UHD Drive/ Latest Software?

[Pezzy]

Hi all.

It's been almost a year since I last posted on here (February of 2018); just checking in to see if there's been any changes/ updates.

Some of the forum posts that might have the info I need have grown pretty long (one is 35+ pages), so, I'll ask what I need to know and perhaps you can give me the short version:

My 4K disc drive is an "official" one: Pioneer BDR-211UBK

When I was last at this forum, I was told that since I have an "official" drive, that I cannot copy 4K discs using the MakeMKV software program.

So....is this still true? That even if I have the latest version of MakeMKV (1.14.2) and the latest hashed keys file as of 18.01.2019....that it still won't work? Won't copy a 4K disc?

Thanks for any info;
Pez

[MartyMcNuts]

@Pezzy,

Apparently, the Pioneer UHD drives will never be supported. Something to do with no loophole in firmware??

[st4evr]

Reminder that UHD drive questions are better suited in this subforum:

https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=16

Hence the title of that subforum itself “UHD drives”. It also contains important/valuable information regarding the current state of supported drives and/or upcoming features including important updates from Mike from time-to-time.

And as Marty has already mentioned/addressed (as well as Mike (owner/developer of MakeMKV) several times in other posts) Pioneer drives will most likely never support UHD backups/ripping due to technical reasons/limitations. Some other brand official drives will be supported in the future by MakeMKV as communicated by Mike himself in a sticky post in the aforementioned/linked drives subforum.

This issue with Pioneer drives not only applies to MakeMKV, but for other apps that also currently support UHD decryption.

[Pezzy]

Hi all; thanks for the replies.

Well, I had thought that since it had been almost a year since I had been here, that there might've been some big changes. Generally speaking, in the technology field, things can grow & change at an exponential rate. But, I guess not this time

MartyMcNuts: Pioneer UHD drives will never be supported d/t loophole in firmware? That stinks

st4evr: You're right, I posted in the wrong forum; must've thought I was in "Drives" sub-forum when in reality I was in Discs. And yes, I had noticed some updates from Mike.

But ya know, with my Pioneer drive, sure, I'd like to be able to rip from it to make a backup, but....know what I'd also be happy with? If I could just play a 4K disc using my discrete graphics card.

I have an EVGA nVidia-based graphics card, the Superclocked GeForce GTX 1080. But, if I want to play a 4K disc on my system (and the rest of my system meets/ exceeds the requirements of 4K disc playback), then I have to disable by EVGA nVidia graphics card and use my motherboard's integrated Intel-based graphics...…graphics which pale in comparison to my nVidia card. But this is all part of their overly-strict DRM requirements.

In the sticky thread for UHD drives, there's this list for "friendly" UHD drives:
LG BE16NU50
LG WH16NS40
LG BH16NS40
ASUS BW-12B1ST
ASUS BC-12D2HT
ASUS BW-16D1HT
ASUS BW-16D1HT-PRO
LG BH16NS55
LG WH16NS58

You have a personal preference? Suggestion? I mean, it's too bad that, technically, I have a legitimate setup to play 4K discs, but it's too much of a pain to do so. Even when I do disable my nVidia card and use the integrated Intel graphics, it's never smooth sailing; I always seem to run into some hiccup or other.
Pez

[st4evr]

The LG WH16NS40 and ASUS BW-16D1HT are the more widely used friendly drives. Several members here sell them ready to go as discussed in several existing (and appropriately named) posts. (e.g. https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=17829)

Recommend you start there as by this point it may be the easiest way for you to obtain a properly working UHD Friendly drive. In short, you have to keep in mind that LG and ASUS released patched/"fixed" firmware a year ago to prevent copying of UHD discs on their drives and proper friendly drives are harder to come by now-a-days.

[MartyMcNuts]

@Pezzy,

Have you tried to play a UHD on your Pioneer drive? Don't use PowerDVD though. Use DVDFab Player 5 or VLC 3.0.6 with the added libraries. (see 4th Post in this thread for adding the libraries) https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 10&t=18671

As st4evr said, there are a few of us that have UHD friendly drives for sale.

Good luck..

[Billycar11]

it wont hurt to try but im pretty sure how makmkv decodes it for vlc is just like it opening a disk, if makemkv cant open it will not work. dvdfab player supports some official uhd drives but that one is not on the list and they usually need older firmware like 1.00 for wh16ns60

[Pezzy]

Hey all; thanks again for all the replies.

st4evr: Yes, perhaps I will check that out, the purchasing of a friendly UHD drive (and thanks for the link where they're for sale!).

