Completely Lost with LG WH16NS40

[smb56]

I purchased this drive because "duh" I thought it would be UHD ready. It appears not. Can someone point me to where I can get instructions on how to "flash" this so it works properly. It has the 1.03 firmware installed.

[MartyMcNuts]

I purchased this drive because "duh" I thought it would be UHD ready. It appears not. Can someone point me to where I can get instructions on how to "flash" this so it works properly. It has the 1.03 firmware installed.

Here you go! Just make sure your WH16NS40 has NS50 written on the bottom right hand corner of the label on top of the drive.

https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... b8b93c8a2b

[AdrFax]

Hey everyone, I had a quick question about the WH16NS40 model and I was hoping someone could help me out: is the relevance of the NS50 revision specifically for the benefit of UHD support, or is it fundamental to even try flashing this model at all? My unit is quite old (SVC NS40, manufacture date of Jan 31, 2015) making me discard UHD eligibility altogether, but I've been looking into firmware patches / LibreDrive lately and I wanted to be sure that I could indeed work that onto this drive. I was also curious about the drive platform; mine is listed as MT1939, but the recommended version I keep reading around is MT1959. Is that difference also relevant for UHD specifically, or does it affect all drives from this model?

Here's the full specs for my drive according to MakeMKV:

Drive Information
OS device name: M:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS40
Revision: 1.02
Serial number:
Firmware date: 2114-05-07 10:26
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 63

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: MT1939
Harware support: Yes
Firmware support: No
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.02
DVD all regions: Possible, not yet enabled
BD raw data read: Possible, not yet enabled
BD raw metadata read: Possible, not yet enabled
Unrestricted read speed: Possible, not yet enabled

I'm hesitant about moving in blindly with only MakeMKV's assessment for reference, because the multiple reassurances I've read about the WH16NS40 on this forum are predicated on the UHD compatibility, rendering them unsuitable for my situation. In fact, I'm wary of trusting any software stats overall, because for some reason, LG's official firmware tool recognizes my drive as a NS50, directly contradicting the label's information. Anyway, I'd appreciate any insights in advance, since I'm not really into UHD right now and I'd rather preserve this drive for a while longer.

[st4evr]

Hey everyone, I had a quick question about the WH16NS40 model and I was hoping someone could help me out: is the relevance of the NS50 revision specifically for the benefit of UHD support, or is it fundamental to even try flashing this model at all? My unit is quite old (SVC NS40, manufacture date of Jan 31, 2015) making me discard UHD eligibility altogether, but I've been looking into firmware patches / LibreDrive lately and I wanted to be sure that I could indeed work that onto this drive. I was also curious about the drive platform; mine is listed as MT1939, but the recommended version I keep reading around is MT1959. Is that difference also relevant for UHD specifically, or does it affect all drives from this model?

As this has been discussed hundreds of times over within this forum by now I’ll keep it short. Even more details as to why or what happens can easily be found using the forum search function. The same question has been asked over and over for close to 2 years so it’s very well documented here by now.

Flashing your drive with the newer firmware will brick your drive. Period. Either soft or hard brick depending on what action you take. Proceed at your own risk.

Firmware is hardware dependent. The changes/differences in hardware/firmware for these drives between generations is relevant to flashing at all times. No matter what the flasher tells you. The “NS” code is one of the identifiers on these drives that helps identify the hardware differences/generation and what firmware is compatible with it. And so is the “Drive platform” code. This all comes from the drive manufacturers. We did not pull this out of our asses I promise you and start randomly posting these requirements on this forum for the hell of it. And also comes from the experience of many who’ve bricked their drives either purposely in the name of testing this out for documentation’s sake or accidentally cause they simply did not know.

Even with all the existing discussions regarding this it hasn’t stopped many others, but then end up with a paperweight.

[AdrFax]

Firmware is hardware dependent. The changes/differences in hardware/firmware for these drives between generations is relevant to flashing at all times. No matter what the flasher tells you.

I understand. In retrospect, I'm glad that I saved myself a headache by checking the label before trying anything else. Anyways, thank you for the concise and unambiguous response, especially for this bit. I guess there's no harm in considering a secondary drive after all.