Best Ripper for 4k UHD

[shabir23]

I currently have the WH14NS40, which I flashed and have been using for lots of 1080p Blu-ray’s. But after adding 4k titles to my collection, it starts to freak out with some discs. Some rip totally fine, while other give a ton of corruption errors. Using a regular player on my TV shows that they are totally fine.

What is the absolute best player, with the least amount of issues?

[dcoke22]

The flashing guide has a list of supported drives.

On this forum, I've seen folks repeatedly speak well of the LG BU40N and modern Pioneer drives.

The guide also has a list of sellers who, for a small premium, will sell you a drive properly flashed (if necessary) and tested. That could make things simpler for you.

[Coopervid]

...and if you still burn discs go with a Pioneer. These drives are far better burners compared to the LG family.

[audiom3]

...and if you still burn discs go with a Pioneer. These drives are far better burners compared to the LG family.

I read this a lot here. Could you go into specifics please? I own a Pioneer BDR-S12UHT, an LG WH16NS60, an LG BP60NB10 an LG WH16NSS40 and an ASUS BW-16D1HT. The only difference I can prove is the Pioneer rips at a slower speed than the other 4 drives. It might be a tad 'quieter' but I could care less about that as my gaming PC fans are louder than the drives anyway...
Any disc that cannot be read by my 16NS60 also cannot be read by the BDR-S12UHT out of the dozens that I've tried. So what gives? I think this whole Pioneer thing being better is based on placebo since they are more $$ than the LG drives. The 16NS60 is a damn fine drive and I would say I wasted money on the Pioneer in thinking I could better that LG. But please let me know if I am missing something? The only semi-positive about the Pioneer is it's plug and play - no FW patch needed. Other than that, do tell how Pioneers are superior please.

[Coopervid]

...and if you still burn discs go with a Pioneer. These drives are far better burners compared to the LG family.

I read this a lot here. Could you go into specifics please? I own a Pioneer BDR-S12UHT, an LG WH16NS60, an LG BP60NB10 an LG WH16NSS40 and an ASUS BW-16D1HT. The only difference I can prove is the Pioneer rips at a slower speed than the other 4 drives. It might be a tad 'quieter' but I could care less about that as my gaming PC fans are louder than the drives anyway...
Any disc that cannot be read by my 16NS60 also cannot be read by the BDR-S12UHT out of the dozens that I've tried. So what gives? I think this whole Pioneer thing being better is based on placebo since they are more $$ than the LG drives. The 16NS60 is a damn fine drive and I would say I wasted money on the Pioneer in thinking I could better that LG. But please let me know if I am missing something? The only semi-positive about the Pioneer is it's plug and play - no FW patch needed. Other than that, do tell how Pioneers are superior please.

You say you have tried a dozen UHDs. I've tried many more.. And as a required step if you have read problems you need to clean those discs with liquid soap and warm water. Then clean again with a microfiber cloth. Even if they are new and look perfect. Then try again... The worst are the LOTR and Hobbit discs. The Pioneers will read them if you have taken the steps above. With the LGs / ASUS it's hit and miss. Believe me I have ripped a lot of those UHDs.

[audiom3]

...and if you still burn discs go with a Pioneer. These drives are far better burners compared to the LG family.

I read this a lot here. Could you go into specifics please? I own a Pioneer BDR-S12UHT, an LG WH16NS60, an LG BP60NB10 an LG WH16NSS40 and an ASUS BW-16D1HT. The only difference I can prove is the Pioneer rips at a slower speed than the other 4 drives. It might be a tad 'quieter' but I could care less about that as my gaming PC fans are louder than the drives anyway...
Any disc that cannot be read by my 16NS60 also cannot be read by the BDR-S12UHT out of the dozens that I've tried. So what gives? I think this whole Pioneer thing being better is based on placebo since they are more $$ than the LG drives. The 16NS60 is a damn fine drive and I would say I wasted money on the Pioneer in thinking I could better that LG. But please let me know if I am missing something? The only semi-positive about the Pioneer is it's plug and play - no FW patch needed. Other than that, do tell how Pioneers are superior please.

You say you have tried a dozen UHDs. I've tried many more.. And as a required step if you have read problems you need to clean those discs with liquid soap and warm water. Then clean again with a microfiber cloth. Even if they are new and look perfect. Then try again... The worst are the LOTR and Hobbit discs. The Pioneers will read them if you have taken the steps above. With the LGs / ASUS it's hit and miss. Believe me I have ripped a lot of those UHDs.

Oh trust me, I use dawn dish soap under very little running water and I use glass cleaning MF cloths to dry. I have thousands of movies and TV shows, so I run into bad masters. At least, after a solid cleaning cycle, that's all it could be... And if it's a bad master, it doesn't matter which drive you use, it won't read it, period. Just wondering when the Pioneer will prove to be better than any of the LGs or ASUS? That's all.

EDIT: and my dozens are ONLY bad discs that the LGs won't read. Not dozens of disks. I have thousands of shiny silver discs.

