Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2026

[Plane]

With Pioneer no longer being viable for buying new, what drives are recommended for quality?

Reviewing the drives listed, some clearly have quality issues and low ratings. And some have buy before a certain manufacture date.

It seems like the only buy new drives are poor quality, does one stand out as better quality?

Pre-flashed/tested drives for whatever region you are in can be had...

Drives for sale, Flashing Services, where to buy...

Vendors request you contact them via email w/ questions (consult respective topics).

I am ok with attempting to flash a drive, so I am not looking to buy a preflashed drive. The flashing guide lists compatible drives, and comments that Pioneer drives are of higher quality, but are no longer viable do to an updated firmware. However no additional comments on drive quality, or ranking is made for other drives.

[Billycar11]

I am ok with attempting to flash a drive, so I am not looking to buy a preflashed drive. The flashing guide lists compatible drives, and comments that Pioneer drives are of higher quality, but are no longer viable do to an updated firmware. However no additional comments on drive quality, or ranking is made for other drives.

drive quality rank here you go best to worst

Pioneer BDR S13UX
Pioneer BDR S13UBK
Pioneer BDR 213 212/S12
Pioneer BDR XS07, XD07, XD08
Pioneer BDR UD04, UD03, XD05

LG BU40N BP50NB40 BP60NB10 ect..
LG/ASUS WH14xx-WH16xx Asus BW16D1HT BH14xx-BH16xx ect... all the same junk if your getting one of these they are all the same get the cheapest available and hope you get a good one.

All pioneers need old FW or to be professionally flashed
for most i recommend the UBK as the UX is way over priced in the USA. the UX has a fw cents worth of better caps black paint job and slightly more sound deadening on the disc tray not worth it.
i myself have a UBK.

[chronomac]

drive quality rank here you go best to worst

Pioneer BDR S13UX
Pioneer BDR S13UBK
Pioneer BDR 213 212/S12
Pioneer BDR XS07, XD07, XD08
Pioneer BDR UD04, UD03, XD05

I'm not quite up to date on the Pioneer news so I'll just ask this simply: if I get a 212DBK, listed here on Amazon, today would I be able to use it for UHD discs, with or without new firmware?

[Billycar11]

drive quality rank here you go best to worst

Pioneer BDR S13UX
Pioneer BDR S13UBK
Pioneer BDR 213 212/S12
Pioneer BDR XS07, XD07, XD08
Pioneer BDR UD04, UD03, XD05

I'm not quite up to date on the Pioneer news so I'll just ask this simply: if I get a 212DBK, listed here on Amazon, today would I be able to use it for UHD discs, with or without new firmware?

It would need to be professionally flashed you can email me for that only the 212 for now is still remote flashable

[JustSittingHere]

I'm not quite up to date on the Pioneer news so I'll just ask this simply: if I get a 212DBK, listed here on Amazon, today would I be able to use it for UHD discs, with or without new firmware?

It would need to be professionally flashed you can email me for that only the 212 for now is still remote flashable

Was not my question, but I'll take that answer also since I ordered that same 212DBK this morning and wondered later if it could read UHD.

Fate.

I'll be in contact tomorrow after I get the MakeMKV drive specs page.

[Billycar11]

I'm not quite up to date on the Pioneer news so I'll just ask this simply: if I get a 212DBK, listed here on Amazon, today would I be able to use it for UHD discs, with or without new firmware?

It would need to be professionally flashed you can email me for that only the 212 for now is still remote flashable

Was not my question, but I'll take that answer also since I ordered that same 212DBK this morning and wondered later if it could read UHD.

Fate.

I'll be in contact tomorrow after I get the MakeMKV drive specs page.

no it wont read UHD it will need to be professionally flashed mail me for that if the fw is after 12/22 your out of luck but most 212s are old still

[Wad Mabbit]

I've got a portable BD writer SE-506

TSSTcorp BDDVDW SE-506CB
Revision: TS02
Serial number: [redacted]
Bus encryption flags: 1F

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: MT1939
Harware support: Yes
Firmware support: No
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 01.07
DVD all regions: Possible, not yet enabled
BD raw data read: Possible, not yet enabled
BD raw metadata read: Possible, not yet enabled
Unrestricted read speed: Possible, not yet enabled

So, is this flashable?

[Woodstock]

Drive platform: MT1939

Not for UHD support - the hardware won't do it.

