All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported

[VA1DER]

shame on pioneer for that ultra-nazi 2023 encrypted firmware scandal!

You have to realize as long as Pioneer was a member of the Blu-Ray Disc Association they had rules they had to follow to be compliant or they’d lose their licensing.

And the BDA had more content provider members than hardware producers, so they drove the program and the rules.

People overlook the fact that ALL Blu-ray drives have encrypted firmware now and they ALL disabled LibreDrive-style microcode injections. Pioneer just had one no one knew how to circumvent.

I STRONGLY suspect someone actually at Pioneer is behind the original announcement in this thread. Whether it's some engineer providing assistance under the table, or with some level of tacit approval, I don't know. But with them exiting the market, they may feel less like towing the BDA party line. I suspect there is no love lost between Pioneer and the BDA, but they still cant be open about unlocking the firmware

So let's not bite the hand that is poised to give us a Christmas present. If what I suspect is true, then this is costing them their position as the manufacturer of the unquestionably finest drives in the world.

I am just itchy too see this actually happen.

[paulos556]

why what happen with all pioneer drives?

[CalicoSkies]

I have a Pioneer BDR-212V, which I (thankfully) purchased in October, before the prices started going up. I paid about $83 for mine. With the news now, I'm thinking about buying another to have as a spare. Currently it's $147.95 on Amazon, which is disappointing. But if all Pioneer drives will support LibreDrive, is there another one I could buy for less money that would be just as good, and would I need to just wait for the firmware update? Or would it be best to just go ahead and buy another BDR-212V at the increased price?

[MartyMcNuts]

I have a Pioneer BDR-212V, which I (thankfully) purchased in October, before the prices started going up. I paid about $83 for mine. With the news now, I'm thinking about buying another to have as a spare. Currently it's $147.95 on Amazon, which is disappointing. But if all Pioneer drives will support LibreDrive, is there another one I could buy for less money that would be just as good, and would I need to just wait for the firmware update? Or would it be best to just go ahead and buy another BDR-212V at the increased price?

I doubt you would find any other Pioneer drives cheaper than that!

[nobler1050]

Awesome to hear that Pioneer drives should be supported in the future! I have a BD-RW BDR-213M with 1.05 firmware I think. The drive has been great ripping music discs to my newly created plex server. Looking forward ripping some movies I have laying around too. Currently, I assume as expected, it says LIbreDrive status is possible but not yet supported. When I try to rip even standard DVD discs, makemkv just spins saying reading discs. Tried with several older DVD movies. Guessing this would be fixed with a future firmware or is the firmware supposed to only add a fix for UHD?

[SamuriHL]

You shouldn't wait. If you can find them jump on them. I myself have another 212v coming just to have it as a spare. But shipping is like a month out so...

[MartyMcNuts]

Awesome to hear that Pioneer drives should be supported in the future! I have a BD-RW BDR-213M with 1.05 firmware I think. The drive has been great ripping music discs to my newly created plex server. Looking forward ripping some movies I have laying around too. Currently, I assume as expected, it says LIbreDrive status is possible but not yet supported. When I try to rip even standard DVD discs, makemkv just spins saying reading discs. Tried with several older DVD movies. Guessing this would be fixed with a future firmware or is the firmware supposed to only add a fix for UHD?

Yeah, the updated firmware support is to enable LibreDrive and UHD support.

The drive should work fine on DVD/BD as is now. Probably a dud DVD disc.

[DC-2187]

You shouldn't wait. If you can find them jump on them. I myself have another 212v coming just to have it as a spare. But shipping is like a month out so...

Yup I'm doing the same thing myself. Taking a break from buying hats to save for a few drives haha.

[CalicoSkies]

You shouldn't wait. If you can find them jump on them. I myself have another 212v coming just to have it as a spare. But shipping is like a month out so...

I went ahead and bought another BDR-212V from Amazon for the $147.95. It just hurts a bit because I bought my first one for $83.. And what if the price ends up going back down at some point? I imagine that's unlikely though..

[rotcoDrebyC]

Wanting to get confirmation before purchasing. I am looking at a new Pioneer BDR-XD08B from Amazon and wanted to make sure that it would be compatible with the news of all Pioneer being compatible.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BN6721NC/?c ... _lig_dp_it

[MartyMcNuts]

Wanting to get confirmation before purchasing. I am looking at a new Pioneer BDR-XD08B from Amazon and wanted to make sure that it would be compatible with the news of all Pioneer being compatible.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BN6721NC/?c ... _lig_dp_it

Yeah, eventually.

[SamuriHL]

Yup I'm doing the same thing myself. Taking a break from buying hats to save for a few drives haha.

LOL

I went ahead and bought another BDR-212V from Amazon for the $147.95. It just hurts a bit because I bought my first one for $83.. And what if the price ends up going back down at some point? I imagine that's unlikely though..

Yea it hurt no question. I had bought one for 80 some odd bucks a while back myself. I also have an S13. And an actual original 212ubk I grabbed when LibreDrive first supported them. Given that these drives are no longer manufactured, and optical drives DO have a shelf life even if it's fairly long, having a few kicking around just for spares is not a bad idea. You think the price sucks now...wait a year....and see what used drives go for.

[VA1DER]

Yeah, the updated firmware support is to enable LibreDrive and UHD support.

Are you SURE about that? The announcement just says LibreDrive, it is silent about UHD. Pioneer's 211/212/213s don't recognize UHD without a firmware upgrade. Do you have outside knowledge that the announced capability includes UHD where there isn't currently UHD support?

This post is just a public commitment - all Pioneer drives will be supported as LibreDrive drives in a relatively near future. The precise ETA is yet unknown, but the fact that all drives will be supported is certain. Custom firmware flash with sdftool will be required.

The fact it's a custom firmware flash suggests it may open up the door to cross-flashing them to S11/S12/S13 capabilities, but the announcement does not promise this.

[Coopervid]

Yeah, the updated firmware support is to enable LibreDrive and UHD support.

Are you SURE about that? The announcement just says LibreDrive, it is silent about UHD. Pioneer's 211/212/213s don't recognize UHD without a firmware upgrade. Do you have outside knowledge that the announced capability includes UHD where there isn't currently UHD support?

This post is just a public commitment - all Pioneer drives will be supported as LibreDrive drives in a relatively near future. The precise ETA is yet unknown, but the fact that all drives will be supported is certain. Custom firmware flash with sdftool will be required.

The fact it's a custom firmware flash suggests it may open up the door to cross-flashing them to S11/S12/S13 capabilities, but the announcement does not promise this.

Don't be negative. If encryption is broken we will have the same crossflash capabilities as we have today. So all 208s to 213s, XS07 and XS08, XD05 and up. UD03. No XS06 and no BD combos.

[MartyMcNuts]

Yeah, the updated firmware support is to enable LibreDrive and UHD support.

Are you SURE about that? The announcement just says LibreDrive, it is silent about UHD. Pioneer's 211/212/213s don't recognize UHD without a firmware upgrade. Do you have outside knowledge that the announced capability includes UHD where there isn't currently UHD support?

This post is just a public commitment - all Pioneer drives will be supported as LibreDrive drives in a relatively near future. The precise ETA is yet unknown, but the fact that all drives will be supported is certain. Custom firmware flash with sdftool will be required.

The fact it's a custom firmware flash suggests it may open up the door to cross-flashing them to S11/S12/S13 capabilities, but the announcement does not promise this.

Once they can be flashed and libredrive enabled, they should also be able to be cross-flashed to enable UHD support if not enabled.