LG BU40N vs Pioneer BDR-UD04

[mirror]

Question for the forum. I have a SFF PC I use for my encoding and the main DVD is a 9.5 slim/laptop style drive. I can get the BU40N new, which for me is preferable. I know Pioneer drives are preferable, hence why I looked at the BDR-UD04 but this one is used. I wanted to get feedback on anyone that has had some seat time with either of these drives. They both seem to be pretty easy to flash, although I might have to remote flash or send out the Pioneer to get it working.

Thanks in advance.

[Sayaka]

DISCLAIMER : I've never owned a "true" BU40N, however I have two drives which, as far as I know, are technically BU40Ns. Feel free to disregard most of this post if you'd only like opinions from people who actually own the real thing.

Hitachi-LG BP55EB40 (SVC Code EB52) - Seems to have a BU40N inside. Took 3 steps to flash. Flashed to BU40N 1.00 firmware. The speed of this one is very "chaotic" and varies greatly depending on the drive's mood. When dealing with a hard-to-read 4K disc, I had to make sure both USB-A connectors were plugged in, close just about every other program that could be closed (aside from MakeMKV), and reboot the computer a bunch of times. Many Blu-ray discs, especially old Blu-ray discs and 4K discs, had to be cleaned before I could do a successful rip, and also required a decent amount of power, which means I usually needed two free USB-A slots on my computer. Thankfully, the USB-A to USB-C adapter from my Buffalo drive also seems to work well with this one.

Buffalo BRXL-PUS6U3B-US (aka "BU40N BN14") : Took 2 steps to flash, flashed to BU40N 1.00 firmware. The speed of this one is far more consistent, said speed usually being high, and it is much less unstable while "spinning up". It was able to read every single Blu-ray disc I inserted, most of which weren't even clean I believe. Admittedly, I have yet to try it with very old Blu-ray discs, which are usually the ones giving me the most trouble.
I've heard some people find Buffalo drives to be more reliable than many LG rebrands.

I've also heard quite a few people find Pioneers to be more reliable than most LG drives overall, but Pioneers also have a reputation for being somewhat slower.

Also, this may be a bit beyond the scope of this thread, but I've never heard of a single Pioneer drive that could read PlayStation 3 discs. So if you're into older video games and wish to make backups of your PS3 discs (to use them with an emulator, for example), the LG BU40N is the way to go.

I've heard LG drives are better if you plan on submitting disc dump files for the KEYDB.cfg file, I will let someone more experienced than me confirm that if they so wish, though.

If you're wondering why I like the BU40N 1.00 firmware so much, the first reason is that I require Linux compatibility, and the second reason is that LibreDrive alone isn't enough to be able to read 4K discs. I believe you need either hashed keys or keys from KEYDB.cfg - and the BU40N 1.00 firmware allows me to use DVDFab with a program that gives people access to the needed VUKs for those few pesky 4K discs we can't read as easily.

[mirror]

Thank you for the response, it does help me with my decision. I wasn't aware that the Pioneer drives had issues with reading games for archive purposes. Also, I have found the LG drives new apposed to the similar priced Pioneer drives which are usually used.

DISCLAIMER : I've never owned a "true" BU40N, however I have two drives which, as far as I know, are technically BU40Ns. Feel free to disregard most of this post if you'd only like opinions from people who actually own the real thing.

Hitachi-LG BP55EB40 (SVC Code EB52) - Seems to have a BU40N inside. Took 3 steps to flash. Flashed to BU40N 1.00 firmware. The speed of this one is very "chaotic" and varies greatly depending on the drive's mood. When dealing with a hard-to-read 4K disc, I had to make sure both USB-A connectors were plugged in, close just about every other program that could be closed (aside from MakeMKV), and reboot the computer a bunch of times. Many Blu-ray discs, especially old Blu-ray discs and 4K discs, had to be cleaned before I could do a successful rip, and also required a decent amount of power, which means I usually needed two free USB-A slots on my computer. Thankfully, the USB-A to USB-C adapter from my Buffalo drive also seems to work well with this one.

