Seeking a half-height BD-XL (UHD-compatible) drive in Canada!

[Violet37]

Hello everyone,
Amazing to discover this forum!

It seems like there is a ton of knowledge here, though I am still feeling confused.

I have been seeing this post often posted, listing BD-XL drives which I suppose can read, rip, and write UHD discs.

I have been shopping for a long time, trying to decide based on aesthetics. I now am building a new PC for myself, so I need a beautiful and functional disc drive ASAP now. The post tells me that Pioneer drives are the most recommended, though we must ensure they have the right firmware.

I also don’t understand if the flashing is just to provide basic BDXL or ripping compatibility, or if it’s something to do with MakeMKV compatibility specifically. If I didn’t have to worry about flashing, then I’d think buying an older drive would be fine?

What I have gathered so far is:

• The ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive Pioneer BDR-212DBK is not compatible.
• The Pioneer BDR-212V is probably compatible?
• The LG WH14NS40 is compatible but has bright white LG branding painted right on its faceplace that is too much for me!
• The LG WH16NS40 is more adept with three-layer discs (100 GB BD-XL), but same faceplate paint.
• The LG HLDS WH16NS58DUP is a Vinpower model which also has the white-painted logos on the faceplate, however, thankfully no LG logo, and a nice M-Disc one instead, arranged pleasantly, despite the brightness of the paint and lack of any Compact Disc logo! $170.09, March 20-24th arrival date (14–18 days), bonus BD-R included.
• Hitachi-LG BH40N with A1B1 ROM: eBay seller advertises this as a BDXL™-compatible disc-burning drive for just $76.71, however I’ve seen people on this forum say that it isn’t actually compatible somehow? Is this to do with a different firmware version?
  
  It looks like most of them have just a Blu-ray Disc Logo embossed with nothing else, which I suppose would be acceptable, if not ideal. There’s another mysteriously-cropped photograph I saw with a bunch of logos that looked potentially amazing, so I sent the seller a message asking what’s going on. It seems like some of these models have different faceplate variations?
• Another Hitachi-LG BH40N with an actually-nice faceplace from France, made in December 2015 with ROM version 1.00 for like $117.
• A drive with tastefully-subdued painted faceplatewith great logo selection (including BDXL), in a decent arrangement, which is advertised as "WH16NS40 or WH16NS48 or BH16NS48 with firmware 1.01 or 1.02, it supports 100 GB BD and M-Disc.” The only obvious flaw with this drive is the absolutely bizarre drawer design with big ovals dissected for reasons beyond my ken. I wonder if I could just cut away the dissecting plastic with a Dremel, because otherwise it seems pretty great. $137.
  This is the other main drive I’ve been drooling over for years now.
  
  Anyway, that is a selection of drives that are accessible to me and seem like they could work; curious to learn which are actually as compatible as I need, as I theoretically would like to be able to rip and burn BDXL discs when I like.
  
  Thanks,
  Violet

[MartyMcNuts]

Hello everyone,
Amazing to discover this forum!

It seems like there is a ton of knowledge here, though I am still feeling confused.

I have been seeing this post often posted, listing BD-XL drives which I suppose can read, rip, and write UHD discs.

I have been shopping for a long time, trying to decide based on aesthetics. I now am building a new PC for myself, so I need a beautiful and functional disc drive ASAP now. The post tells me that Pioneer drives are the most recommended, though we must ensure they have the right firmware.

I also don’t understand if the flashing is just to provide basic BDXL or ripping compatibility, or if it’s something to do with MakeMKV compatibility specifically. If I didn’t have to worry about flashing, then I’d think buying an older drive would be fine?

What I have gathered so far is:

• The ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive Pioneer BDR-212DBK is not compatible.
• The Pioneer BDR-212V is probably compatible?
• The LG WH14NS40 is compatible but has bright white LG branding painted right on its faceplace that is too much for me!
• The LG WH16NS40 is more adept with three-layer discs (100 GB BD-XL), but same faceplate paint.
• The LG HLDS WH16NS58DUP is a Vinpower model which also has the white-painted logos on the faceplate, however, thankfully no LG logo, and a nice M-Disc one instead, arranged pleasantly, despite the brightness of the paint and lack of any Compact Disc logo! $170.09, March 20-24th arrival date (14–18 days), bonus BD-R included.
• Hitachi-LG BH40N with A1B1 ROM: eBay seller advertises this as a BDXL™-compatible disc-burning drive for just $76.71, however I’ve seen people on this forum say that it isn’t actually compatible somehow? Is this to do with a different firmware version?
  
