UHD ROM drives?

[hunterjwizzard]

Hi folks,

Bit of a dumb question, but have ROM(read-only) optical drives just gone away entirely?

My hobby during pandemic has been collecting movies and ripping them to my file server. Normally I just buy old/cheap 2k disks and have had no problem accessing them on my older-than-dirt DVD drives.

However, I jsut got my very first ever 4K "ultra HD DVDs" and, probably predictably, I can't read these in any of my existing drives. I've been doing some research into what sort of drive I need to read them, but so far every single thing I find is for a burner(reader/writer). How, back in the day, I used to buy read-only drives whenever new technology would come out because it was invariably a lot cheaper. I'm aware UHD DVD has probably been around a while, but with the burners coming in at $150 or so, I should still like to think I can find a ROM for a lot less.

Or do ROMs just flat out not exist anymore?

Thanks!

[MartyMcNuts]

Hi folks,

Bit of a dumb question, but have ROM(read-only) optical drives just gone away entirely?

My hobby during pandemic has been collecting movies and ripping them to my file server. Normally I just buy old/cheap 2k disks and have had no problem accessing them on my older-than-dirt DVD drives.

However, I jsut got my very first ever 4K "ultra HD DVDs" and, probably predictably, I can't read these in any of my existing drives. I've been doing some research into what sort of drive I need to read them, but so far every single thing I find is for a burner(reader/writer). How, back in the day, I used to buy read-only drives whenever new technology would come out because it was invariably a lot cheaper. I'm aware UHD DVD has probably been around a while, but with the burners coming in at $150 or so, I should still like to think I can find a ROM for a lot less.

Or do ROMs just flat out not exist anymore?

Thanks!

The only "reader only" drive I know of that is capable of ripping UHD blu-ray discs is the ASUS BC-12D2HT. It is not capable out of the box though and will need to be flashed with BC-12D2HT_3.11_MK firmware from the MK firmware pack.

[hunterjwizzard]

Wow, lol. ASUS BC-12D2HT is still a writer(according to Asus, anyway) and costs more than say an LG WH16NS60 which reads and writes them out of the box. I'm absolutely staggered that readers have fallen completely into oblivion. I guess optical drives period are such a niche product these days I shouldn't be so surprised. Crazy.

Well, thank you for your expert advice!

[Woodstock]

There are some writers that become very dumb about writing when their firmware is flashed to make them UHD-friendly, though.

[shawnc22]

Not sure where you're getting $150 from but you can get a WH14NS40 for like 50 bucks on Amazon and then flash it to a NS60 firmware and be good to go. It's what I've been using for the last year or so.

[hunterjwizzard]

Or I can get a WH16NS40 for $75 apparently and have it read UHDs directly out of the box.

The $150 was apparently wrong, I had found a couple other drives in that price range or above before stumbling across this forum and asking for advice.

[dcoke22]

Be careful that the cheap drives you pick up aren't too old. https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=19634 is the thread about UHD drives; there's a really good guide in the first post.

[Billycar11]

Or I can get a WH16NS40 for $75 apparently and have it read UHDs directly out of the box.

The $150 was apparently wrong, I had found a couple other drives in that price range or above before stumbling across this forum and asking for advice.

it wont read UHD discs out of the box unless your buying from one of us sellers

[MartyMcNuts]

Wow, lol. ASUS BC-12D2HT is still a writer(according to Asus, anyway) and costs more than say an LG WH16NS60 which reads and writes them out of the box. I'm absolutely staggered that readers have fallen completely into oblivion. I guess optical drives period are such a niche product these days I shouldn't be so surprised. Crazy.

Well, thank you for your expert advice!

No, it's a combo drive. It can read and write CD/DVD but can only read blu-ray discs.

[MartyMcNuts]

Wow, lol. ASUS BC-12D2HT is still a writer(according to Asus, anyway) and costs more than say an LG WH16NS60 which reads and writes them out of the box. I'm absolutely staggered that readers have fallen completely into oblivion. I guess optical drives period are such a niche product these days I shouldn't be so surprised. Crazy.

Well, thank you for your expert advice!

That's because readers are pretty much pointless, when a reader/writer can be had for around the same price.

[hunterjwizzard]

Or I can get a WH16NS40 for $75 apparently and have it read UHDs directly out of the box.

it wont read UHD discs out of the box unless your buying from one of us sellers

Wait a second... this page: https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=19634

Says "LG WH16NS60, UHD Official Internal 5.25" - doesn't that mean it can read UHD out of the box? What am I missing?

[MartyMcNuts]

Or I can get a WH16NS40 for $75 apparently and have it read UHDs directly out of the box.

it wont read UHD discs out of the box unless your buying from one of us sellers

Wait a second... this page: https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=19634

Says "LG WH16NS60, UHD Official Internal 5.25" - doesn't that mean it can read UHD out of the box? What am I missing?

No. It can play a UHD disc using an official licensed player such as PowerDVD so long as your PC meets the very strict UHD playback requirements.

No "new" drive in 2020 can rip UHD discs out of the box. Every drive needs the firmware flashed to enable that.

[hunterjwizzard]

...I'm starting to regret buying UHD DVDs...

Is the format just so insanely new that the hardware hasn't caught up yet, or is this typical DRM run amuck?

[Billycar11]

...I'm starting to regret buying UHD DVDs...

Is the format just so insanely new that the hardware hasn't caught up yet, or is this typical DRM run amuck?

it comes with a regular bluray.
the hardware is here not a massive amount of it but its here. the drm is pretty bad aacs 2.x still isnt broken for now the keys are found title by title

[hunterjwizzard]

it comes with a regular bluray.

Heh, not the ones I bought.

Full disclosure: I have never previously done anything at all with blu-ray; I thought it was inferior to HD DVD, overpriced, and being propped up entirely by shady "exclusivity" agreements. SO I don't own a blu-ray player, drives, or, as of a few days ago, a single disk. I had specifically bought the "UHD DVD" edition of Lord of the Rings thinking "it says DVD, I can just pop it in my existing DVD drives and rip it!"

I have since discovered I was wrong...

(And no, I didn't get the digital code, either. I specifically paid less for a copy without a digital code because 1. DRM, and 2. "I'm just going to rip it myself anyway." Mistakes were made.)

Aside from that, the one thing finally drawing me to blu-ray is not movies but capacity. I recently learned of the existence of BDXL M-discs capable of storing 100gb of data for extended periods of time(1,000 years according to the manufacturer, but easily the human lifetime or so I need it for). I had already made plans to buy an LG WH16NS60 for burning data disks.

the hardware is here not a massive amount of it but its here. the drm is pretty bad aacs 2.x still isnt broken for now the keys are found title by title

Well that's irritating. Sounds like I also need to pick up a WH14NS40 on the cheap and flash it so I can rip my stupid UHD DVDs. Good times.

Well, I'm really glad I came here for some advice, I appreciate how helpful you've all been, even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear!