Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2023

[D3F3ND3R16]

are the Pioneer drives US only? Can’t find any of them here in Germany available.
Want to get a second drive that’s no needed to be flashed.

[Coopervid]

No. You can find them in Germany but not the newest models. Full size "12" series and slim size "07" series. In the US they sell already "13" and "08" series.

Se also the PN that I have sent to you.

[mnoah66]

Probably a silly question but if you flash for UHD ripping you’ll still be able to rip DVDS and BluRays, right? Or do you have to re-flash it to stock?

[Woodstock]

Probably a silly question but if you flash for UHD ripping you’ll still be able to rip DVDS and BluRays, right?

Yes.

[explorerof314]

Hi, I'm total n00b here..., I'm reading this forum for last few days, and still unsure if it is safe to flash my drive and what FW should I flash it to. What confuses me is the message:

Code: Select all

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled

Does it not suggest that the drive will support LibreDrive blob on unmodified firmware?

Also my firmware version looks strange - it is A102, e.g. I can barely find any info about this drive. This drive is internal laptop drive from Dell.

My drive information:

Code: Select all

Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BU40N
Revision: A102
Serial number: 
Firmware date: 2119-05-03 17:43
Bus encryption flags: 1F
Highest AACS version: 61

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: MT1959

Is it safe to flash and what should I flash it to?

When I tried my first UHD disc today, I've got:

Code: Select all

Can't read AACS VID from disc - most likely current AACS host certificate is revoked by your drive
Saved AACS dump file as C:\Users\proko/.MakeMKV/MKB20_v61_Game_Of_Thrones_Season_1_Disc_1_EE7D.tgz
LibreDrive compatible drive is required to open this disc - video can't be decrypted.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Billycar11]

Hi, I'm total n00b here..., I'm reading this forum for last few days, and still unsure if it is safe to flash my drive and what FW should I flash it to. What confuses me is the message:

Code: Select all

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled

Does it not suggest that the drive will support LibreDrive blob on unmodified firmware?

Also my firmware version looks strange - it is A102, e.g. I can barely find any info about this drive. This drive is internal laptop drive from Dell.

My drive information:

Code: Select all

Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BU40N
Revision: A102
Serial number: 
Firmware date: 2119-05-03 17:43
Bus encryption flags: 1F
Highest AACS version: 61

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: MT1959

Is it safe to flash and what should I flash it to?

When I tried my first UHD disc today, I've got:

Code: Select all

Can't read AACS VID from disc - most likely current AACS host certificate is revoked by your drive
Saved AACS dump file as C:\Users\proko/.MakeMKV/MKB20_v61_Game_Of_Thrones_Season_1_Disc_1_EE7D.tgz
LibreDrive compatible drive is required to open this disc - video can't be decrypted.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yes it's safe to flash follow BU40N steps and it will work or email me for an auto flash kit

[explorerof314]

Yes it's safe to flash follow BU40N steps and it will work or email me for an auto flash kit

Thank you for your answer.

Is my understanding correct that I should go with:

Code: Select all

The all you need firmware pack\LG slim BU40N\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.03-NM00000-211810241934.bin

or should I go with MK firmware like \mk-firmware-pack-20200720\MK\HL-DT-ST\BU40N-N-Main\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.04-NM00500-212005061142.bin ?

My further concern is that I tried to use "Read firmware" option from SDFtool and it produced tar file of 72kb with few tiny files inside. I assume this is not what I can use to re-flash original firmware, if things goes wrong? Further is there any option to backup existing firmware, "just in case" (or in case someone here would be interested with A102 which seems not-typical BR drive)?

Interestingly according to SDFtool my drive firmware is "not encrypted". Does it change anything? I haven't put any BD into this till yesterday as my significant other got UHD disc set and trying to view this on TV , hence my interest in MakeMKV software, which BTW is awesome initiative.

[explorerof314]

... or email me for an auto flash kit

I cannot recommend highly enough the help, I've received from Billycar11.
His help / knowledge & custom flash script is worth every penny.
My drive is now "fixed" and I'm fully enjoying MakeMKS software.

