www.makemkv.com

Hi - first post, so go gentle!
I am currently in the process of gradually ripping my DVD and Blu Ray discs to MP4 files using MakeMKV, and then Handbrake.

My current current slot load burner is the Matshita BD-MLT UJ265, which is nicely mounted just under my desk. While MakeMKV shows no LibreDrive info, all the Blu Rays and DVD's I've ripped so far with it have had no issues (apart from the drive being a bit slow).

I am in the UK, and Amazon currently has the Pioneer BDR-XS07TS for £116.45, albeit with FW vers. 1.03. I must stress that I have no requirement to Rip UHD. My collection is mainly vintage TV series and older films on DVD and Blu Ray.

My question is, based on my 'NO UHD' requirement, will I see an advantage moving to the Pioneer?

Any advice will be appreciated.

mkildare wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 09, 2025 1:14 pm

I am in the UK, and Amazon currently has the Pioneer BDR-XS07TS for £116.45, albeit with FW vers. 1.03. I must stress that I have no requirement to Rip UHD. My collection is mainly vintage TV series and older films on DVD and Blu Ray.

Any Pioneer BluRay drive that you buy from Amazon will almost certainly have firmware dated 2022-Dec or later, making it incompatible with LibreDrive, non-downgradable, and non-crossflashable. (I suspect Amazon may even advertise these drives as having firmware from 2023.) As such, while that drive will be perfectly fine for DVDs and regular BluRays, it is highly unlikely that you will ever be able to use it for UHD .

However, UHD-compatible Pioneers may still be available from Asmcom.

FWIW the Pioneer BDR-XS07TS is also a fine drive that has proved itself highly adept at reading problem disks. But it will not provide you with a future upgrade path, should you wish to move to UHD disks later.

Thank you for your helpful reply

Just to close out, I found a 'new', boxed XS07TS on eBay. With promos and discounts I paid £150. It arrived today, Mfg. date June 2021. with fingers crossed I connected it to my PC, fired up MakeMKV, and LibreDrive is there and showing Vers 1.01 - result! Now for some fun.....

mkildare wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 26, 2025 8:01 pm

Just to close out, I found a 'new', boxed XS07TS on eBay. With promos and discounts I paid £150. It arrived today, Mfg. date June 2021. with fingers crossed I connected it to my PC, fired up MakeMKV, and LibreDrive is there and showing Vers 1.01 - result! Now for some fun.....

Now post your Makemkv info. Most likely it can be made UHD capable.

Thank you for the offer! As I currently own no UHD discs, I'll leave it for now, but will likely upgrade soon to futureproof the drive. Happy for you to PM me anyway if you like. Here's the info: -

Drive Information
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDR-XS07
Revision: 1.01
Serial number: ...
Firmware date: 2020-09-03
Bus encryption flags: 13
Highest AACS version: 78

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: RS8E20
Firmware name: PIONEER BDR-BDS7
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.01
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes