LG BU40N region relevance

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arcyfire · #1 Post by **arcyfire** » Sat Dec 12, 2020 11:42 am

I am pretty new here and just yesterday flashed a LG BU40N (came with 1.04) with the 1.04MK firmware - I used the SDFtool Flasher and everything worked first try. Flashed it on a windows tablet and using the drive on Mac now (which I will probably only use with MakeMKV unless it stops working).

I knew (or thought) no matter what I want to do afterwards I first need to patch 1.04 with 1.04MK and then downgrade (either 1.03MK or 1.00). So I looked through the BU40N folders and the only one containing a 1.04 was the "BU40N-N-Main". "Main" sounded right so I used this, checked the "enc" box, flashed the "HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_BU40N-1.04-NM00500-212005061142.bin" and everything worked as described. Tested the drive on the Mac and noticed it was LibreDrive enabled so no need for 1.03MK downgrade.

However afterwards I read somewhere that there are region differences for the BU40N and now I am a little worried. I am from Europe (Germany) and bought the drive from Amazon (no market place). If there are region differences I should have the U version? This was in no way evident before or on the drive sticker (which also said 1.04 btw). N however is said to be USA. So did I crossflash the drive and now have a US drive? What confuses me even more is the fact that the other (europe?) folde is called "BU40N-U-Tier2-Non-UHD".

So was this the intended way or did I do something strange? If I crossflashed or changed the region, will there be some consequences for this I may not notice now? Maybe some region issued which might affect the output MKV?
And if this was indeed wrong, is there a different 1.04 mk or other working firmware for the European version?

Billycar11 · #2 Post by **Billycar11** » Sat Dec 12, 2020 3:36 pm

No don't worry region does not matter

arcyfire · #3 Post by **arcyfire** » Sun Dec 13, 2020 12:20 pm

Do you mean in general as "the region of the drive does not matter for ripping" or "the region of the BU40N does not matter, they are all the same"?

Because I am still confused why the EU version is listed as "non UHD" in the firmware folder, it was listed as UHD.

Billycar11 · #4 Post by **Billycar11** » Sun Dec 13, 2020 9:03 pm

arcyfire wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 13, 2020 12:20 pm
Do you mean in general as "the region of the drive does not matter for ripping" or "the region of the BU40N does not matter, they are all the same"?

Because I am still confused why the EU version is listed as "non UHD" in the firmware folder, it was listed as UHD.

The region of firmware you flash does not matter
And makemkv makes the drive region free

bachelorbob · #5 Post by **bachelorbob** » Wed Aug 16, 2023 9:32 pm

Billycar11 wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 13, 2020 9:03 pm
The region of firmware you flash does not matter
And makemkv makes the drive region free

I flashed my LG BU40N long ago and posted the route to success on a Mac. Now I have my first non-Region 1 discs (DVDs; Region 2) and the drive is rejecting them.

How is it that the 'downgrade' to firmware v1.00 left it as Region 1?

Billycar11 · #6 Post by **Billycar11** » Wed Aug 16, 2023 9:44 pm

bachelorbob wrote: ↑
Wed Aug 16, 2023 9:32 pm

Billycar11 wrote: ↑
Sun Dec 13, 2020 9:03 pm
The region of firmware you flash does not matter
And makemkv makes the drive region free
I flashed my LG BU40N long ago and posted the route to success on a Mac. Now I have my first non-Region 1 discs (DVDs; Region 2) and the drive is rejecting them.

How is it that the 'downgrade' to firmware v1.00 left it as Region 1?

how is it rejecting them?
makemkv should get around it what are the errors?

bachelorbob · #7 Post by **bachelorbob** » Thu Aug 17, 2023 4:14 am

Billycar11 wrote: ↑
Wed Aug 16, 2023 9:44 pm
makemkv should get around it what are the errors?

I do not use makemkv, other than for the initial firmware flash. I use DVDFab (BD/UHD) and MDRP (DVD) for full disk copying to ISOs on a Mac.

Both applications and Apple's DVD Player reject the Region 2 DVDs, as the drive reports as Region 1. A prior (non-UHD) drive worked as Region 0 / region-free, so it is possible. So the issue is either the LG BU40N or makemkv not successfully flashing to Region 0.

Billycar11 · #8 Post by **Billycar11** » Thu Aug 17, 2023 4:36 am

bachelorbob wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 17, 2023 4:14 am

Billycar11 wrote: ↑
Wed Aug 16, 2023 9:44 pm
makemkv should get around it what are the errors?
I do not use makemkv, other than for the initial firmware flash. I use DVDFab (BD/UHD) and MDRP (DVD) for full disk copying to ISOs on a Mac.

Both applications and Apple's DVD Player reject the Region 2 DVDs, as the drive reports as Region 1. A prior (non-UHD) drive worked as Region 0 / region-free, so it is possible. So the issue is either the LG BU40N or makemkv not successfully flashing to Region 0.

ask dvdfab i guess u bet it would work on makemkv

bachelorbob · #9 Post by **bachelorbob** » Thu Aug 17, 2023 11:59 am

Billycar11 wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 17, 2023 4:36 am
ask dvdfab i guess u bet it would work on makemkv

Hard to interpret that sentence.

DVDFab is not the issue, as multiple applications see the drive as Region 1. Apple's DVD Player even offers to reset the region. Ergo, the issue is within the drive, the firmware flash not having properly set it to Region 0.

d00zah · #10 Post by **d00zah** » Thu Aug 17, 2023 1:54 pm

bachelorbob wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 17, 2023 11:59 am

Billycar11 wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 17, 2023 4:36 am
ask dvdfab i guess u bet it would work on makemkv
Hard to interpret that sentence.

DVDFab is not the issue, as multiple applications see the drive as Region 1. Apple's DVD Player even offers to reset the region. Ergo, the issue is within the drive, the firmware flash not having properly set it to Region 0.

IF I'm reading your issue correctly, the FW change doesn't make the drive "region free" (or region specific). That's always been a native function of MakeMKV & won't necessarily extend to other apps. FW just (re-) enables LibreDrive functionality in MakeMKV.

bachelorbob · #11 Post by **bachelorbob** » Thu Aug 17, 2023 2:52 pm

d00zah wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 17, 2023 1:54 pm
IF I'm reading your issue correctly, the FW change doesn't make the drive "region free" (or region specific). That's always been a native function of MakeMKV & won't necessarily extend to other apps. FW just (re-) enables LibreDrive functionality in MakeMKV.

A-ha! Here is the problem.

So, is there a firmware that *does* set an LG BU40N drive to Region 0? (I accomplished this on a Panasonic/Matshita drive back in the 4x DVD days, long before BD or UHD.) I also have a Matshita UJ-267 and Apple SuperDrive. If none can be flashed to Region 0, I will have to set one to Region 2 in order to access Black Mirror S1-4 DVDs.

d00zah · #12 Post by **d00zah** » Thu Aug 17, 2023 3:05 pm

Ir's been years since I saw a "region free" FW for any drive (but I haven't really looked).

- Rip titles to .mkv w/ MakeMKV, as they will now have no notion of "region".

- Use MakeMKV to rip to folder (BD, decrypt)/ISO (DVD). The result should then be "region free" to do w/ as you will.

- Use VLC w/ the MakeMKV "integration" feature (IIRC, requires a paid license?) for playback.

edit: This old school method MAY still work to achieve the same result?

www.makemkv.com

LG BU40N region relevance

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