'UHD Friendly' BDW (Asus BW-16D1HT) not Detecting UHD Discs

[HappyMaskedMan]

Hey all, at the recommendation of YouTuber EposVox I purchased an Asus BW-16D1HT, supposedly the most reliably UHD friendly Blu-ray drive. Using MakeMKV on Ubuntu 20.04 however, neither will detect any UHD/4K Blu-ray disc inserted.

Drive Information
OS device name: /dev/sr0
Manufacturer: ASUS
Product: BW-16D1HT
Revision: 3.10
Serial number: KLGK2KJ2756
Firmware date: 2119-01-04 10:14
Bus encryption flags: 1F

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible (with patched firmware)
Drive platform: MT1959
Harware support: Yes
Firmware support: No
Firmware type: Original (patched version available)
Firmware version: 3.10
DVD all regions: Possible (with patched firmware)
BD raw data read: Possible (with patched firmware)
BD raw metadata read: Possible (with patched firmware)
Unrestricted read speed: Possible (with patched firmware)

No disc inserted

Mentions of 'patched firmware'? Suffice to say I did a little bit of digging, 'LibreDrive firmware', 'MK firmware', 'firmware rollback/downgrade', but I really have no idea where to start or what I should do, so if the users here could push me in the right direction I would appreciate that.

[d00zah]

A very good place to start... 1st post has links to everything you need, including videos.

Ultimate UHD Drives Guide Updated 2020

But I notice you are running Linux & most flashtools are Windows-based, so these may be of interest:

Linux native flashing

Linux How To: Flash ASUS-BW-16D1HT

[HappyMaskedMan]

A very good place to start... 1st post has links to everything you need, including videos.

Ultimate UHD Drives Guide Updated 2020

But I notice you are running Linux & most flashtools are Windows-based, so these may be of interest:

Linux native flashing

Linux How To: Flash ASUS-BW-16D1HT

There are still so many options, I have no idea which would be best for me. I just want to restore the UHD friendliness of my BW-16D1HT while sacrificing as little as possible. What's the best/most recommended method to go about doing that?

[d00zah]

I would think this covers your case (almost) exactly... you have a later version of Ubuntu.

Linux How To: Flash ASUS-BW-16D1HT

It includes an indirect link to the latest MK FW archive, which contains 'ASUS-BW-16D1HT-3.10-WM01601-211901041014.bin', a patched MK version of your drives current FW. Your MakeMKV install provides everything else you need.

Instructions seem clear, but if you can't make it work, or are hesitant, you should probably contact one the the vendors listed here who might be willing to perform a remote flash?

[HappyMaskedMan]

I would think this covers your case (almost) exactly... you have a later version of Ubuntu.

Linux How To: Flash ASUS-BW-16D1HT

It includes an indirect link to the latest MK FW archive, which contains 'ASUS-BW-16D1HT-3.10-WM01601-211901041014.bin', a patched MK version of your drives current FW. Your MakeMKV install provides everything else you need.

Instructions seem clear, but if you can't make it work, or are hesitant, you should probably contact one the the vendors listed here who might be willing to perform a remote flash?

Worked like a charm! However, I think I have the 'sleep bug'; it only occurs when streaming a 4K UHD Blu-ray via MakeMKV VLC & pausing/resuming, but it is an issue albeit a minor one. Also, most of my 4K UHD Blu-ray discs induce MakeMKV to output this:

Code: Select all

The volume key is unknown for this disc - video can't be decrypted
Failed to open disc

[d00zah]

Also, most of my 4K UHD Blu-ray discs induce MakeMKV to output this:

Code: Select all

The volume key is unknown for this disc - video can't be decrypted
Failed to open disc

UHD FAQ

Refer to the 'Hashed Keys - How do I discover the key for a disc I have?' section.

Disregard any references to manually downloading a 'hashed keys' file, et al. MakeMKV automatically downloads periodic updates, including keys. if 'Allow contacting web server for updates' is checked on the 'General' prefs tab.