[JacobV]

Looking at the Mac/Linux Command instructions
I understand everything except step 4, "copy sdf.bin and the firmware file extracted from theall you need firmware pack into /tmp folder"

Where is /tmp folder and how would I do this? The commands are included for the other steps but not sure I'm fully comprehending how to do this

[Edition50]

This Guide Is Made By: Billy/Billycar11, MartyMcNuts, Blackened2687, d00zah, mike admin, SamuriHL, st4evr, TeddyRaspin, Woodstock, Bluntman, Alex/jonghotti, garygomm
Even if they didn't contribute directly i have used their information


Don't Forget To Buy MakeMkv Once You Get Ripping Your UHDs:
https://www.makemkv.com/buy/

STOP READ BEFORE FLASHING
IMPORTANT Before you flash:

1. Make sure your Drive was built after 2016 on label or late 2015 if you want to risk it.
2. Drive Platform MT1959<Most important in makemkv
3. SVC NS50+ LG only on label for NB drives NB50+
4. Just because your drive is the same model number does not mean it will work, if you are unsure ask me i offer remote flashing and check everything before i flash.
5. Dont flash your dive if it does not meet these requirements if you do you will be unable to read all disks and unable to restore without dosflash that does not work on most modern computers


Recommended UHD Drives to get:



All of these drives will need to be flashed to unlock UHD Reading/Ripping
Speed testes done by Asmcom and Billy

BP60NB10, UHD Official External Slim 9.5mm USB 2.0 | Rip speed 6x BD 66 ~45 mins BD 100 ~1 hour 5mins
BP50NB40, UHD Officialish External Slim 9.5mm USB 2.0 | Rip speed 6x BD 66 ~45 mins BD 100 ~1 hour 5mins
LG WH16NS60, UHD Official Internal 5.25 sata | Rip speed 8x BD 66 ~45 mins BD 100 ~1 hour
LG BU40N, UHD Official Internal Slim Sata 9.5mm | Rip speed 6x BD 66 ~45 mins BD 100 ~1 hour 5mins
LG WH14NS40, UHD Friendly Internal 5.25 sata | Rip speed 8x BD 66 ~45 mins BD 100 ~1 hour if flashed properly other wise 6x rips speed and slower then BU40N
LG WH16NS40, UHD Friendly Internal 5.25 sata | Rip speed 8x BD 66 ~45 mins BD 100 ~1 hour if flashed properly other wise 6x rips speed and slower then BU40N
ASUS BW-16D1HT, UHD Friendly Internal 5.25 sata | Rip speed 8x BD 66 ~45 mins BD 100 ~1 hour
ASUS BW-16D1HT Pro, UHD Friendly Internal 5.25 sata | Rip speed 8x BD 66 ~45 mins BD 100 ~1 hour
LG BH16NS55, UHD Friendly Internal 5.25 sata | Rip speed 8x BD 66 ~45 mins BD 100 ~1 hour if flashed properly other wise 6x rip speed and slower then BU40N
Buffalo BRUHD-PU3-BK, UHD Official, External Slim 9.5mm USB 3.0 LG BU40N inside| Rip speed 6x BD 66 ~45 mins BD 100 ~1 hour 5mins
Archgon MD-8107S-U3-UHD, UHD Official, External Slim 9.5mm LG BU40N inside USB 3.0-Marty| Rip speed 6x BD 66 ~45 mins BD 100 ~1 hour 5mins


Pioneer UHD drives are now supported more info about that will be coming from the developer and once the info is out i will update stuff here
this is a work in progress
there will be no friendly pioneer drives only official UHD drives will be able to read UHD discs so dont buy an non UHD one and expect it to work with UHD
Pioneer Drives Currently do not need to be flashed they should just work. if you pioneer UHD drive does not work post your makemkv drive info here: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27378

drives that Currently work are:

BDR-XD07UHD Slim top load USB Rip speed 4x BD 66 ~1 Hour BD 100 ~1 hour 35mins
BDR-XD06JUHD Slim top load USB Rip speed 4x BD 66 ~1 Hour BD 100 ~1 hour 35mins
BDR-S12UHT Internal 5.25 sata Rip speed 4x BD 66 ~1 Hour BD 100 ~1 hour 35mins
BDR-XS07UHD Slim Slot load USB Rip speed 4x BD 66 ~1 Hour BD 100 ~1 hour 35mins
BDR-212UBK Internal 5.25 sata Rip speed 4x BD 66 ~1 Hour BD 100 ~1 hour 35mins
BDR-211UBK Internal 5.25 sata Rip speed 4x BD 66 ~1 Hour BD 100 ~1 hour 35mins
BDR-UD04 Slim 9.5mm tray load slim sata Rip speed 4x BD 66 ~1 Hour BD 100 ~1 hour 35mins
BDR-S13U-X Internal 5.25 sata Rip speed 4x BD 66 ~1 Hour BD 100 ~1 hour 35mins
BDR-S13UBK Internal 5.25 sata Rip speed 4x BD 66 ~1 Hour BD 100 ~1 hour 35mins
please tell me more if you have a pioneer UHD drive and it works i will add it to the list

about drive rip speed
some drives like the BU400N and WP/BP50NB40/BP60NB10 achieve near the same rip speed as desktop drives because they pick up speed faster and hold the 6x top speed longer then the other desktop drives.



