LG BH16NS55 and UHD discs

[QuietForest]

I've been thinking of getting the LG BH16NS55 for a while but have read several comments that it sometimes has issues with UHD triple layer discs.

I've already got an old Plextor drive that reads regular Blurays but not UHD/4k - which is what I'd want to use the LG drive for.

It's surprising that LG lists it as supporting BDXL if it has issues with triple layer discs. It looks like the BDXL format goes back to 2010 or so, but perhaps UHD isn't technically the same format.

I've read that forcing a slower read speed can sometimes get the drive to read a disc, but that this doesn't always work and can cause other issues if the drive has modified FW.

The Pioneer BDR-S12UHT seems to be getting very positive comments on being able to read all discs, but since the LG price is currently quite a bit lower (from asmcom) I'm trying to weigh up whether it'd be OK or if I should expect issues with some UHD discs.

Any info welcome.

[Coopervid]

The best value: Get the LG BH16NS55 and flash it to LG BH16NS60 1.00 MK.

[QuietForest]

The best value: Get the LG BH16NS55 and flash it to LG BH16NS60 1.00 MK.

The one I'm looking at is a BH16NS55 with WH16NS60 v1.02mk. Are there specific advantages in downgrading to v1.00mk?

My main question is whether the drive has a hardware limitation which causes problems with some UHD discs - and if so roughly what percentage.

If it very rarely has trouble with UHD discs then it might be worth going with, but if it struggles with 10% of them I'd probably have to go with the BDR-S12UHT.

[dcoke22]

In my experience, no single drive is perfect. Some discs just don't seem to work well in some drives. I have multiple drives and on the rare occasion when a disc doesn't work in my 'main' drive, I try it in another drive and it often just works. Not always of course, but often.

[SamuriHL]

Some of us hedge our bets with what I call the tanks. Lol the bu40n and a Pioneer drive like the 212ubk (or the s12uht you posted about above) work very well. They won't win any speed competitions but they get the job done. Yes multiple drives are a good idea. If I had to only pick one drive... well I wouldn't. Lol but that pioneer hasn't let me down since I got it.

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[QuietForest]

Thanks for the info.

I think I'll see how I go with the BH16NS55 and if it can't read some discs, will consider getting one of the Pioneer drives mentioned (or the BU40N) as a backup.