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Hi everyone, I recently followed the official UHD flashing guide to aid me in getting my newly bought bu40n (came with rom version 1.04) capable of ripping 4k Blu ray discs. The guide itself is great, as is the windows gui for the sdftool command line flasher particularly since the release of the latest update which I’m sure will eliminate any confusion some may have had about whether their stock firmware was encrypted or not. Now to my question, in carrying out this process I assumed you had to flash the drive with the mk equivalent of the drives stock firmware (in this case 1.04 --> 1.04mk) before you were then able to downgrade it to anything lower. I understand why this is not the case when cross flashing as downgrade checks only apply for previous firmware revisions released for the drives specific model.

So I guess my question would be why the official guide suggests directly flashing the drive (bu40n) to 1.03mk irrespective of whether the stock firmware is something higher like 1.04. Also what's so special about 1.03mk for this drive? Are there any additional reasons besides compatibility with other ripping software like dvdfab for changing my drives current firmware (1.04mk) to anything lower like 1.03mk or 1.00 or should I just leave it as is.

BlinkingGull wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 17, 2021 1:33 pm

Hi everyone, I recently followed the official UHD flashing guide to aid me in getting my newly bought bu40n (came with rom version 1.04) capable of ripping 4k Blu ray discs. The guide itself is great, as is the windows gui for the sdftool command line flasher particularly since the release of the latest update which I’m sure will eliminate any confusion some may have had about whether their stock firmware was encrypted or not. Now to my question, in carrying out this process I assumed you had to flash the drive with the mk equivalent of the drives stock firmware (in this case 1.04 --> 1.04mk) before you were then able to downgrade it to anything lower. I understand why this is not the case when cross flashing as downgrade checks only apply for previous firmware revisions released for the drives specific model.

So I guess my question would be why the official guide suggests directly flashing the drive (bu40n) to 1.03mk irrespective of whether the stock firmware is something higher like 1.04. Also what's so special about 1.03mk for this drive? Are there any additional reasons besides compatibility with other ripping software like dvdfab for changing my drives current firmware (1.04mk) to anything lower like 1.03mk or 1.00 or should I just leave it as is.

We don't generally recommend using the latest version of the firmware, even the MK version, as they are mostly garbage and of no benefit.

There are certain firmwares that allow direct flashing (from encrypted firmware). For the BU40N, that is BU40N 1.03-MK. For the desktop drives, WH16NS60 1.02-MK or ASUS BW-16D1HT 3.10-MK are the go.

As far as software compatibility goes, the MK versions usually don't work with DVDFab. The BU40N should be on BU40N 1.00 for compatibility with DVDFab.

MartyMcNuts wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:09 pm

We don't generally recommend using the latest version of the firmware, even the MK version, as they are mostly garbage and of no benefit.

There are certain firmwares that allow direct flashing (from encrypted firmware). For the BU40N, that is BU40N 1.03-MK. For the desktop drives, WH16NS60 1.02-MK or ASUS BW-16D1HT 3.10-MK are the go.

As far as software compatibility goes, the MK versions usually don't work with DVDFab. The BU40N should be on BU40N 1.00 for compatibility with DVDFab.

Thanks for replying. So in essence I could have simply flashed directly to 1.03-MK instead of flashing to 1.04-MK first and then trying to downgrade. That being said everything seems to be working as expected so would you still recommend I flash a second time to 1.03-MK or just leave it as is?

I also have a BH16NS55 coming in the post so, assuming it has the encrypted firmware v1.05 on it and for compatibility reasons I choose not to cross flash it to WH16NS60 1.02-MK, would I be correct in assuming my original methodology holds true and I would first need to flash it to its MK equivalent (1.05-MK) before I could downgrade it to anything lower like v1.02DE.

Thanks again for your help

BlinkingGull wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:44 pm

MartyMcNuts wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:09 pm

We don't generally recommend using the latest version of the firmware, even the MK version, as they are mostly garbage and of no benefit.

There are certain firmwares that allow direct flashing (from encrypted firmware). For the BU40N, that is BU40N 1.03-MK. For the desktop drives, WH16NS60 1.02-MK or ASUS BW-16D1HT 3.10-MK are the go.

As far as software compatibility goes, the MK versions usually don't work with DVDFab. The BU40N should be on BU40N 1.00 for compatibility with DVDFab.

Thanks for replying. So in essence I could have simply flashed directly to 1.03-MK instead of flashing to 1.04-MK first and then trying to downgrade. That being said everything seems to be working as expected so would you still recommend I flash a second time to 1.03-MK or just leave it as is?

