www.makemkv.com

I am looking into buying a portable Blu-ray drive, and it looks like I could save a fair bit of money by buying a drive that lacks write capabilities. My question is: will this interfere in any way with MakeMKV's ability to rip commercial Blu-rays?

No, MakeMKV does not use write capabilities, so it isn't a factor.

You will want a drive that can read BD-XL, and firmware that can be upgraded.

Woodstock wrote:No, MakeMKV does not use write capabilities, so it isn't a factor.

Nice. That will save me $50.

Woodstock wrote:You will want a drive that can read BD-XL, and firmware that can be upgraded.

Based on some Google searching, the only MakeMKV-related discussions I could find that mentioned BDXL and firmware upgrades were about ripping "Ultra HD" Blu-ray discs.

However, I do not own any Ultra HD Blu-rays. Furthermore, since I only buy anime (which is rarely created in anything greater than 720p), I do not think I will need to rip Ultra HD Blu-rays any time soon.

Does this mean that I do not need a drive with BDXL support and upgradeable firmware? Or are there also pre-UHD titles that require these capabilities?

Justinian wrote:

Woodstock wrote:No, MakeMKV does not use write capabilities, so it isn't a factor.

Nice. That will save me $50.

Woodstock wrote:You will want a drive that can read BD-XL, and firmware that can be upgraded.

Based on some Google searching, the only MakeMKV-related discussions I could find that mentioned BDXL and firmware upgrades were about ripping "Ultra HD" Blu-ray discs.

However, I do not own any Ultra HD Blu-rays. Furthermore, since I only buy anime (which is rarely created in anything greater than 720p), I do not think I will need to rip Ultra HD Blu-rays any time soon.

Does this mean that I do not need a drive with BDXL support and upgradeable firmware? Or are there also pre-UHD titles that require these capabilities?

I do not have BDXL drives, don't plan on upgrading anytime soon since UHD is not in my immediate future. I've used a variety of LG and Asus BD read-only internal drives over the years, have worked perfectly for all the BDs and DVDs I've thrown at them which did not have any manufacturing defects. Would assume the same would apply to a portable drive.

I was also looking to save some money. Portable/external blu-ray drives are expensive! And slow. So I found an alternative.

I ended up getting a SATA to USB 3 powered adapter and an internal 12x blu-ray drive. Total cost was on par with a cheap portable drive. This combination has worked great for me and I see sustained BD read rates much higher than the portables are capable of. Yeah, it's louder than a portable, but it sits in my office, not where my tv goes.

yorgo wrote:I do not have BDXL drives, don't plan on upgrading anytime soon since UHD is not in my immediate future. I've used a variety of LG and Asus BD read-only internal drives over the years, have worked perfectly for all the BDs and DVDs I've thrown at them which did not have any manufacturing defects. Would assume the same would apply to a portable drive.

In that case, I won't bother specifically looking for a BDXL drive.

Thank you everyone for your help regarding these issues.