[Coopervid]

I'm not getting in a pissing contest with you. The sellers here say that the LGs are of bad quality. The reading performance of hard to read discs is better according to my experience. Same applies to SamuriHL who is a long time member. Etc, etc.

Case closed.

[audiom3]

I'm not getting in a pissing contest with you. The sellers here say that the LGs are of bad quality. The reading performance of hard to read discs is better according to my experience. Same applies to SamuriHL who is a long time member. Etc, etc.

Case closed.

I respect that. But all you guys say is 'Pioneers are better' with zero proof or any sort of reasoning behind it. These posts cost me $200 for a Pioneer that hasn't proven any better in any way. Only slower. So I only ask for some numbers or at least proof if you all are going to make bold statements. But all you guys are saying is, Ford is better than Chevy. Why? Well, it just is, trust us! People throws their hard earned money around from those who claim to be knowledgeable. For all we know, you have a bone to pick with LG and are doing what you can to say they suck. I'm here to say I've ripped thousands of discs and yes, I had issues but I've pulled those same discs off my rack and the Pioneer did no better with them. My only point is to save others from spending unnecessary money unless you guys back your claims with numbers or...anything really.

[dcoke22]

I have an LG WH16NS60 drive that works just fine. But I've had it for a few years now. The sellers on this forum have said that the quality of the LG & ASUS drives has dropped off in recent times. As I understand it, they test every drive before they sell it, and the LG & ASUS drives have a high number of defective drives lately. The Pioneers and the LG BU40N, on the other hand, have a very low defect rate.

Lots of folks, including the OP in this thread, generally ask for a recommendation of the 'best' drive or the most reliable drive or something similar. The best chance at that for most people right now is a Pioneer or a LG BU40N.

I also have a Pioneer drive. On the rare occasion when my WH16NS60 won't read a disc, most of the time, my Pioneer reads it without complaint. In my experience, having multiple different drives is the best way to get good rips from one's movie collection since some drives just don't seem to like some discs.

It is unfortunate that you have dozens of discs that you can't rip. My success rate with my various drives has been very high. I've had two discs that had to be exchanged (the exchanges ripped cleanly) and two or three in my collection that I've had to borrow a copy from a friend or rent to get a good rip. I'm probably at 1000 discs or so.

[el-nebu]

@audiom3
You are right, of course. The recommendations always come from the personal experiences of the users.
For example, I have more than 600 discs and had bought a BH16NS40 and then crossflashed it to a WH16NS60.
I was able to read about 585 discs without any problems. The other discs could not be read without errors.
On further recommendation, I then bought the BU40N and afterwards I was able to read the missing discs without any problems.
So I would also recommend the BU40N because it could do something that the WH16NS60 apparently could not.
Maybe the recommendation would be different if I had bought the BU40N first and then it couldn't read a few discs without errors.

I just want to tell you, that you should get rid of the idea, that you buy only one drive and then you will never have problems again.
If you also have hundreds of discs, sooner or later you will have to buy at least a second drive to deal with read errors.

Many of the users here have had this experience and if you read the forum for a few months, you will see that the recurring
problems with reading can usually be solved with a second drive.
The recommendations always go to the LG BU40N and the Pioneer drives (e.g. BDR-XS07UHD).
You don't have to buy either of them, and you can also start with a low-priced drive of your choice (watch thread "Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2023" first !), but remember that not all discs can be read flawlessly with just one drive - sooner or later you will need at least a second one.

[audiom3]

I also have a Pioneer drive. On the rare occasion when my WH16NS60 won't read a disc, most of the time, my Pioneer reads it without complaint. In my experience, having multiple different drives is the best way to get good rips from one's movie collection since some drives just don't seem to like some discs.

It is unfortunate that you have dozens of discs that you can't rip. My success rate with my various drives has been very high. I've had two discs that had to be exchanged (the exchanges ripped cleanly) and two or three in my collection that I've had to borrow a copy from a friend or rent to get a good rip. I'm probably at 1000 discs or so.

I agree with more is better in the amount of drives and makes/models. The biggest reason I bought the Pioneer last.

I didn't say I have all of those bad discs. I've returned/exchanged most of them. And in fairness to the subject, many are BD series discs. Examples of the paper weights in my BD rack: 'Arrow' S5D4, 'The 100' S9D2, 'Planet Earth' D2, 'GoT [4k]' S8D1, Green Lantern, American Beauty... to name a few. I was hoping the Pioneer would have ripped some of these but I get the same rip error on all that I've tried (Scsi error - MEDIUM ERROR:L-EC UNCORRECTABLE ERROR) and on all of my drives. I gently clean first. If that doesn't work, I use a more vigorous cleaning regimen (still soap and water though). This covers many new discs with the film on it. But the bad ones just won't read no matter what I try. So it has to boil down to bad disc masters or defective media. IME, there is no hard to read disc. It either reads or it fails. I'll keep trying. I still buy a ton of media (both new and used).