I also have a BH16NS55 coming in the post so, assuming it has the encrypted firmware v1.05 on it and for compatibility reasons I choose not to cross flash it to WH16NS60 1.02-MK, would I be correct in assuming my original methodology holds true and I would first need to flash it to its MK equivalent (1.05-MK) before I could downgrade it to anything lower like v1.02DE.

Thanks again for your help

BH16NS55 coming in post, assuming it is on 1.05 firmware.

Use SDF Flasher check ENC is enabled and Flash to "HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936" or 1.05mk firmware as you said.

After mk firmware you could then flash to BH16NS55 1.02DE Untick enc, or new SDF Flasher does it all for you thanks to Martymcnuts

That is it Asmcom

BlinkingGull wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:44 pm

MartyMcNuts wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:09 pm

We don't generally recommend using the latest version of the firmware, even the MK version, as they are mostly garbage and of no benefit.

There are certain firmwares that allow direct flashing (from encrypted firmware). For the BU40N, that is BU40N 1.03-MK. For the desktop drives, WH16NS60 1.02-MK or ASUS BW-16D1HT 3.10-MK are the go.

As far as software compatibility goes, the MK versions usually don't work with DVDFab. The BU40N should be on BU40N 1.00 for compatibility with DVDFab.

Thanks for replying. So in essence I could have simply flashed directly to 1.03-MK instead of flashing to 1.04-MK first and then trying to downgrade. That being said everything seems to be working as expected so would you still recommend I flash a second time to 1.03-MK or just leave it as is?

I also have a BH16NS55 coming in the post so, assuming it has the encrypted firmware v1.05 on it and for compatibility reasons I choose not to cross flash it to WH16NS60 1.02-MK, would I be correct in assuming my original methodology holds true and I would first need to flash it to its MK equivalent (1.05-MK) before I could downgrade it to anything lower like v1.02DE.

Thanks again for your help

Correct.

asmcom wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:00 pm

BH16NS55 coming in post, assuming it is on 1.05 firmware.

Use SDF Flasher check ENC is enabled and Flash to "HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936" or 1.05mk firmware as you said.

After mk firmware you could then flash to BH16NS55 1.02DE Untick enc, or new SDF Flasher does it all for you thanks to Martymcnuts

That is it Asmcom

Thanks for the clarification. My original question was purely hypothetical as I just wanted to be sure I had understood the guide correctly, so I’ll likely just cross flash to WH16NS60 1.02-MK like you said and be done with it. Going back to the BU40N though, seeing as you have experience with the different firmware variations for this drive would you recommend like Marty that I flash the firmware from 1.04-MK -->1.03-MK or is it likely not to make much of a difference.

BlinkingGull wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 21, 2021 10:27 am

asmcom wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:00 pm

BH16NS55 coming in post, assuming it is on 1.05 firmware.

Use SDF Flasher check ENC is enabled and Flash to "HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936" or 1.05mk firmware as you said.

After mk firmware you could then flash to BH16NS55 1.02DE Untick enc, or new SDF Flasher does it all for you thanks to Martymcnuts

That is it Asmcom

Thanks for the clarification. My original question was purely hypothetical as I just wanted to be sure I had understood the guide correctly, so I’ll likely just cross flash to WH16NS60 1.02-MK like you said and be done with it. Going back to the BU40N though, seeing as you have experience with the different firmware variations for this drive would you recommend like Marty that I flash the firmware from 1.04-MK -->1.03-MK or is it likely not to make much of a difference.

I find firmware 1-03mk the best for this drive, anything after this is garbage, just like Marty says.

I recently purchased Game of Thrones 4K Steel Book and I had a BU40N that I had flashed to
1-00DE. There were two discs in the Box Set that were difficult and kept giving hash errors. So I flash to 1-03mk and everything was perfect.

I then tried with 2 new Hitachi BU40N again flashed to 1-00DE and again same 2 discs giving the same problem. I flashed to
1-03mk as before and all was good.

I then decided to try 1-04mk and it failed on 3 of the Game of Thrones discs.

Look at the UHD guide by Billy Carr and you will find that Billy is on the ball and is not far wrong in what he says. I believe he is correct in relation to recommended firmware.

1.00DE is good firmware if you want DVDfab support. If you do not use DVDfab then definitely
1-03mk.

Please see information from UHD guide.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19634

Recommended Firmware to flash for MakeMKV:
WH16NS60 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK

WH14NS40 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK

WH16NS40 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK

BH16NS55 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK

Asus BW-16D1HT on any Firmware directly to > Asus BW-16D1HT 3.10MK

BU40N on any Firmware directly to > BU40N 1.03MK

Asmcom