www.makemkv.com

I’m thinking about purchasing this model. Will it be suitable for playing back and ripping UHD discs, and which firmware does it need to be flashed with?

That one is known to have wither an LG or Pioneer inside. If it is a Pioneer it could be either a UD04 or UD03. The 04 Plays 4K out of the box but has only been seen into the European market and is rare. The UD03 needs to get flashed to be able to read 4k disc's.

The LG also would need to be flash.

Google is your friend. There is plenty of info too in this forum and on reddit about this drive.

Good luck with your journey

MFrost wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 07, 2026 10:48 pm

I’m thinking about purchasing this model. Will it be suitable for playing back and ripping UHD discs, and which firmware does it need to be flashed with?

The 43888 contains a LG BU40N drive inside. I'm certain all of the Pioneer one's are well and truly gone. Last time I saw or heard of a 43888 having a Pioneer BDR-UD04 inside was June/July 2025.

The 43888 has never had a Pioneer BDR-UD03 inside as the 43888 is advertised as a UHD model, so only ever had the UD04 and BU40N in it.

Thank you for your reply. Is there a possibility to make a backup of the original firmware of this Verbatim drive before flashing, in case I would like to restore the original firmware in the future?

MFrost wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 08, 2026 1:38 pm

Thank you for your reply. Is there a possibility to make a backup of the original firmware of this Verbatim drive before flashing, in case I would like to restore the original firmware in the future?

Not possible.

MFrost wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 08, 2026 1:38 pm

Thank you for your reply. Is there a possibility to make a backup of the original firmware of this Verbatim drive before flashing, in case I would like to restore the original firmware in the future?

no need
and you can only backup the cal data now
we havent been able to do backups since like 2019ish when they disabled dosflash

MFrost wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 07, 2026 10:48 pm

I’m thinking about purchasing this model. Will it be suitable for playing back and ripping UHD discs, and which firmware does it need to be flashed with?

It will probably contain the LG BU40N drive, got one of them and it has nicely Ripped dozens of DVDs so far.

You need to flash BU40N 1.03-MK firmware from the firmware pack (link can be found in various posts)

... or just here.

But watch also the thread about the SDFtool Flasher.