MartyMcNuts: Yes, I've gotten 4K discs to play on my Pioneer drive, but like I mentioned previously, I have to disable my EVGA/ nVidia graphics card and use the integrated Intel-based graphics....and the Intel's graphics are inferior.

And, you mentioned PowerDVD; yes, that's what I had been using. But you're saying to not use that.

Then you mentioned VLC Media Player; well how about that, I just happen to have that installed on my system; 64-bit, and yes, version 3.0.6. So I went to that link you gave and followed the instructions:
1. Install VLC and MakeMKV
2. Go to the MakeMKV installation directory (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\MakeMKV) and copy libmmbd.dll to the VLC installation directory (usually C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC) twice
3. Rename one of these copies to libaacs.dll and the other to libbdplus.dll
4. Open MakeMKV and activate it.
5. You should be able to play BDs in VLC using the Media > Open Disc > Blu-Ray function.
If this is a 4k disk make sure to uncheck disk menus

But after placing a 4K disc in my Pioneer drive, launching VLC and choosing Media > Open Disc > Blu-Ray function, I receive this error message:
Blu-ray error:
This Blu-ray Disc needs a library for AACS decoding, and your system does not have it.
Your input can't be opened:
VLC is unable to open the MRL 'bluray:///E:/'. Check the log for details.

"....needs a library for AACS decoding"? I thought that was the reason for that one .dll file, the one that got named "libaacs.dll".

And the one part I don't get from the instructions? "4. Open MakeMKV and activate it." Does doing this somehow affect the .dll files that were Copied/ Pasted twice & renamed inside the VLC folder?

Pez

[Billycar11]

"....needs a library for AACS decoding"? I thought that was the reason for that one .dll file, the one that got named "libaacs.dll".


Pez

i just ran in to this with the other guy try 64 bit vlc that seemed to work for him and copy the 64 bit dlls
you will be able to play regular blurays but i dont think 4k is going to work with your drive
also uncheck disk menus if you dont have java

[Pezzy]

Hi again.

OK, just want to be clear (because it seems I received conflicting information).

From the suggestion by MartyMcNuts, I went to this thread: https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 10&t=18671

And then, it was stated to go to the 4th post in this thread, which is from you, Billycar11, and to follow the instructions (which I did).

I noticed on that thread that someone named jkeener88 jumped in. They were having trouble at first getting just regular Blu-ray to play through VLC Media Player, they finally got that to work, and then were also successful in getting 4K UHD to play through VLC, too.

Do you think the reason jkeener88 was able to get a 4K UHD disc to play was because he has a "friendly" drive? And since my Pioneer is an "official" drive, it won't work?

And also: A question I asked in my last post wasn't answered, and I'm still curious as to the "why"; here it is again: "And the one part I don't get from the instructions? "4. Open MakeMKV and activate it." Does doing this somehow affect the .dll files that were Copied/ Pasted twice & renamed inside the VLC folder?"

Pez

[Billycar11]

Hi again.

OK, just want to be clear (because it seems I received conflicting information).

From the suggestion by MartyMcNuts, I went to this thread: https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 10&t=18671

And then, it was stated to go to the 4th post in this thread, which is from you, Billycar11, and to follow the instructions (which I did).

I noticed on that thread that someone named jkeener88 jumped in. They were having trouble at first getting just regular Blu-ray to play through VLC Media Player, they finally got that to work, and then were also successful in getting 4K UHD to play through VLC, too.

Do you think the reason jkeener88 was able to get a 4K UHD disc to play was because he has a "friendly" drive? And since my Pioneer is an "official" drive, it won't work?

And also: A question I asked in my last post wasn't answered, and I'm still curious as to the "why"; here it is again: "And the one part I don't get from the instructions? "4. Open MakeMKV and activate it." Does doing this somehow affect the .dll files that were Copied/ Pasted twice & renamed inside the VLC folder?"

Pez

yes the only reason he was able to play a 4k disk was because he has a friendly drive that can use volume keys your official drive will not take those keys it needs an aacs 2.0 key and we dont have any of those.

yes makemkv needs to work the dlls just open it in the background to work, if make mkv is just sitting on the registration window or start trial window it wont work even though you cant see thats what it is doing