Pioneer firmware update February 2023

[Billycar11]

So does it look like Pioneer won the battle?

No pioneer lost...

[wyzxvnv]

So does it look like Pioneer won the battle?

No pioneer lost...

Unforunately, everybody lost.

Because entertainment industry is full of idiots who are thinking that everybody is a pirate we have to deal with stupid restrictions in form of DRM...

Pioneer lost because they cannibalized their sales and movies are just continued to be riped anyway with other drives.
We, as movie lovers lost because we have to use junk drives from LG instead of high quality Pioneer drives.

Nobody won.

[Toscaclarinet]

It's an even sillier decision on Pioneer's part given that the "official" UHD watching method is now pretty much dead in the water, since Cyberlink PowerDVD stopped supporting watching 4k discs as of September 2023 (itself a consequence of intel no longer supporting sgx). If they can no longer be used at all for 4k discs either officially or unofficially, there's basically no point buying pioneer drives and I have a feeling that we won't see any new drive models going forward.

[rgkrgk]

I had my working S13-UBK die after 11 months and the Pioneer service was fantastic -- I had a new drive in <1 month. But it has 1.04...

Am I reading this all correctly that for 4k ripping, this is now dead and I need to get a new drive (i.e., not worth waiting)? Really unfortunate since this was an excellent drive.

[ZachBird]

Just built an AMD PC and wanted a nice UHD BluRay drive, so I bought an BDR-S13U-X. When I initially looked it up, what I read was that it should be good out of the box. Unfortunately mine came with FW rev 1.04. All that to say I'm cheering for you Mike! You're doing the lords work helping people enjoy their media in spite of the DRM dumpster fire. Thank you for the effort you put in to this. I hope you are successful in making the S13U-X viable again!

[jd1337]

edit - Getting

Error Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached.

So uploading elsewhere and will link below
https://file.io/lzXNvsZ4Xaoh


Just Adding the Dump from my Pioneer BD-RW BDR-XS07U that came with v1.03 firmware

And the firmwares I've found that I think contain the older firmware but throw an error when trying to update to them.

Everyone probably already has all these, but I'm taking the same approach as the UHD dumps when they dont work yet and adding it in case no1 else does somehow.

[Maxpower]

I had my working S13-UBK die after 11 months and the Pioneer service was fantastic -- I had a new drive in <1 month. But it has 1.04...

Am I reading this all correctly that for 4k ripping, this is now dead and I need to get a new drive (i.e., not worth waiting)? Really unfortunate since this was an excellent drive.

Mmmmh . . . (in hindsight) I wonder if swapping the printed circuit board (electronics) from the dead drive into a new drive might have given you back a functional unit?
Good chance the fault would be electro/mechanical rather than electronic. Posting this in case others have this experience.

[Lehmeier]

Hello!
I bought a Pioneer BDR-S13U and would like to flash it so I can back up my UHD's.
But as I learnt, this is unfortunately not possible at the moment.
But I think it is good that you are taking care of this problem. I therefore wish you every success and that you manage to make it possible to back up the Bluray's / UHD's again as quickly as possible.

If you need the data, my Pioneer is a :

Drive information
OS device name: /dev/sr0
Current profile: BD-ROM
Producer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDR-S13U
Revision: 1.04
Serial number: [redacted]
Firmware date: 2022-12-12
Bus encryption markings: 1B
Highest AACS version: 77

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: Pioneer RS9201
Firmware version: ID43

Disc information
Label: BLACK_ADAM
Timestamp: 2022-11-11 11:00:40
Protection: AACS2.0/C v77
Data capacity: 60.32 Gb
Disc type: BD-ROM UHD
Number of layers: 2
Bus encryption markings: 80


Thank you in advance.

Yours sincerely, R.Lehmeier

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[Coopervid]

No chance currently to flash this drive. Return it if you can.

[CSManiac33]

Okay so I noticed that my drive now has a 1.05 firmware update dated Sep 20, 2023 (BDR-S13U-X). I assume this did not fix the the LibreDrive issue? Also I currently have a drive with 1.02 firmware, I found the installer with for 1.03 firmware. I know 1.04 firmware does not work with LibreDrive but am wondering if I could update to 1.03 and still use it. Figured I would ask before actually doing it.

[MrPenguin]

Okay so I noticed that my drive now has a 1.05 firmware update dated Sep 20, 2023 (BDR-S13U-X). I assume this did not fix the the LibreDrive issue? Also I currently have a drive with 1.02 firmware, I found the installer with for 1.03 firmware. I know 1.04 firmware does not work with LibreDrive but am wondering if I could update to 1.03 and still use it. Figured I would ask before actually doing it.

The first rule of a Pioneer drive is "Do Not Update its Firmware".
The second rule of a Pioneer drive is also "Do Not Update its Firmware".
The third rule of a Pioneer drive is "Check whether its firmware date is December 2022 or later", because these drives do not work with LibreDrive and probably never will. They also cannot be downgraded to use earlier firmware.

Assume that higher firmware versions correspond to later firmware dates.

[Coopervid]

Okay so I noticed that my drive now has a 1.05 firmware update dated Sep 20, 2023 (BDR-S13U-X). I assume this did not fix the the LibreDrive issue? Also I currently have a drive with 1.02 firmware, I found the installer with for 1.03 firmware. I know 1.04 firmware does not work with LibreDrive but am wondering if I could update to 1.03 and still use it. Figured I would ask before actually doing it.

Do not f...ing update any Pioneer firmware. All bogus reasons in those descriptions that render your drive unusuable for UHD discs.

[CSManiac33]

Okay so I noticed that my drive now has a 1.05 firmware update dated Sep 20, 2023 (BDR-S13U-X). I assume this did not fix the the LibreDrive issue? Also I currently have a drive with 1.02 firmware, I found the installer with for 1.03 firmware. I know 1.04 firmware does not work with LibreDrive but am wondering if I could update to 1.03 and still use it. Figured I would ask before actually doing it.

The first rule of a Pioneer drive is "Do Not Update its Firmware".
The second rule of a Pioneer drive is also "Do Not Update its Firmware".
The third rule of a Pioneer drive is "Check whether its firmware date is December 2022 or later", because these drives do not work with LibreDrive and probably never will. They also cannot be downgraded to use earlier firmware.

Assume that higher firmware versions correspond to later firmware dates.

The 1.03 firmware was updated on November 22, 2022 on the website (using wayback machine which is why I asked) but yeah better play it safe since 1.04 is the December 2022 firmware (but on the website it was updated on Jan 30, 2023) . Guess another question. Would downloading the Drive Utility tool force a firmware update or not?

[qops1981]

I posted in another Pioneer thread here, but then found this one. I am new to all this, but with my revision at 1.00, does that mean I can still flash mine? I also see Version ID23 at the bottom, so is that the 2023 one?

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: D:
Current profile: DVD-ROM
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDRUD03AS
Revision: 1.00
Serial number: *************
Firmware date: 2014-04-01
Bus encryption flags: 1B
Highest AACS version: 50

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: Pioneer RS8510
Firmware version: ID23

[Billycar11]

I posted in another Pioneer thread here, but then found this one. I am new to all this, but with my revision at 1.00, does that mean I can still flash mine? I also see Version ID23 at the bottom, so is that the 2023 one?

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: D:
Current profile: DVD-ROM
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDRUD03AS
Revision: 1.00
Serial number: *************
Firmware date: 2014-04-01
Bus encryption flags: 1B
Highest AACS version: 50

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: Pioneer RS8510
Firmware version: ID23

No it's from 2014
Email me for a flasher for it see below