Buffalo BRXL-PUS6U3B-US (aka "BU40N BN14") : Took 2 steps to flash, flashed to BU40N 1.00 firmware. The speed of this one is far more consistent, said speed usually being high, and it is much less unstable while "spinning up". It was able to read every single Blu-ray disc I inserted, most of which weren't even clean I believe. Admittedly, I have yet to try it with very old Blu-ray discs, which are usually the ones giving me the most trouble.
I've heard some people find Buffalo drives to be more reliable than many LG rebrands.

I've also heard quite a few people find Pioneers to be more reliable than most LG drives overall, but Pioneers also have a reputation for being somewhat slower.

Also, this may be a bit beyond the scope of this thread, but I've never heard of a single Pioneer drive that could read PlayStation 3 discs. So if you're into older video games and wish to make backups of your PS3 discs (to use them with an emulator, for example), the LG BU40N is the way to go.

I've heard LG drives are better if you plan on submitting disc dump files for the KEYDB.cfg file, I will let someone more experienced than me confirm that if they so wish, though.

If you're wondering why I like the BU40N 1.00 firmware so much, the first reason is that I require Linux compatibility, and the second reason is that LibreDrive alone isn't enough to be able to read 4K discs. I believe you need either hashed keys or keys from KEYDB.cfg - and the BU40N 1.00 firmware allows me to use DVDFab with a program that gives people access to the needed VUKs for those few pesky 4K discs we can't read as easily.

[blind-s33r]

Thank you for the response, it does help me with my decision. I wasn't aware that the Pioneer drives had issues with reading games for archive purposes. Also, I have found the LG drives new apposed to the similar priced Pioneer drives which are usually used.

DISCLAIMER : I've never owned a "true" BU40N, however I have two drives which, as far as I know, are technically BU40Ns. Feel free to disregard most of this post if you'd only like opinions from people who actually own the real thing.

Hitachi-LG BP55EB40 (SVC Code EB52) - Seems to have a BU40N inside. Took 3 steps to flash. Flashed to BU40N 1.00 firmware. The speed of this one is very "chaotic" and varies greatly depending on the drive's mood. When dealing with a hard-to-read 4K disc, I had to make sure both USB-A connectors were plugged in, close just about every other program that could be closed (aside from MakeMKV), and reboot the computer a bunch of times. Many Blu-ray discs, especially old Blu-ray discs and 4K discs, had to be cleaned before I could do a successful rip, and also required a decent amount of power, which means I usually needed two free USB-A slots on my computer. Thankfully, the USB-A to USB-C adapter from my Buffalo drive also seems to work well with this one.

Buffalo BRXL-PUS6U3B-US (aka "BU40N BN14") : Took 2 steps to flash, flashed to BU40N 1.00 firmware. The speed of this one is far more consistent, said speed usually being high, and it is much less unstable while "spinning up". It was able to read every single Blu-ray disc I inserted, most of which weren't even clean I believe. Admittedly, I have yet to try it with very old Blu-ray discs, which are usually the ones giving me the most trouble.
I've heard some people find Buffalo drives to be more reliable than many LG rebrands.

I've also heard quite a few people find Pioneers to be more reliable than most LG drives overall, but Pioneers also have a reputation for being somewhat slower.

Also, this may be a bit beyond the scope of this thread, but I've never heard of a single Pioneer drive that could read PlayStation 3 discs. So if you're into older video games and wish to make backups of your PS3 discs (to use them with an emulator, for example), the LG BU40N is the way to go.

I've heard LG drives are better if you plan on submitting disc dump files for the KEYDB.cfg file, I will let someone more experienced than me confirm that if they so wish, though.

If you're wondering why I like the BU40N 1.00 firmware so much, the first reason is that I require Linux compatibility, and the second reason is that LibreDrive alone isn't enough to be able to read 4K discs. I believe you need either hashed keys or keys from KEYDB.cfg - and the BU40N 1.00 firmware allows me to use DVDFab with a program that gives people access to the needed VUKs for those few pesky 4K discs we can't read as easily.

I've had multiple bu40ns and bp50nb40s with the firmware changed to bu40n and its a decent drive overall, if your into game preservation also check out omnidrive and redump. Omnidrive is a modification on the bu40ns 1.00 de firmware that allows it to dump gamecube, wii, xbox and 360 games in addition to playstation that it can normally.

As otherwise stated the pioneer is slower but will read damaged discs better then the bu40n. I personally would go with a new drive over used but the pioneers are much harder to find so grabbing one first might be a decent idea.