Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2023

[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.

[arde4]

Hey,

All this guy was told here was that he "killed it" by whatever he did (what was that?), but what he pointed out is really true: BH14NS40 status in the FAQ and forums is very contradictory. I care because I have that same drive (only mine is v1.02) and I still can't figure out if my drive can be upgraded to a supported firmware or not. Can somebody PLEASE clarify if this drive can or cannot be upgraded to an existing firmware? The FAQ says it is unsupported type 2, i.e., it was said in 2020 it would be added sometime later but it is now 2024 and, well, I can't tell if it is supported, unsupported but currently upgradeable, or unsupported and forgotten. If upgradeable, please say which specific firmware version should be applied. Thanks.

Soooo.
Running a BH14NS40 drive with version 1.00 firmware.
Following "Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2023"
Recommended Firmware to flash for MakeMKV:
WH14NS40 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK
(This filename doesnt actually exist in any of the firmware packages I have seen. The closest is HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin.)
(I read that the BH and WH are interchangeable.)
Prior to the firmware burn I was able to rip a bluray disk non ultraHD. (Deadpool has two versions in the box.)
I burned the firmware. MakeMKV shows the following but now the drive will not read anything.

Drive Information
OS device name: D:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.02
Serial number: SIK9QC36M511
Firmware date: 2118-10-29 19:36
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 46

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled)
Firmware version: 1.02
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

The file name BH14NS40_N1.00-A4_patched.exe worked with my drive and has the exact correct model number... which I havent seen in any other file.
Running this file now gives me a checksum error.

Running makemkvcon64.exe f --all-yes -d D: rawflash -i C:\Games\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin does work and says it completes but it is in the same situation.

Anyone have any ideas about how to get this thing working again?
I only own 1 bluray but have a friend who has been making copies of his disks for quite some time. I do have a rare version of the original dune that I want to make a backup of but its just a plain old DVD and I have probably 10 other drives I could do that with.

It almost seems like I may have to do some dos action.
There seems to be a significant gap in information about some of this stuff.
For example NS40 drives. Flashed NS50 on NS40 drive when the instructions say to "WH14NS40 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK".
Which seems to be an NS40 drive to NS60? Either contradictory or not enough information.

Is there a comprehensive post that provides the missing pieces? Specifically for the BH14NS40 drive. Every reference I have found has either not been helpful or says to burn the version I have already burned.


"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"

Thanks for listening/reading,
B0b

[linuxguy2024]

I was able to flash my drive without any issues using the Vantec CB-ST00U3 on Linux

Operating System: EndeavourOS
KDE Plasma Version: 6.1.1
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.3.0
Qt Version: 6.7.2
Kernel Version: 6.9.6-arch1-1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Manufacturer: ASUS

using the command

Code: Select all

sudo makemkvcon f -d /dev/sr0 -f sdf.bin rawflash main,enc -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

It seems others might have succeeded as well using Mac at one point, so it might just be Windows were this adapter won't work for flashing.

[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

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.

Hello,

I checked now the Blu-Rays again with MakeMKV and there are 2 audio tracks.
"DDplus Surround 7.1 German" and "DD Surround 5.1 German"
Per default they are both selected so I tried to select only one but with the same outcome.
Regardless of whether I select 7.1 or 5.1, the actors' voices are again almost non-existent.

With DVDFab generally only 1 audio track "German E-AC-3/4.1" is displayed and selectable...

What else might that be?

[Billycar11]

Hey,

All this guy was told here was that he "killed it" by whatever he did (what was that?), but what he pointed out is really true: BH14NS40 status in the FAQ and forums is very contradictory. I care because I have that same drive (only mine is v1.02) and I still can't figure out if my drive can be upgraded to a supported firmware or not. Can somebody PLEASE clarify if this drive can or cannot be upgraded to an existing firmware? The FAQ says it is unsupported type 2, i.e., it was said in 2020 it would be added sometime later but it is now 2024 and, well, I can't tell if it is supported, unsupported but currently upgradeable, or unsupported and forgotten. If upgradeable, please say which specific firmware version should be applied. Thanks.

he flash and old mt1939 drive with mt1959 fw so its dead unless he has a pc with ide mode to use dosflash on it.
he kept telling me he did but he did not i stopped offering remote recovery for this reason i have had maybe 1 in 50 work out and half the time they dont even pay for recovery so no more for me if you cant do it with the instructions here your out of luck.
no more remote recovery's

remote flashing is still offered if he would have used that the drive would not be dead as i check the info before flashing.