PIONEER BDR-209 change the Firmware ?

[sounds]

just to follow up on this, after contacting Billy via email and paying the $25, I received a link to a folder with some files. Downloaded that and ran the executable on a Windows machine, firmware update completed first time with no issues. Power cycled the drive (it's in a USB enclosure) and hey presto, the drive is now able to recognise (and read!) 4k discs. Read time was about 50 minutes (appears to top out at around 4X), roughly similar to the ASUS drive I had previously. But for DVDs it's definitely faster, possibly normal BluRays too. For reference purposes, the drive now identifies as:

Drive Information
OS device name: \Device\CdRom1
Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDR-211M
Revision: 1.53
Serial number: SGDL0****6WL
Firmware date: 2020-08-03
Bus encryption flags: 13
Highest AACS version: 72

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: RS8801
Firmware name: PIONEER BDR-211
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.53/ID60
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

so yes, for me this is a recommended solution until the newer makemkv solution is out. Even then, this may still be required to rip 4k discs - as prior to the firmware update the drive would attempt to read 4k discs a few times ... then spit the disc out. Now it reads them fine on the first attempt.