[Wad Mabbit]

Thanks for that

[naruto]

Dear everyone,

do you have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I have the LG BU40N drive with Windows 10 and DVDFab 13 (13.0.1.9) and MakeMKV 1.17.7
My problem is now that I cannot rip the 4k UHD Blu-Rays "Avengers - Infinity War" and "Avengers - Endgame" with voices of the actors.
This means I can rip both discs to the hard drive and everything is fine except that the voices of the actors cannot be heard. The soundtrack, music, etc. can be heard perfectly but you cannot hear enything when the actors speak…

This happens with DVDFab and MakeMKV.

I flashed now the LG BU40N with SDFtool Flasher (v1.3.5) from 1.0 to 1.03 (The all you need firmware pack.zip) but still the same issue.

Any idea how to solve this?

Best regards

[Mandolin]

Hi,

My laptop has no DVD so I'll need to find a USB drive that will be able to be flashed for UHD. I'd appreciate knowing a worthy one to get & where to find the software for flashing. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[d00zah]

Hi,

My laptop has no DVD so I'll need to find a USB drive that will be able to be flashed for UHD. I'd appreciate knowing a worthy one to get & where to find the software for flashing. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Have you read the 1st post of this topic, for starters?

[dcoke22]

Dear everyone,

do you have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I have the LG BU40N drive with Windows 10 and DVDFab 13 (13.0.1.9) and MakeMKV 1.17.7
My problem is now that I cannot rip the 4k UHD Blu-Rays "Avengers - Infinity War" and "Avengers - Endgame" with voices of the actors.
This means I can rip both discs to the hard drive and everything is fine except that the voices of the actors cannot be heard. The soundtrack, music, etc. can be heard perfectly but you cannot hear enything when the actors speak…

This happens with DVDFab and MakeMKV.

I flashed now the LG BU40N with SDFtool Flasher (v1.3.5) from 1.0 to 1.03 (The all you need firmware pack.zip) but still the same issue.

Any idea how to solve this?

Best regards

I don't think either of those movies has an isolated score track.
https://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=47660

It looks like 4K has a Dolby Atmos 7.1 audio track and the blu-ray has a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track.

Probably, your playback setup is not correctly handling the center channel audio, which probably contains most if not all the dialog. I'd look there for the source of your difficulties.

[Mandolin]

Hi,

My laptop has no DVD so I'll need to find a USB drive that will be able to be flashed for UHD. I'd appreciate knowing a worthy one to get & where to find the software for flashing. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Have you read the 1st post of this topic, for starters?

Yes I did. The data on that page is from 2019 & updated last year. I hate to assume anything, that leaves a lot of room for error. My hope was someone who knows a straightforward excellent choice of USB drives would kindly suggest that one & I'd get it. Seeing as your name was one of the people mentioned on that page I "assume" your question as to my reading page 1 indicates any are good choices. I have to take from that page Pioneer is one to avoid as it cannot be downgraded/flashed for UHD. Assuming the ones above the Pioneer listings are worthy drives I just ordered a LG BP50NB40 as it has the least % of negative reviews.

Hopefully it will work with Win 11 and the software to flash it is clear to find.

Thank you for your reply.

[d00zah]

Yes I did. The data on that page is from 2019 & updated last year. I hate to assume anything, that leaves a lot of room for error. My hope was someone who knows a straightforward excellent choice of USB drives would kindly suggest that one & I'd get it. Seeing as your name was one of the people mentioned on that page I "assume" your question as to my reading page 1 indicates any are good choices. I have to take from that page Pioneer is one to avoid as it cannot be downgraded/flashed for UHD. Assuming the ones above the Pioneer listings are worthy drives I just ordered a LG BP50NB40 as it has the least % of negative reviews.

Hopefully it will work with Win 11 and the software to flash it is clear to find.

Thank you for your reply.

The dates are 'creation dates'. The content is current & regularly maintained by @Billycar11.

That said, the current wisdom is that one wants a Pioneer drive, however this comes with caveats (the forums are littered w/ discussions). The most notable us probably:

Pioneer firmware update February 2023

In a nutshell, Pioneer released a FW that disables LibreDrive & prevents (most) publicly available methods of flashing. Someday, Mike (MakeMKV author) MAY succeed in overcoming this, but for now, the only 'sure thing' option is to buy a pre-tested drive from one of the regional sellers, or cull existing topics for an available drive that can be modified by non-public means. Read a little. You'll catch on.

Or go w/ one of the non-Pioneer drives listed in the 1st post. Cheaper, but less reliable.

Edit: There are instructions for the drive you chose, & the SDFtool Flasher works nicely on Win 11. See the 'to flash the BP50NB40 SVC:NB52' section of the tool page.