Buffalo BRXL-PT6U2VB firmware options

[woekitten1701]

Based on recommendations in another thread I decided to get a Buffalo BRXL-PT6U2VB as a secondary UHD drive, as my primary WH16NS40 (flashed to WH16NS60 1.02MK per the flashing guide) very rarely has a problem with some UHD discs and hash errors and I wanted a drive of substantially different construction to handle those edge cases.

I first flashed it with HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-BN12-0M01001-211905141415.bin from the BU40N-B-Japan-Buffalo folder in the mk-firmware-pack-20200720.zip archive, as the model I received was BN12 with the matching stock 211905141415 firmware, and I wasn't sure if I first needed to do that before flashing to other firmwares. I would appreciate knowing if this step was even necessary. Since it didn't require encrypted firmware I'm thinking it might not have been. As others have indicated in other threads, with that firmware, it did not detect UHD discs ("No disc"), so I then flashed to the latest HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.04-NM00500-212005061142.bin in the BU40N-N-Main folder. At this point UHD detection and reading worked fine.

However, I saw that the flashing guide recommends BU40N be flashed to 1.03MK, which per "The all you need firmware pack" means HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.03-NM00000-211810241934.bin, which is located in the "old" folder in the mk-firmware-pack-20200720.zip archive. Furthermore, I saw some posts in some threads where people recommend flashing the 1.00 "DE" firmware, which I understand to be original unpatched firmware. I found "DE_LG_BU40N_1.00.bin" and flashed that, and that also detects UHDs and reads them fine. This is what I'm using now.

So, I'm just trying to wrap my head around which firmware is "best", or even how one determines that. Why would I pick 1.03MK over 1.04MK? Why would I pick 1.00 "DE" over either of those?

(As an aside, while neither B&H nor Amazon's listings for the BRXL-PT6U2VB list UltraHD compatibility, the actual product box I received prominently advertises UltraHD capability on the front of the box. I did confirm that the model number is correct and I didn't accidentally get a different model. Makes me wonder why the patched BN12 firmware that matched my model didn't even see UHD. I neglected to try reading any UHD discs with the stock firmware, as I didn't expect it to work, and didn't notice the box details until later.)

[MartyMcNuts]

Based on recommendations in another thread I decided to get a Buffalo BRXL-PT6U2VB as a secondary UHD drive, as my primary WH16NS40 (flashed to WH16NS60 1.02MK per the flashing guide) very rarely has a problem with some UHD discs and hash errors and I wanted a drive of substantially different construction to handle those edge cases.

I first flashed it with HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-BN12-0M01001-211905141415.bin from the BU40N-B-Japan-Buffalo folder in the mk-firmware-pack-20200720.zip archive, as the model I received was BN12 with the matching stock 211905141415 firmware, and I wasn't sure if I first needed to do that before flashing to other firmwares. I would appreciate knowing if this step was even necessary. Since it didn't require encrypted firmware I'm thinking it might not have been. As others have indicated in other threads, with that firmware, it did not detect UHD discs ("No disc"), so I then flashed to the latest HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.04-NM00500-212005061142.bin in the BU40N-N-Main folder. At this point UHD detection and reading worked fine.

However, I saw that the flashing guide recommends BU40N be flashed to 1.03MK, which per "The all you need firmware pack" means HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.03-NM00000-211810241934.bin, which is located in the "old" folder in the mk-firmware-pack-20200720.zip archive. Furthermore, I saw some posts in some threads where people recommend flashing the 1.00 "DE" firmware, which I understand to be original unpatched firmware. I found "DE_LG_BU40N_1.00.bin" and flashed that, and that also detects UHDs and reads them fine. This is what I'm using now.

So, I'm just trying to wrap my head around which firmware is "best", or even how one determines that. Why would I pick 1.03MK over 1.04MK? Why would I pick 1.00 "DE" over either of those?

(As an aside, while neither B&H nor Amazon's listings for the BRXL-PT6U2VB list UltraHD compatibility, the actual product box I received prominently advertises UltraHD capability on the front of the box. I did confirm that the model number is correct and I didn't accidentally get a different model. Makes me wonder why the patched BN12 firmware that matched my model didn't even see UHD. I neglected to try reading any UHD discs with the stock firmware, as I didn't expect it to work, and didn't notice the box details until later.)

1. Stock 1.04 is an encrypted firmware. 1.04 MK removes the encryption but it is still a rubbish firmware and not recommended.

2. It really depends on what software you use and whether or not you want a patched firmware. 1.03 MK works fine with MakeMKV but DE 1.00 also works fine with MakeMKV plus other software such as DVDFab.

I would stick with DE 1.00. (This is the firmware I install on all BU40N drives)