. The problem is exactly the same - if a DVD is ejected from the BD writer this way, the utility correctly detects this action and tracks the drive's loading status normally. However, if a BD is ejected using the drive's eject button, the utility fails to detect this loading status change and continues to consider the BD loaded. However, in this case if the same BD is re-inserted, Make-MKV then fails to operate normally on the re-inserted BD and that particular BD drive is no longer operable by the utility unless the program is quit and restarted.
Since this system also has various other ODD utilities including Opti-Drive Control ODD disc tester / analyzer, Image Burn, Plextor Plextool, Nero Burning ROM, as well as other well known CD and DVD rippers, and NONE of these utilities have any problems recognizing all 4 ODDs' loading status regardless of disc type inserted or loading drawer status, I would have to suspect that this issue is probably a Make-MKV problem rather than a problem specific to Pioneer BD writers (since I'm not able to test with other brands of BD writers for this test). I would be interested to hear if anyone else might be able to reproduce the same problem on their system with a BD writer and under what Windows operating system that occurs.
Finally, many of the above lists of other ODD utilities' eject button also doubles as a load / eject toggle button to both open and closer the ODD's loading drawer, and I think that Make-MKV would be more user-friendly if the drawer close function would be implemented when the eject button is clicked in the utility to both open and close the ODD's drawer. I would imagine this would not be difficult to implement, if the BD writer's loading status detection loss issue is resolved in future Make-MKV releases.