LibreDrive for Pioneer drives

[SamuriHL]

Needs more testing but yes very good so far. The image it produced was identical to the image I made last week. Need to see what it does on triple layer. That'll be tomorrow when externals comes. I like having drives that are tanks. Speed is fun but stability is king. Only need to read it once so speed isn't really relevant. This is great stuff. Thanks Mike!

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

[ryley]

As of SDF v083, my Pioneer BDR-XD05 (3.00) is now LibreDrive compatible. Unfortunately I'm not having much luck with it. If a standard Blu-ray disc is inserted when starting MakeMKV, a fatal error occurs (screenshot attached). Loading a disc after starting MakeMKV also fails but no fatal error message is shown. I've attached the debug log files for both scenarios. (The 'STATUS_DEVICE_NOT_CONNECTED' message was only logged after I unplugged the USB cable)

Edit: I've tested MakeMKV v1.16.5 with SDF v07e again. The same drive/disc combination worked correctly with this configuration, but I can't seem to attach the log file.

MakeMKV - Fatal Error SDF v83.PNG (31.27 KiB) Viewed 73000 times

[Billycar11]

As of SDF v083, my Pioneer BDR-XD05 (3.00) is now LibreDrive compatible. Unfortunately I'm not having much luck with it. If a standard Blu-ray disc is inserted when starting MakeMKV, a fatal error occurs (screenshot attached). Loading a disc after starting MakeMKV also fails but no fatal error message is shown. I've attached the debug log files for both scenarios. (The 'STATUS_DEVICE_NOT_CONNECTED' message was only logged after I unplugged the USB cable)

Edit: I've tested MakeMKV v1.16.5 with SDF v07e again. The same drive/disc combination worked correctly with this configuration, but I can't seem to attach the log file.

get the pioneer utility and run the power check sounds like your dive is not getting enough power.

[Braku]

Version 083 work's fine with BDR-S12UHT now. Tested with Dune 4K Disk.

Thanks Mike!

[andrewtjb]

no it wont do UHD if it does not already see UHD discs it not like the LGs were there are friendly and official pioneer drive will only do UHD if they are official.

Understood! I found too much information about it, As it is an ASUS brand recorder I thought I could, but the recorder is really a pioneer... thanks for the info!

While the answer to your question is still no, generally this is an open question.
RS8800 is a first hardware supporting UHD media.

Are there any drives built on 8800+ hardware that do not read UHD? Yes, at least we know one model - Asus BW16D1H-E115 that uses 8F00 hardware, although no Pioneer drive on 8F0x hardware is an UHD drive.

Can we cross-flash the drives on the same hardware platform - technically absolutely yes, but we don't have a production-ready tool for that yet.

So, if we find a Pioneer drive that can technically read UHD, but this functionality is disabled in firmware, would it read UHD if cross flashed (line NS40->NS60 for LG)? We don't know yet.

Generally, I'm very curious if anyone knows about Pioneer drives that can read BD-XL but can't read UHD media. If they do exist, that would sound like a new businesses plan for Billy and Marty

p.s. Your Asus is RS8601, so - no, as far as I know.

Mine supports BD-XL but wont read UHD discs.

If you put in a UHD disc it just tries to read for awhile before it gives up and shows no disc.

[mike admin]

Mine supports BD-XL but wont read UHD discs.

Interesting... Another reason to research the cross-flash ability...

[Woodstock]

Just remember, "BDXL" does not necessarily mean "UHD capable". My 2014 BDXL drive can't see a UHD, because it doesn't read at a high enough bit density.

How old is the drive?

[andrewtjb]

Just remember, "BDXL" does not necessarily mean "UHD capable". My 2014 BDXL drive can't see a UHD, because it doesn't read at a high enough bit density.

How old is the drive?

I bought the drive a few years ago but not sure when these drives were first available.

[Coopervid]

Please post a picture of your Makemkv information.

[Coopervid]

I would be willing to try if we can find one email me a link if you know of one.

Well, if you really want to try, I can provide you such a tool right now. The crossflash on BDR-207 and newer drives was not yet tested (well, technically, it was, but only with a BDR-207 -> BDR-PR1M crossflash, which was a failure - the drive stuck in boot mode with new kernel). I'm now looking for a brave person with a BDR-208 or a newer drive who could test the crossflash for me.

I only have a dual layer 209 - so I can't be "brave" anyway. Mike is really good at such things. So I suggest to wait for his cross-flashing recommendations or patched firmwares.

[JJimbo]

Howdy. Thank you.

Debug log started at Tue Feb 15 06:45:07 2022 , written by MakeMKV v1.16.5 darwin(x64-release)
001005:0000 MakeMKV v1.16.5 darwin(x64-release) started
001004:0000 Debug logging enabled, log will be saved as file:///Users/xxx/MakeMKV_log.txt
Using 262272KB for read cache.
Network access is ENABLED, CURL version 7.64.1/(SecureTransport) LibreSSL/2.8.3 (x86_64-apple-darwin19.0) , proxy server not set.
002010:0000 Optical drive "BD-RE PIONEER BD-RW BDR-XD05 3.01 QADL056995UCd" opened in OS access mode.
No SDF v083: PIONEER_BD-RW___BDR-XD05_3.01_QADL056995UC
SDF id v083: PIONEER_BD-RW___BDR-XD05_3.01_QADL056995UC
Application exited at Tue Feb 15 06:47:40 2022

[pepino]

Hi. Is this the info needed? Thanks!

Debug log started at Tue Feb 15 20:59:17 2022 , written by MakeMKV v1.16.5 darwin(arm64-release)
001005:0000 MakeMKV v1.16.5 darwin(arm64-release) started
001004:0000 Debug logging enabled, log will be saved as file:///Users/xxx/MakeMKV_log.txt
Using 262272KB for read cache.
Network access is ENABLED, CURL version 7.77.0/(SecureTransport) LibreSSL/2.8.3/1.42.0 (x86_64-apple-darwin21.0) , proxy server not set.
002010:0000 Optical drive "BD-RE PIONEER BD-RW BDR-XS07U 1.01 AGDL004014UCd" opened in OS access mode.
No SDF v083: PIONEER_BD-RW__BDR-XS07U_1.01_AGDL004014UC
SDF id v083: PIONEER_BD-RW__BDR-XS07U_1.01_AGDL004014UC
No SDF v083: PIONEER_BD-RW__BDR-XS07U_1.01_AGDL004014UC
DEBUG: Code 0 at ?#j]{6/J-?V`\v.l!:121264142
DEBUG: Code 0 at {'y_$kkI`==ZKj&-:213136769
No SDF v083: PIONEER_BD-RW__BDR-XS07U_1.01_AGDL004014UC
SDF id v083: PIONEER_BD-RW__BDR-XS07U_1.01_AGDL004014UC

[SamuriHL]

Mike, a stupid question if I may.

LibreDrive, once enabled uploads firmware to a drive's memory. This firmware disables bus encryption, but as we know the drive doesn't advertise that fact (god how I wish it did. LOL). With the LG drives, if someone tries to authenticate with the drive through the usual AACS mechanism the LG drive couldn't care less and still sends data that's not bus encrypted. Yey

Now for my stupid question. Is that true of the Pio implementation? IOW, if I enable LibreDrive and then someone does a valid AACS authentication (e.g. for a blu-ray), and the disc is requesting bus encryption, will the drive honor that request even with the LibreDrive firmware active? Asking for a friend.

[kconan]

Hello!

this is just love letter to the developers here. In my case I've been using for years the other popular ripping solution with UHD friendly drives but my main goal was always an efficient and silent real time playback in my HTPC using the combination of MPC-BE+MadVR to handle properly HDR for my projector. This weird solution is becoming quite popular with high end projectors due to the difficult task to play the best way possible HDR with low nit devices.

But most people just use computers and download the movies. In my case I keep buying discs because I just love movies and I feel good doing that.

So, until now the unofficial UHD disc playback on PC was ok but a little bit painful with my previous LG and ASUS drives, with heavy noises to detect discs and problems sometimes with TL ones.

But makemkv has changed completely the way I play my movies. First with background desencription, something I just think is pure black magic... And now THIS.

When I read SamuriHL saying the Pioneer BDRS12UHT drive is very silent... And being UHD official... And directly supported by makemkv without FW change... And available for 117€ in Amazon Spain... I had to try!

And BOOM, it just works. Disc detection is almost instant and playback is silent in any disc I tried. For me this is a milestone and I needed to express my happiness and my gratitude to makemkv developers. Now my PC is the ultimate UHD playback device, years light ahead of any standalone player.

THANK YOU.

[mike admin]

Now for my stupid question. Is that true of the Pio implementation? IOW, if I enable LibreDrive and then someone does a valid AACS authentication (e.g. for a blu-ray), and the disc is requesting bus encryption, will the drive honor that request even with the LibreDrive firmware active? Asking for a friend.

Right answer is - I don't know, but In all cases - no. Either it would keep BE disabled or even (another option) the whole AACS hanshake may fail. UNTIL you eject the disc, as all modifications by LibreDrive vanish once the disc is ejected.

p.s. I've got your email and do understand the issue. Thinking how to do it in a proper way, likely with a special command-line option...