Recommended Pre-Flashed Drive Sellers:

Billy: Billycar5924@gmail.com Flashed and Tested upfront prices at link below And Automated self flash kits For LG Asus and Pioneer
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=17831 USA Black Friday sale $20 off makemkv with purchase


Marty: martymcnuts@outlook.com upfront prices at link below And Automated self flash kits
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=18747 Australia & NZ only


BluntmanUHD@protonmail.com upfront prices at link below
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=21354 Canada Only

asmcom: uhdfriendlydrives@gmail.com
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19387 UK & International


additional resources/options can be found here:
viewforum.php?f=20


Recommended Firmware to flash for MakeMKV:
WH16NS60 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK

WH14NS40 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK

WH16NS40 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK

BH16NS55 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK

Asus BW-16D1HT on any Firmware directly to > Asus BW-16D1HT 3.10MK

BU40N on any Firmware directly to > BU40N 1.03MK

BP50NB40 to > BP50NB40-NB50-1.03MK then to > BP60NB10 1.02MK or 1.00MK
NB52 to > BP50NB40-NB50-1.03MK with enc > BP50NB40-NB50-1.03MK with bootloader/full flash > BP60NB10 1.00_HBD from Marty download/file.php?id=2143
if using command line add "full" after rawflash

BP60NB10 on any Firmware directly to > BP60NB10 1.02MK


List below is for past refence and if it becomes relevant in the future for now any USB devices that works with optical drives should be able to flash them:
USB enclosures/sata adapters that work with optical drives and flashing:

Vantec NST-510S3-BK 9.5mm slim sata case
OWC Mercury Pro 5.25 case does not fit Pioneer 5.25 drives
ICY BOX IB-550StU3S 5.25 case-ddeconin
Unitek Y-3324 USB to sata cable-Marty
Alxum AX-SC021NEW USB to sata cable-Marty


USB enclosures/sata adapters that work with optical drives but don't support flashing:

Vantec NST-536S3-BK 5.25 case most can flash except jmicron chipset pcb version 1V00D F0901
Vantec CB-ST00U3
Buffalo BR3D-12U3
Vantec 53653-bk


Sleep Bug:

All UHD Friendly drives have the sleep bug, this is when a UHD disk is left idle in the drive for 2 minutes. Once the drive goes to sleep, the UHD Friendly drive will no longer be able to read the disk without opening and closing the disk tray and will make horrible seeking noises until this is done.

Sleep Bug Fix:

To fix the sleep bug on a UHD Friendly drive flash firmware from an UHD Official drive like WH16NS60 DE 1.00 or 1.01MK


Crossflashing:

1. Changes the drive to act as another and gain most or all of its benefits
2. Can be used to increase a drives ripping speed and fix the sleep bug



Crossflashing Warnings:

1. Don't crossflash desktop drives to slim drives or the other way around
2. In some cases crossflashing an Asus drive to an LG or the other way around you may no longer be able to burn disks-SamuriHL
3. Flashing Official UHD firmware to a UHD Friendly drive will not enable Powerdvd aacs 2 decryption or playback

Newer OEM Firmwares and encrypted:

New Encrypted firmware
List of Know Encrypted firmware (so far, any firmware with date in 2020 is encrypted)

Code: Select all

HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BE16NU50-1.04-N000300-212005081025.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BH14NS50-1.03-N000400-212004211008.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BH16NS40-NS50-1.05-N000600-212005061331.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BH16NS50-1.03-N000400-212004210958.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BH16NS55-1.05-N000400-212004211049.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BH16NS60-1.02-N000600-212005081014.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BP50NB40-NB52-1.03-N000300-212107081603.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BP50NB40-NB50-1.03-N000800-212005070917.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BP55EB40-NB50-1.03-N000800-212005070924.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BP60NB10-1.02-N000800-212005070935.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BP60NB10-NB12-1.02-N000300-212107081556.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N_1.02_212012011716_MO3L91F0715.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.04-N000500-212005061142.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-BN13-0002300-212009251104.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-BN14
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-BU13
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-BU14
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH14NS40-NS50-1.05-N000900-212005061444.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS40-NS50-1.05-N000900-212005061440.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.03-N000600-212005081010.bin
HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WP50NB40-NB50-1.03-N000800-212005070929.bin
HL-DT-ST-BDDVDRW_CH12NS40-1.03-N000800-212005080957.bin
HL-DT-ST-BDDVDRW_UH12NS40-1.03-N000800-212005080959.bin
ASUS-BW-16D1HT-3.11
ASUS-BC-12D2HT-3.12

