I want to thank everyone that helped me. The amount of information in these forums and the quick responses to my questions was incredible!
TL:DR: I purchased an ASUS BW-16D1X-U from Amazon, used the GUI "SDFtool Flasher" to backup my current firmware and flashed to "DE_ASUS_BW-16D1HT_3.10_MK". The drive is now able to read UHD 4K disks!
My Pioneer BDR-XD07UHD drive was having read issues on a few discs. One suggestion was to flash to the latest firmware version. It didn't even cross my mind to check the MakeMKV forums, so after the flash, it no longer supports MakeMKV and UHD discs. With some help from a few forum users and all the great posts (like this one), I purchased an ASUS BW-16D1X-U from Amazon. I used the GUI "SDFtool Flasher (v1.3.5)" to backup my current firmware and flashed the drive to "DE_ASUS_BW-16D1HT_3.10_MK".
For testing, I used Monster Hunters (2020) 4K Ultra HD + BLU-RAY + Digital discs. Before flashing the drive, I verified the UHD 4K disc could not be read. I ripped the Blu-Ray disc and it took just under 18 minutes. I flashed the drive and verified the 4K UHD disc could be read. I then ripped the Blu-Ray disc a second time. The rip time remained roughly the same - just under 18 minutes. I ripped the 4K UHD disc without any issues.
UPDATE | EDIT
Per Coopervid's answer to one of my questions, I flashed the drive with the "HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.03-NM00600-212005081010.bin" firmware. The drive was able to read the Monster Hunter 4K / UHD disc. I ripped the Monster Hunters Blu-Ray disc a third time and the rip completed 1 minute faster.
SDFtool Flasher (v1.3.5)
MT1956 Platform (flagged - green checkmark)
Encrypted Firmware (flagged - green checkmark)
Pre-Flash Drive Information
Drive Information
OS device name: I:
Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: ASUS
Product: BW-16D1X-U
Revision: A105
Serial number: xxxxxxxxxx
Firmware date: 2120-12-02 11:14
Bus encryption flags: 1F
Highest AACS version: 76
LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Post Flash Drive Information
Drive Information
OS device name: I:
Manufacturer: ASUS
Product: BW-16D1HT
Revision: 3.10
Serial number: xxxxxxxxxx
Firmware date: 2119-01-04 10:14
Bus encryption flags: 1F
Highest AACS version: 76
LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled)
Firmware version: 3.10
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes
Update| Edit
Drive Information After 1.03 Flash
Drive Information
OS device name: G:
Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.03
Serial number: xxxxxxxx
Firmware date: 2120-05-08 10:10
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 76
LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled)
Firmware version: 1.03
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes
I do have two questions.
- In this post, someone mentioned the following. After flashing this drive, it can no longer write discs. Is that correct?
- In this post, people used two different firmware to flash this drive. "DE_ASUS_BW-16D1HT_3.10_MK" which comes in the Marty's firmware pack and "HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin" or the 1.03 version that you download from GetHub. Which is best or does it even matter?