Totally confused noob.

[RanMan123]

Hello all. I apologize in advance if I am putting this in the wrong sub category. Hopefully the mods will move it if necessary.

I have been using MakeMKV for years off and on as needed. I actually went to purchase it finally after all this time but now the option to purchase is "temporarily" unavailable. Anyway, to get to the heart of the problem. Recently my son went off to the Army and I have been using MakeMKV to rip and Handbrake to transcode to mp4 to put movies on my plex server for him to watch. I don't have a ton of blu-ray and certainly do not own any UHD or 4K discs at this point. Well, recently my old internal dvd burner on my PC seems to be struggling more often than not with discs of any sort. Probably just old and worn out. I have been in the market for a new dvd burner so of course I look here in these forums as there are a ton of knowledgeable people and a wealth of information.

Therein lies the problem. I think I have THOROUGHLY confused myself on the best way to go here. I honestly don't care if I get an internal or external drive, I am more about the quality and consistency than the speed. An external would probably be nice as the general opinion here seems to be they are more stable and less read errors and I also have a laptop without an optical drive. My real question that I am confused about though is this whole "libre drive" thing. Again, I do not own many blu-ray and no 4K or UHD discs, but if I am going to buy a new drive, I would like it to be as future proof as possible. Does libre drive do ANYTHING in regards to ripping regular blu-ray or dvds? Does it help and/or hinder regular ripping or copying? I do use DVDFab for regular copying from disc to disc occasionally. I purchased the full version DVDFab Copy long ago. I actually tried the ripper portion of DVDFab and it totally sucks compared to MakeMKV, hence why I decided to purchase a full license of MakeMKV instead. I will be using this more often now for putting movies on Plex for my son. I have read through as many of these posts as I can and am at a loss as to what libre drive truly does in noob terms.

I guess my real questions are as follows:

1. What does libre drive really do? Pros and cons. Is it really necessary for everyday use (for regular DVD and blu-ray) and can it potentially cause adverse effects to other programs (like DVDFab)?

2. Recommendation for a new blu-ray burner (most likely external) that has a good track record and is somewhat future proof. I typically buy off Amazon, but am open to other options. Maybe even someone here if they offer any kind of warranties. I am lookin to spend ~$100 USD if that's even possible for a good drive. Willing to spend more if necessary. I am comfortable with flashing firmware and all that, and it seems like there are a lot of good walkthroughs here on that process.

Thanks in advance for all the help people provide in these forums!

[dcoke22]

1. What does libre drive really do? Pros and cons. Is it really necessary for everyday use (for regular DVD and blu-ray) and can it potentially cause adverse effects to other programs (like DVDFab)?

Movies that you buy on optical discs generally all have some sort of protection scheme to try to prevent the copying we're using MakeMKV for. For DVDs, it was a scheme called CSS, but the names and details don't really matter. There is a different scheme for Blu-rays and yet another scheme for 4K UHDs. LibreDrive (viewtopic.php?f=19&t=18856) is MakeMKV's method for defeating the protection scheme for 4K UHDs. It only works with certain kinds of optical drives, hence the lists of drives that support LibreDrive. It is not required for DVD and regular blu-ray copying.

I'm not an expert on this topic, but I think LibreDrive enabled firmware can have an affect on how other programs, like DVDFab, work. Other forum members know these details much better than I do, hopefully they'll chime in.

[dcoke22]

2. Recommendation for a new blu-ray burner (most likely external) that has a good track record and is somewhat future proof. I typically buy off Amazon, but am open to other options. Maybe even someone here if they offer any kind of warranties. I am lookin to spend ~$100 USD if that's even possible for a good drive. Willing to spend more if necessary. I am comfortable with flashing firmware and all that, and it seems like there are a lot of good walkthroughs here on that process.

You've undoubtedly found the UHD Flashing Guide sticky thread: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19634

The top of that post has a recommended drive list. These are models of drives known to work with LibreDrive & therefore the default recommendations for people buying new optical drives to use with MakeMKV. If you have other needs, most notably the desire to actually burn data onto discs, I think many consider Pioneer to make the best 'burners'. Pioneer drives, however, are not supported by LibreDrive.

The list of sellers in the aforementioned guide can generally help you get a drive that'll work best in your situation. They'll get the necessary firmware onto the drive and test it before they ship it to you. They'll also be there to answer questions to make sure you get up and running okay. It is a trade a bit of money for a reduction in frustration and time scenario.

There seem to be a lot of caveats about firmware and the various ripping programs: viewtopic.php?p=104720#p104720

[RanMan123]

Thank you so far. I guess that is what I am mostly confused and concerned about. I don't "feel" like I would need a libre drive. As of now (and the foreseeable near future) I do not even own any 4K discs and most likely will not anytime soon. Which is my understanding, from reading the related topics here, of exactly what a libre drive is for. At the same time, I do not want to shoot myself in the foot and buy a drive that will not work with makemkv in a month for ANY disc because of some automatic firmware update thing that they seem to be doing now a days. I do have some blu-rays and will most likely start buying more of them. I have never had a blu-ray burner in the past, but if I need to buy a new one anyway, I guess now would be the time.

I have heard good things about the pioneers. Do they work well with makemkv as long as I am not trying to rip 4K?