  It looks like most of them have just a Blu-ray Disc Logo embossed with nothing else, which I suppose would be acceptable, if not ideal. There’s another mysteriously-cropped photograph I saw with a bunch of logos that looked potentially amazing, so I sent the seller a message asking what’s going on. It seems like some of these models have different faceplate variations?
• Another Hitachi-LG BH40N with an actually-nice faceplace from France, made in December 2015 with ROM version 1.00 for like $117.
• A drive with tastefully-subdued painted faceplatewith great logo selection (including BDXL), in a decent arrangement, which is advertised as "WH16NS40 or WH16NS48 or BH16NS48 with firmware 1.01 or 1.02, it supports 100 GB BD and M-Disc.” The only obvious flaw with this drive is the absolutely bizarre drawer design with big ovals dissected for reasons beyond my ken. I wonder if I could just cut away the dissecting plastic with a Dremel, because otherwise it seems pretty great. $137.
  This is the other main drive I’ve been drooling over for years now.
  
  Anyway, that is a selection of drives that are accessible to me and seem like they could work; curious to learn which are actually as compatible as I need, as I theoretically would like to be able to rip and burn BDXL discs when I like.
  
  Thanks,
  Violet

I don't know what you mean by half height drive?? All of the drives you mention are standard 5.25" internal desktop drives.

Flashing is to enable libredrive and UHD compatibility. No drive allows UHD reading out of the box.

BDXL support does not mean UHD support.

The Pioneer BDR-212DBK and the BDR-212V are the same drive, just a different firmware version. Both can be flashed if they have pre 12/2022 firmware on them. Either of these are recommended over any LG or ASUS drive.

If you want a better quality model Pioneer drive that is UHD compatible, you can only get one from a seller on this forum. All stock in retail stores have firmware that is too new (post 11/2022) and cannot be UHD enabled.

[Coopervid]

Hello everyone,
Amazing to discover this forum!

It seems like there is a ton of knowledge here, though I am still feeling confused.

I have been seeing this post often posted, listing BD-XL drives which I suppose can read, rip, and write UHD discs.

I have been shopping for a long time, trying to decide based on aesthetics. I now am building a new PC for myself, so I need a beautiful and functional disc drive ASAP now. The post tells me that Pioneer drives are the most recommended, though we must ensure they have the right firmware.

I also don’t understand if the flashing is just to provide basic BDXL or ripping compatibility, or if it’s something to do with MakeMKV compatibility specifically. If I didn’t have to worry about flashing, then I’d think buying an older drive would be fine?

What I have gathered so far is:

• The ubiquitous and relatively inexpensive Pioneer BDR-212DBK is not compatible.
• The Pioneer BDR-212V is probably compatible?
• The LG WH14NS40 is compatible but has bright white LG branding painted right on its faceplace that is too much for me!
• The LG WH16NS40 is more adept with three-layer discs (100 GB BD-XL), but same faceplate paint.
• The LG HLDS WH16NS58DUP is a Vinpower model which also has the white-painted logos on the faceplate, however, thankfully no LG logo, and a nice M-Disc one instead, arranged pleasantly, despite the brightness of the paint and lack of any Compact Disc logo! $170.09, March 20-24th arrival date (14–18 days), bonus BD-R included.
• Hitachi-LG BH40N with A1B1 ROM: eBay seller advertises this as a BDXL™-compatible disc-burning drive for just $76.71, however I’ve seen people on this forum say that it isn’t actually compatible somehow? Is this to do with a different firmware version?
  
  It looks like most of them have just a Blu-ray Disc Logo embossed with nothing else, which I suppose would be acceptable, if not ideal. There’s another mysteriously-cropped photograph I saw with a bunch of logos that looked potentially amazing, so I sent the seller a message asking what’s going on. It seems like some of these models have different faceplate variations?
• Another Hitachi-LG BH40N with an actually-nice faceplace from France, made in December 2015 with ROM version 1.00 for like $117.
• A drive with tastefully-subdued painted faceplatewith great logo selection (including BDXL), in a decent arrangement, which is advertised as "WH16NS40 or WH16NS48 or BH16NS48 with firmware 1.01 or 1.02, it supports 100 GB BD and M-Disc.” The only obvious flaw with this drive is the absolutely bizarre drawer design with big ovals dissected for reasons beyond my ken. I wonder if I could just cut away the dissecting plastic with a Dremel, because otherwise it seems pretty great. $137.
  This is the other main drive I’ve been drooling over for years now.
  
  Anyway, that is a selection of drives that are accessible to me and seem like they could work; curious to learn which are actually as compatible as I need, as I theoretically would like to be able to rip and burn BDXL discs when I like.
  
  Thanks,
  Violet

Contact Bluntman.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=21354