LG 1.04+ / BU40N 1.03 / Asus 3.10+ and similar
The newer OEM firmwares cannot be flashed easily due to the additional downgrade checks implemented by the drive/firmware manufacturer. If your drive has one of these firmwares, and there is no MK version of the same firmware/drive model or higher number, you will have to sidegrade to Asus 3.10MK (for compatible ASUS 5.25 drives ONLY) or (LG WH16NS60 1.02MK for compatible LG 5.25) or (BU40N 1.03MK LG Slim drives ONLY) respectively. (Note: MK firmware is available for firmware versions mentioned above.) Keeping the flashing of firmware in these scenarios within their respective family of drives/firmware (e.g ASUS firmware for ASUS drives and LG firmware for LG drives) at this stage of flashing. Then afterwards if that initial flash is successful you can move to different firmware respectively if you would like a different and compatible firmware version for the drive in question.

As previously stated in this guide. DO NOT crossflash between ASUS and LG firmware for slim drives like the LG BU40N for example. It will brick your drive. You’ve now been warned twice within this guide regarding this.




Unlocked Flashers, Downgrade Enabled Firmware and MK Firmware:

The only flasher anyone should be using now is Martys SDF GUI it now has built in safety's still check out the requirements and follow the recommending firmware but it shouldn't let you brick an old drive and should detect if the firmware is encrypted automatically


New! The all you need firmware pack: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HRnbXi ... sp=sharing

New! GUI SDF tool: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=22896
By: MartyMcNuts

Asus flasher: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18933
By: MartyMcNuts

LG flasher + DE firmware viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18873#p70284
By: Blackened2687 & Billycar11

MK firmware: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=19113
By: Mike Admin



How To Flash Videos and commands:

New Updated guide for all Drives and firmware including encrypted firmware: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyQV1aPlbow
1. Open cmd as admin

2. Navigate to makemkvs install directory by default on 64 bit systems it is here: cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\MakeMKV"

3. If you have a listed encrypted firmware you must use this command: makemkvcon64.exe f --all-yes -d “ your drive letter here Example: D”: rawflash enc -i “path to your firmware Example: C:\Users\Billy\Downloads\Downgrade-Enabled-Firmware\Auto-Flash\LG-Desktop-NS60-sleep-fix\WH16NS60-1.02-MK.bin”

4. If you have unencrypted firmware use this command: makemkvcon64.exe f --all-yes -d “ your drive letter here Example: D”: rawflash -i “path to your firmware Example: C:\Users\Billy\Downloads\Downgrade-Enabled-Firmware\Auto-Flash\LG-Desktop-NS60-sleep-fix\WH16NS60-1.02-MK.bin”

5. Remove my examples and quotes ”” when you run the commands

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mac/linux commands to flash.

1. download sdf.bin https://makemkv.com/sdf.bin
2. download the all you need firmware pack

3. Extract the file you need for your drive from the all you need firmware pack pick from the recommended firmware section.

4. then in terminal on the Mac
copy sdf.bin and the firmware file extracted from theall you need firmware pack into /tmp folder.

5. in terminal change directory "cd /Applications/MakeMKV.app/Contents/MacOS"

6. type "./makemkvcon f -l"

This will show your drive identifier should look similar to this ''/IOBDServices/D5D25996'
Found 1 drives(s)
00: /IOBDServices/D5D25996, /dev/rdisk3, /dev/rdisk3
HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_BU40N_1.01_211910161032_MOFK6283224


7. to perform the flash, type "./makemkvcon f -d '/IOBDServices/D5D25996' -f /tmp/sdf.bin rawflash main -i /tmp/your firmware filename here
or ./makemkvcon f -d '/IOBDServices/D5D25996' -f /tmp/sdf.bin rawflash enc -i /tmp/your firmware filename here
if your firmware is on the encrypted list


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfpf6HoMMis only for unencrypted firmware

Troubleshooting:
If you get the error:
No drive tool logic found in SDF.bin
Internal error 0x8d000000
first put a regular Blu-ray in and open the disc in MakeMKV by clicking the drive icon make sure you get no errors like failed to download sdf
then try the regular flashing again
if that does not work try the commands below.
you may use these commands to override the auto detect if it does not recognize your drive. for now only the -t mtk19xx should be used.
"-t mtk19xx" - forces MTK payload
"-t pioneer" - forces Pioneer payload
"-t hlrs" - forces HLDS/RS1013 payload (old combo HD-DVD drives and
early HLDS drives on Renesas chipset).


