www.makemkv.com

I have an Archgon MD8107S-U3 UHD burner which I downgraded to LG BU40N 1.00 official firmware (from 1.01).
It works fine with MakeMKV for backing up my UHD original Blu Ray discs.

BUT I was very disappointed to find that it (LG BU40N), with fw 1.00 at least, is NOT considered a 'friendly' drive after all, at least not by 'Any DVD HD' which gives an error '

Any DVD HD's error quote :
"Media is AACS protected!
AACS MKB version 76
Drive supports bus encryption!
Disc wants bus encryption!
couldn't retrieve AGID (bus encryption)!
ERROR processing Blu-ray disc!


Is there a firmware I can flash my LG BU40N (Archgon MD-8107S-U3) UHD drive to in order to make it 'friendly' and work with Any DVD HD?
I found this about the drive not being friendly which is resulting in the error:
https://forum.redfox.bz/threads/solved- ... dow.74475/

Looks like I am out of luck:
Ch3vr0n said "You can't downgrade the bu40n, period. That's an official uhd drive with matching aacs host certificate. That drive won't work with anydvd, downgraded or not"

I thought it was friendly which is why I bought it. Sigh!

Seems someone found alternative methods but could not post them since it was on the Redfox forums who are the official AnyDVD reseller...
MartyMcNuts said: ↑
Whatever you do, do not cross-flash a bu40n to a bu30!!!

The Archgon you have is a Bu40n and unless anyDVD comes up with a way to use official drives, it will never work with anyDVD.

There is no friendly firmware that this drive can be flashed to, so basically, if you want to use anyDVD get another drive.

He replied "Thanks Marty. I bought this drive after seeing your post about it on another forum. Flashing per your instructions worked perfectly but obviously I didn't know it wasn't compatible with anydvd. That's not awesome as Samurai pointed out but it still working for me with other solutions. I pulled out three titles I purchased with the UHD discs (I always purchase the combo which includes 4K +BD+Digital) and each was successful using other solutions (I tried two different ones after AnyDvd failed)."

Can someone point me to the solutions that would work with the LG BU40N...

That drive is not compatible with AnyDVD at this time. There are not firmware that will make it compatible.

SamuriHL wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:14 pm

That drive is not compatible with AnyDVD at this time. There are not firmware that will make it compatible.

Thanks for the confirmation. That is really unfortunate since I specifically bought this drive after reading forum posts because it was recommended.

I want to use AnyDVD in conjunction with CloneBD (tried free options - e.g. Handbrake but it takes forever - up to 5 times as long as CloneBD).

Anyone know what the alternatives are for 'on the 'fly' / 'in the background' decrypting that DO work with the LG BU40N?
The poster there (who was last active 8 months ago) found TWO alternatives to AnyDVD that DO work with the LG BU40N but he could not say what they are since it was on the AnyDVD reseller's forum (RedFox).

If there is no alternative to AnyDVD for on the fly decryption for MY drive (Archgon MD-8107S-U3 flashed as LG BU40N 1.00 - was 1.01), then I may consider selling the drive and getting another drive ( it since it is in mint condition (only used 10 times or so) and no used ones are for sale on eBay, so it should fetch a good price given what new ones go for on eBay.

Obviously MakeMKV works with the drive, which is why it's recommended here. You can also enable LibreDrive on a particular disc, and before ejecting it or power cycling the drive, you can then use ImgBurn or another program to create a protected ISO. Mount that with Virtual CloneDrive and you can use AnyDVD.

However, if your goal is simply to use CloneBD, use MakeMKV to create a decrypted folder backup then open that with CloneBD.

SamuriHL wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 4:38 pm

Obviously MakeMKV works with the drive, which is why it's recommended here. You can also enable LibreDrive on a particular disc, and before ejecting it or power cycling the drive, you can then use ImgBurn or another program to create a protected ISO. Mount that with Virtual CloneDrive and you can use AnyDVD.

However, if your goal is simply to use CloneBD, use MakeMKV to create a decrypted folder backup then open that with CloneBD.

Thanks, yes to clarify, makemkv is great and I also love the drive for ripping and burning!
The Archgon MD-8107S-U3-UHD / LG BU40N is referred to often as a 'friendly' drive which seems not to be the case per posts about AnyDVD HD and how this is actually an 'official' drive that will hence not work for AnyDVD with ANY firmware. But maybe there is more to it than I am aware?

