www.makemkv.com

Question: I may be fuzzy on the details but this is my understanding. In 2018 or 19 bluray drive manufacturers started installing a specific firmware version on their drives to prevent those drives from being UHD friendly. Meaning that if a 4K Ultra HD disc is inserted the firmware would know and tell the drive to not read the disc. It was a collaboration of sorts between Sony BluRay, movie produces and disc drive manufacturers to make it more difficult to make digital copies of 4K UHD movies. The result was that blu ray drives made before the update could play and read 4K discs but drives made after the update couldn't be reverted to the old firmware version and couldn't read and play 4K discs.

My question is this. My blu ray drive is a 2019 model and has the update that doesn't allow it to read 4K UHD discs. When I got the drive last year I even tried it with a 4K dis and it wouldn't read it. But a few minutes ago I inserted the same 4K disc I tried before into the same drive and now it can read the disc? How is that possible. The firmware still shows it has the unfriendly firmware version, Weird.
Asus BC-12D2HT Firmware version 3.01

Behold the wonders of Libredrive version v6!!!

"Most previously unsupported old firmwares are now supported"

d00zah wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:27 am

Behold the wonders of Libredrive version v6!!!

"Most previously unsupported old firmwares are now supported"

Interesting. Is the Libredrive v6 changing the firmware or faking the firmware change or simply disabling the trigger that disables the read? Either way, thanks to whomever the genius was who came up with it.

What is LibreDrive?

"A LibreDrive is a mode of operation of an optical disc drive (DVD, Blu-ray or UHD) when the data on the disc are accessed directly, without any restrictions or transformations enforced by drive firmware. A LibreDrive would never refuse to read the data from the disc or declare itself “revoked”. LibreDrive compatible drive is required to read UHD discs."

"When MakeMKV (or any other application that uses LibDriveIo library) talks to the drive, the library checks if drive firmware version is supported. If it is supported, the library uploads a small software (a firmware extension) into drive volatile memory. This extension exposes a new (alternative) interface to read any data from the disc. The firmware extension stays only in drive volatile memory (RAM) and drive firmware is not changed in any way. The moment you turn off your drive, it is gone without a trace. As long as your drive firmware is compatible with LibreDrive, and you do not update your drive firmware, the LibreDrive mode will work forever."