Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2026

[d00zah]

Yes I did. The data on that page is from 2019 & updated last year. I hate to assume anything, that leaves a lot of room for error. My hope was someone who knows a straightforward excellent choice of USB drives would kindly suggest that one & I'd get it. Seeing as your name was one of the people mentioned on that page I "assume" your question as to my reading page 1 indicates any are good choices. I have to take from that page Pioneer is one to avoid as it cannot be downgraded/flashed for UHD. Assuming the ones above the Pioneer listings are worthy drives I just ordered a LG BP50NB40 as it has the least % of negative reviews.

Hopefully it will work with Win 11 and the software to flash it is clear to find.

Thank you for your reply.

The dates are 'creation dates'. The content is current & regularly maintained by @Billycar11.

That said, the current wisdom is that one wants a Pioneer drive, however this comes with caveats (the forums are littered w/ discussions). The most notable us probably:

Pioneer firmware update February 2023

In a nutshell, Pioneer released a FW that disables LibreDrive & prevents (most) publicly available methods of flashing. Someday, Mike (MakeMKV author) MAY succeed in overcoming this, but for now, the only 'sure thing' option is to buy a pre-tested drive from one of the regional sellers, or cull existing topics for an available drive that can be modified by non-public means. Read a little. You'll catch on.

Or go w/ one of the non-Pioneer drives listed in the 1st post. Cheaper, but less reliable.

Edit: There are instructions for the drive you chose, & the SDFtool Flasher works nicely on Win 11. See the 'to flash the BP50NB40 SVC:NB52' section of the tool page.

[arde4]

Hey,

All this guy was told here was that he "killed it" by whatever he did (what was that?), but what he pointed out is really true: BH14NS40 status in the FAQ and forums is very contradictory. I care because I have that same drive (only mine is v1.02) and I still can't figure out if my drive can be upgraded to a supported firmware or not. Can somebody PLEASE clarify if this drive can or cannot be upgraded to an existing firmware? The FAQ says it is unsupported type 2, i.e., it was said in 2020 it would be added sometime later but it is now 2024 and, well, I can't tell if it is supported, unsupported but currently upgradeable, or unsupported and forgotten. If upgradeable, please say which specific firmware version should be applied. Thanks.

Soooo.
Running a BH14NS40 drive with version 1.00 firmware.
Following "Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2023"
Recommended Firmware to flash for MakeMKV:
WH14NS40 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK
(This filename doesnt actually exist in any of the firmware packages I have seen. The closest is HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin.)
(I read that the BH and WH are interchangeable.)
Prior to the firmware burn I was able to rip a bluray disk non ultraHD. (Deadpool has two versions in the box.)
I burned the firmware. MakeMKV shows the following but now the drive will not read anything.

Drive Information
OS device name: D:
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE WH16NS60
Revision: 1.02
Serial number: SIK9QC36M511
Firmware date: 2118-10-29 19:36
Bus encryption flags: 17
Highest AACS version: 46

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled)
Firmware version: 1.02
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

The file name BH14NS40_N1.00-A4_patched.exe worked with my drive and has the exact correct model number... which I havent seen in any other file.
Running this file now gives me a checksum error.

Running makemkvcon64.exe f --all-yes -d D: rawflash -i C:\Games\HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin does work and says it completes but it is in the same situation.

Anyone have any ideas about how to get this thing working again?
I only own 1 bluray but have a friend who has been making copies of his disks for quite some time. I do have a rare version of the original dune that I want to make a backup of but its just a plain old DVD and I have probably 10 other drives I could do that with.

It almost seems like I may have to do some dos action.
There seems to be a significant gap in information about some of this stuff.
For example NS40 drives. Flashed NS50 on NS40 drive when the instructions say to "WH14NS40 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK".
Which seems to be an NS40 drive to NS60? Either contradictory or not enough information.

Is there a comprehensive post that provides the missing pieces? Specifically for the BH14NS40 drive. Every reference I have found has either not been helpful or says to burn the version I have already burned.


"only use the recovery steps for older NS40 drives!!:
Ok here's a summary of what you need to do

Try the recovery option in sdf tool if that fails do this:

Downgrade your drive to WH16NS60 1.00 with sdftool or makemkv command line
Full shutdown pull power plug or flip switch push power button for 10 seconds
Then reflash WH16NS60 1.00 again with the unlocked lg or Asus flasher
Full shutdown pull power plug or flip switch push power button for 10 seconds
Then boot in to your dosflash bootable and dump the firmware https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgybNfHhcg - Obsolete but can be useful for recovery
Use the transfer tool to your correct firmware and flash it.

NS40 Recovery Image:
Flashed an NS50 firmware to an NS40 drive and can no longer read disks this IMG has all the NS40 FW you need to recover your drive just follow my dos flash video guide linked above"

Thanks for listening/reading,
B0b

[linuxguy2024]

I was able to flash my drive without any issues using the Vantec CB-ST00U3 on Linux

Operating System: EndeavourOS
KDE Plasma Version: 6.1.1
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.3.0
Qt Version: 6.7.2
Kernel Version: 6.9.6-arch1-1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Manufacturer: ASUS

using the command

Code: Select all

sudo makemkvcon f -d /dev/sr0 -f sdf.bin rawflash main,enc -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

It seems others might have succeeded as well using Mac at one point, so it might just be Windows were this adapter won't work for flashing.