only use the recovery steps for older NS40 drives!!:
Ok here's a summary of what you need to do

Try the recovery option in sdf tool if that fails do this:

Downgrade your drive to WH16NS60 1.00 with sdftool or makemkv command line
Full shutdown pull power plug or flip switch push power button for 10 seconds
Then reflash WH16NS60 1.00 again with the unlocked lg or Asus flasher
Full shutdown pull power plug or flip switch push power button for 10 seconds
Then boot in to your dosflash bootable and dump the firmware https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgybNfHhcg - Obsolete but can be useful for recovery
Use the transfer tool to your correct firmware and flash it.

NS40 Recovery Image:
Flashed an NS50 firmware to an NS40 drive and can no longer read disks this IMG has all the NS40 FW you need to recover your drive just follow my dos flash video guide linked above
https://www.mediafire.com/file/8by2zqop ... D.zip/file Made by

NS40 recovery FW: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZtdhSX ... sp=sharing



Useful Links:
Manual Libredrive SDF download only for offline systems or linux/mac flashing to find it easier: https://makemkv.com/sdf.bin
Hashed keys for UHD disks only for offline systems: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=16959
sdf+keys replace your privatedata.tar with this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SSo_O- ... sp=sharing from 4/23/2022

[dcoke22]

Looking at the Mac/Linux Command instructions
I understand everything except step 4, "copy sdf.bin and the firmware file extracted from theall you need firmware pack into /tmp folder"

Where is /tmp folder and how would I do this? The commands are included for the other steps but not sure I'm fully comprehending how to do this

On Mac, Linux, or other Unix based computers, the path separator is '/'. When a / is the first character of a given path, that means start at the root of the filesystem. So, where is /tmp? It is literally at /tmp; a folder called 'tmp' at the root of the filesystem.

However, in the context of the steps to flash a drive on a Mac or Linux machine, '/tmp' just means in a temporary folder somewhere. It doesn't really matter where, just so long as you know where. Then, in step 7, instead of /tmp/sdf.bin, it would be wherever you unzipped it all to.

For example, if you're on a Mac, and you created a folder on your desktop called 'makemkvstuff' and you download sdf.bin into that folder, then the path would be something like:
/Users/<your user name>/Desktop/makemkvstuff/sdf.bin

One of the handy things a Mac can do is if you find a file in Finder and you'd like the full path of it in Terminal, drag the file from finder into Terminal, and the full path of that file will show up on the Terminal command line.
https://support.apple.com/guide/termina ... rml106/mac

[fganter]

Sorry if I did not catch this in this massively long thread...
Is there a list of drives prioritized by reliability - i.e. ability to consistently read UHD discs?

I just started using a BP60NB10. I'm about 9 discs in and 2 (22%) have had read problems, even after cleaning the disc.

Is there any drive that is considered better than the BP60NB10? While I would prefer an external drive, as my next PC case will likely not have a drive bay, if there is an internal drive that is considered loads better than the BP60NB10, I would certainly consider it.

Thanks for your help.

[d00zah]

Sorry if I did not catch this in this massively long thread...

1st post. While pricier, Pioneer drives are raved about for reliability. Followed by the less expensive LG BU40N. See Recommended UHD Drives to get: section.

A benefit of splurging for a Pioneer is there is no need to perform a FW flash (other than, maybe, a Pioneer-supplied update, IIRC).

[Billycar11]

Sorry if I did not catch this in this massively long thread...
Is there a list of drives prioritized by reliability - i.e. ability to consistently read UHD discs?

I just started using a BP60NB10. I'm about 9 discs in and 2 (22%) have had read problems, even after cleaning the disc.

Is there any drive that is considered better than the BP60NB10? While I would prefer an external drive, as my next PC case will likely not have a drive bay, if there is an internal drive that is considered loads better than the BP60NB10, I would certainly consider it.

Thanks for your help.

The bp60 is a good drive pretty much a bu40n but with the sata board removed.
Did you flash the drive?

[fganter]

The bp60 is a good drive pretty much a bu40n but with the sata board removed.

Good to know. Sounds like I got a winner, then.

Did you flash the drive?

Yes. I would not have been able to rip 7 of 9 if I didn't, correct? (I'm not being snarky. I'm legitimately asking.)