Thanks regarding using makemkv; I had considered that but my goal when making backups of my originals with CloneBD was to eliminate the 45 minutes (or so) to first run makemkv; instead I wanted to decrypt on the fly with AnyDVD or an alternative.

It looks like DVDFAb Passkey for Blu Ray works as an alternative (testing it now)- guess I found one of the "two working alternatives" that the member on Redfox had tried but not named), so that is good news as an alternative to Any DVD HD.
I will post an update after my test run is complete.

However since I had issues with DVDFab UHD Copy and since CloneBD works great, I was hoping to get AnyDVD HD working since both products (CloneBD and AnyDVD HD) were, initially at least, developed by the same company. Although that may no longer matter so much now that Redfox has selling rights on AnyDVD (no longer Elaborate Bytes).

That said, Passkey seems to be working well to back up my original disc while decrypting on the fly and avoid having to buy a new burner.

Speaking of burners, I guess the Asus BW-16D1X-U might have been a nice one (I have the older 12X version), but it is much bigger than my Archgon MD-8107S-U3...
Just in case I do decide to sell my burner down the road, are there any similar (i.e. slim) UHD "friendly" burners out there that are not restricted in support like the BU40N?
I will do some research too, but I always value the helpful inputs of experienced members here who own / have tried other UHD friendly burners.

njweb wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:10 pm

I was hoping to get AnyDVD HD working since both products (CloneBD and AnyDVD HD) were, initially at least, developed by the same company. Although that may no longer matter so much now that Redfox has selling rights on AnyDVD (no longer Elaborate Bytes).

This was never true and I don't know where you got this incorrect information. Elaborate Bytes never sold AnyDVD. It makes and sells CloneDVD and CloneBD and I believe also Virtual CloneDrive. AnyDVD was made by SlySoft, which is a different company. They are gone and Redfox took over AnyDVD development. They were never the same company.

SamuriHL wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:55 pm

njweb wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:10 pm

I was hoping to get AnyDVD HD working since both products (CloneBD and AnyDVD HD) were, initially at least, developed by the same company. Although that may no longer matter so much now that Redfox has selling rights on AnyDVD (no longer Elaborate Bytes).

This was never true and I don't know where you got this incorrect information. Elaborate Bytes never sold AnyDVD. It makes and sells CloneDVD and CloneBD and I believe also Virtual CloneDrive. AnyDVD was made by SlySoft, which is a different company. They are gone and Redfox took over AnyDVD development. They were never the same company.

You're right. sorry. I got Slysoft confused with Elaborate Bytes (too many things going on lately and lack of sleep)...

Update - DVDFab PassKey trial (as an alternative to AnyDVD HD) worked fine with CloneBD to back up my original UHD disc to a BD-R DL (50 GB) and the disc plays great in my home player *.

Is there any benefit to trying to getting an UHD burner that works with AnyDVD HD? Seems Passkey (full version, not Lite) is as good at decrypting UHD Blu Rays as AnyDVD?
I do not want to pay for lifetime DVDFab Passkey only to find out I should haven't gotten AnyDVD HD to ensure maximum compatibility with my collection of original UHD discs...

* It is ironic that the HP BD-R DL discs (lower rated than Philips so only bought one 10 pack) have a Verbatim Media ID (MID) and the Philips (higher rated) BD-R DL discs have a CMC Magnetics MID, yet the latter have better reviews.
I have NOT had any bad burns with the Philips 50GB discs so far, even though all but the last one were burned at a full 6X (I burned the last one at 4X just to be extra safe because the last HP failed at 6X for the same backup software combo).
2 of the HPs failed already out of 6 or 7 or so; interestingly the last one finished burning successfully but would not play (I burned the same content on the Philips and it did play, so it is not due to the content or burning software - IMGBurn).
I will try to burn the remainder of the HP spindle at 4X...

The Asus ASUS BW-16D1HT BD burner, which is one of the 4 drives which works with AnyDVD, is available locally (will post a thread about drives opinions).
Edit - Never mind regarding the Asus; will stick with the LG BU40N: https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=24259:
Quote from Billycar11: It's not overblown 99% of my BU40N's don't get read errors were as only 75% of the desktop lg and asus don't this is actual data from 600+ drives I have tested.

Guess I should stick with the LG BU40N.