My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Discussion of LibreDrive mode, compatible drives and firmwares
AffSeda
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:43 am

My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by AffSeda »

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: /dev/sr0
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE GGW-H20N
Revision: XL07
Serial number: CMPLT_POS
Firmware date: 2011-03-19 12:34:56
Highest AACS version: 72

LibreDrive Information
Status: Not possible
Drive platform: RS1013
Firmware version: XL07-00
I like how that's been added after the new sdf download.

Does anyone know / is there a list of what the drive platforms are, in order of age? I know about 1959, 1939, but wasn't aware there was a RS1013.
mike admin
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Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by mike admin »

AffSeda wrote:
Sat Jun 20, 2020 12:17 pm
Does anyone know / is there a list of what the drive platforms are, in order of age? I know about 1959, 1939, but wasn't aware there was a RS1013.
Did you send the FW dump?

RS1013 aka Renesas Indigo3 is a new platform "accidentally" discovered just recently. Was used by Hitachi drives around 2009-2011, before they switched to Mediatek MTK1939 and later to MTK1959. Surprisingly, there are quite a lot of such drives laying around, much more then anticipated. Despite "not possible" status, these drives actually have everything to become LibreDrive-enabled without a firmware update. It is just unclear, whether it is worth bothering making a LD firmware for these. Please send the dumps to convince me :)
AffSeda
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:43 am

Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by AffSeda »

Oh, cool. Okay, you got it. It's been sent to the support address.
AffSeda
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:43 am

Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by AffSeda »

Just noticed there was another dump file in the makemkv folder itself, I've sent that too. I'm guessing that's the one you originally wanted.. lol
mercennarius
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2020 6:44 pm

Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by mercennarius »

mike admin wrote:
Sat Jun 20, 2020 12:52 pm
AffSeda wrote:
Sat Jun 20, 2020 12:17 pm
Does anyone know / is there a list of what the drive platforms are, in order of age? I know about 1959, 1939, but wasn't aware there was a RS1013.
Did you send the FW dump?

RS1013 aka Renesas Indigo3 is a new platform "accidentally" discovered just recently. Was used by Hitachi drives around 2009-2011, before they switched to Mediatek MTK1939 and later to MTK1959. Surprisingly, there are quite a lot of such drives laying around, much more then anticipated. Despite "not possible" status, these drives actually have everything to become LibreDrive-enabled without a firmware update. It is just unclear, whether it is worth bothering making a LD firmware for these. Please send the dumps to convince me :)
I have several of these drives as well, well slightly different model # (GGW-H20L) but one of the LG HD DVD/BD combo drives and it shows the same platform (RS1013).
Drive Information
OS device name: I:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE GGW-H20L
Revision: YL07
Serial number: K1281ND5442
Firmware date: 2011-03-19 12:34:56
Highest AACS version: 61

LibreDrive Information
Status: Not possible
Drive platform: RS1013
Firmware version: YL07-00
It would be AWESOME if you made a LD firmware for these. Would solve a lot of issues people have with HD DVDs these days on PC. Where in MakeMKV can I dump my firmware for you to look at? Thanks!
icourt
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2020 6:27 pm

Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by icourt »

I have one of these for HD DVD ripping. They’re pretty decent. If LibreDrive support is possible, it would be great if it could be enabled.

Incidentally, these can all be cross-flashed. HD DVD ROM and LightScribe support can be added to drives which don’t have it by default. Basically, any drive on this list can (and should!) be a flashed with GGW-H20L firmware:
  • BE06LU11
  • BE06LU10
  • GBW-H20N
  • GBW-H20L
  • GGW-H20N
  • GGW-H20L
https://club.myce.com/t/lg-blu-ray-cros ... u11/238076
mike admin
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Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by mike admin »

icourt wrote:
Mon Jun 22, 2020 7:17 am
I have one of these for HD DVD ripping. They’re pretty decent.
I had no clue these are HD-DVD combo drives... This makes more sense to look at then.
icourt
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2020 6:27 pm

Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by icourt »

mike admin wrote:
Mon Jun 22, 2020 8:45 am
icourt wrote:
Mon Jun 22, 2020 7:17 am
I have one of these for HD DVD ripping. They’re pretty decent.
I had no clue these are HD-DVD combo drives... This makes more sense to look at then.
Yeah, there are a few logos on the front. :lol:

F72318B8-9162-448B-AF96-E5595C9F9B8F.jpeg
F72318B8-9162-448B-AF96-E5595C9F9B8F.jpeg (2.92 MiB) Viewed 28865 times
GGW-H20L.png
GGW-H20L.png (26.42 KiB) Viewed 28864 times
AffSeda
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:43 am

Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by AffSeda »

I picked it up because it's a SATA drive - the other HD-DVD drives I could find were all IDE, and being a combo drive is convenient.
mercennarius
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2020 6:44 pm

Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by mercennarius »

icourt wrote:
Mon Jun 22, 2020 9:16 am
mike admin wrote:
Mon Jun 22, 2020 8:45 am
icourt wrote:
Mon Jun 22, 2020 7:17 am
I have one of these for HD DVD ripping. They’re pretty decent.
I had no clue these are HD-DVD combo drives... This makes more sense to look at then.
Yeah, there are a few logos on the front. :lol:


F72318B8-9162-448B-AF96-E5595C9F9B8F.jpeg


GGW-H20L.png
Which tool are you using that shows all the device capabilities? I have three of these drives (GGW-H20Ls), love them. Wonder if it's possible to add BDXL capability to them?
icourt
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2020 6:27 pm

Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by icourt »

mercennarius wrote:
Mon Jun 22, 2020 3:32 pm
Which tool are you using that shows all the device capabilities? I have three of these drives (GGW-H20Ls), love them. Wonder if it's possible to add BDXL capability to them?
ImgBurn. Select any of the disc operations, then from the top menu, Tools > Drive > Capabilities.

I’d be very surprised if BD XL capability could be added, I don’t think the hardware would support it. They are great drives though. :)
AffSeda
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:43 am

Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by AffSeda »

icourt wrote:
Mon Jun 22, 2020 4:34 pm
They are great drives though. :)
I'm surprised mine has survived this long. I used it for the "swap trick" to read Dreamcast GD-ROMs. So many discs are deteriorating and will be lost to the passage of time because backups can't be easily made.
icourt
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Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2020 6:27 pm

Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by icourt »

AffSeda wrote:
Tue Jun 23, 2020 11:54 am
icourt wrote:
Mon Jun 22, 2020 4:34 pm
They are great drives though. :)
I'm surprised mine has survived this long. I used it for the "swap trick" to read Dreamcast GD-ROMs. So many discs are deteriorating and will be lost to the passage of time because backups can't be easily made.
Excellent. They are quite something. Although, I use a Dreamcast with a broadband adapter for GD-ROM dumping. Slow as hell, but pretty reliable. :D
mike admin
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Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by mike admin »

There is one other drive built on the same hardware, but with totally different firmware. Unfortunately, that other drive stores all settings (including the laser data) in completely different format, so crossflash is far from trivial.
But hardware is the same.

The drive is called Pioneer BDR-205 . Just some food for thought...
icourt
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2020 6:27 pm

Re: My poor ancient HD-DVD/BD Combo!

Post by icourt »

mike admin wrote:
Tue Jun 23, 2020 2:06 pm
There is one other drive built on the same hardware, but with totally different firmware. Unfortunately, that other drive stores all settings (including the laser data) in completely different format, so crossflash is far from trivial.
But hardware is the same.

The drive is called Pioneer BDR-205 . Just some food for thought...
Interesting. Most of my drives are LG varieties nowadays. I used to favour Pioneer prior to that, from SCSI CD-ROM on the Amiga, right up until the last of the IDE DVD burners. Had good experiences with them. Not sure how they fare now!

So we’re talking cross-flashing a BDR-205 with GGW-20L firmware. If it’s far from trivial, then it’s still possible... right? ;)
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