www.makemkv.com

OK, after spending some till reading and re-reading I thought I'd got to the point of being ready to move ahead....little did I know!

I built a small test rig to try this out on, so it couldn't affect my main box.

Fedora 43, Asus BW-16D1HT drive with firm 3.11.

I'd read that their may be some 'issues' with V1.18.x on Linux and more importantly that you couldn't use above 1.17.7 if you intended to flash your drive to a 'friendly' firmware.

I'd also read that Flatpak seemed to have an v1.18.x linux working version and as I hadn't used flatpak invested some time in trying to understand any issues possibly therein.

So, clean box, new build....

Install flatpak and flatpaks 1.18.x version without any issues.

Understand I need to install 1.17.7 to be able to flash my drive to 'friendly' 3.10MK firmware

Download relevent gz's, do build no problem, however, if you run up 1.17.7 on linux it says (paraphrased) you need a registration key to run such an old version.....and closes.

So, now slightly stuck as not willing to risk flashing with 1.18.x inside flatpak unless someone tells me it's now working on 'nix and also can't flash using 1.17.7 without a reg key.

Ideas?

Old builds contain whatever beta key was valid at the time of release. IF you intend to "live by the beta key", the latest/greatest is always here.

Caution: There can be a gap between the beta key expiring & a new one being issued, every ~2 months. More info here.

Thanks.

I stuck it in ~/.MakeMKV/settings.conf and it's working so far.

My plan is, flash the drive, test for a few weeks to ensure stability and if all OK then buy a key

So, a couple of follow up questions where I'm looking for others more extensive experience....

In my assorted readings I saw a reference to a modified ffmpeg, but can't find the comment now.

Also, if I'm going to use the 1.18.x version inside my flatpak, should I also use handbrake inside that same flatpak or am I better sticking to my, working thus far (but no UHD tests yet), non flatpak locally compiled 1.17.7 version and the 'normal' repos handbrake?

MakeMKV on MacOS and Windows ships with an embedded version of ffmpeg so MakeMKV can do on-the-fly audio conversions if the user picks a profile to do that. On Linux it uses whatever version of ffmpeg is on the system.

Regarding Handbrake, you can use whatever version you like; there's no link between MakeMKV and Handbrake. If you're installing Handbrake for the first time, you might as well go with the most recent version.

Thanks for the quick reply..

Just one last question....

I was reading about AACS and my drive is now enabled up to AACS 53, what's a good rule to follow regarding purchasing BR's that limits the chances of a newer BR with a later AACS version deleting the keytable (which I assume in effect revokes the drive).

AACS v53 is just the highest your drive has encountered. Everything up to, but not including v82, is currently supported, without additional action.

Read more about v82 here... AACS v82 Blu-ray Disc dump submission

Thanks, you've been really helpful.