[naruto]

Dear everyone,

do you have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I have the LG BU40N drive with Windows 10 and DVDFab 13 (13.0.1.9) and MakeMKV 1.17.7
My problem is now that I cannot rip the 4k UHD Blu-Rays "Avengers - Infinity War" and "Avengers - Endgame" with voices of the actors.
This means I can rip both discs to the hard drive and everything is fine except that the voices of the actors cannot be heard. The soundtrack, music, etc. can be heard perfectly but you cannot hear enything when the actors speak…

This happens with DVDFab and MakeMKV.

I flashed now the LG BU40N with SDFtool Flasher (v1.3.5) from 1.0 to 1.03 (The all you need firmware pack.zip) but still the same issue.

Any idea how to solve this?

Best regards

I don't think either of those movies has an isolated score track.
https://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=47660

It looks like 4K has a Dolby Atmos 7.1 audio track and the blu-ray has a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track.

Probably, your playback setup is not correctly handling the center channel audio, which probably contains most if not all the dialog. I'd look there for the source of your difficulties.

Hello,

I checked now the Blu-Rays again with MakeMKV and there are 2 audio tracks.
"DDplus Surround 7.1 German" and "DD Surround 5.1 German"
Per default they are both selected so I tried to select only one but with the same outcome.
Regardless of whether I select 7.1 or 5.1, the actors' voices are again almost non-existent.

With DVDFab generally only 1 audio track "German E-AC-3/4.1" is displayed and selectable...

What else might that be?

[Billycar11]

Hey,

All this guy was told here was that he "killed it" by whatever he did (what was that?), but what he pointed out is really true: BH14NS40 status in the FAQ and forums is very contradictory. I care because I have that same drive (only mine is v1.02) and I still can't figure out if my drive can be upgraded to a supported firmware or not. Can somebody PLEASE clarify if this drive can or cannot be upgraded to an existing firmware? The FAQ says it is unsupported type 2, i.e., it was said in 2020 it would be added sometime later but it is now 2024 and, well, I can't tell if it is supported, unsupported but currently upgradeable, or unsupported and forgotten. If upgradeable, please say which specific firmware version should be applied. Thanks.

he flash and old mt1939 drive with mt1959 fw so its dead unless he has a pc with ide mode to use dosflash on it.
he kept telling me he did but he did not i stopped offering remote recovery for this reason i have had maybe 1 in 50 work out and half the time they dont even pay for recovery so no more for me if you cant do it with the instructions here your out of luck.
no more remote recovery's

remote flashing is still offered if he would have used that the drive would not be dead as i check the info before flashing.

[mas1701]

I was able to flash my drive without any issues using the Vantec CB-ST00U3 on Linux

Operating System: EndeavourOS
KDE Plasma Version: 6.1.1
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.3.0
Qt Version: 6.7.2
Kernel Version: 6.9.6-arch1-1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Manufacturer: ASUS

using the command

Code: Select all

sudo makemkvcon f -d /dev/sr0 -f sdf.bin rawflash main,enc -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

It seems others might have succeeded as well using Mac at one point, so it might just be Windows were this adapter won't work for flashing.

Thanks for this hint. Was able to adapt for my own use.

For me:

Linux MINT 21.3 Virginia - Cinnamon Edition

brand-new ASUS BW-16D1HT Drive w/ v3.11 *encrypted* firmware

Downgrade successful with:

Code: Select all

makemkvcon f -d /dev/srX rawflash main,enc -i DE_ASUS_BW-16D1HT_3.10_MK.bin

(as root)

MakeMKV confirms v3.10 and shows:

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled)

Before flashing, I confirmed the correct drive with "lsblk -S". Recommend this before something bad happens.

[ChicagoKeri]

Very many thanks for this guide.

It made flashing an LG WH14NS40 a snap. Now it thinks it's a WH16NS60, as expected.

Interestingly, the drive was easily found and flashed while inside an ancient iOmega DVD burner external housing from 2008, one of the earlier SATA-based external drive enclosures.

Not so fun was the drive refused to burn BD disks. It would start the process and the drive would disconnect before starting the burn or ruining the disc.
Replacing the ancient "Ktec" 12v 2.0A power supply cured this issue. A beefier 12V 4A power supply caused the drive to behave normally and burned a 50GB BD quickly and without apparent errors.

While figuring this out, I went ahead and bought a very nice Pioneer BDR-XD80UMB to burn some .iso files I wanted to do. This drive works just beautifully but of course cannot be used for ripping UHD.... yet.
Hopefully, someday we will be able to downgrade the Firmware to 1.01. I did manage to download the 1.01 file but just as advertised, it refuses to downgrade from 1.02. Perhaps a sidegrade to Japanese firmware might work? Unfortunately, the Japanese Firmware requires registering to download and my Japanese language skill is near zero.

Again, Thanks from Chicago,
Keri

[naruto]

Dear everyone,

do you have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I have the LG BU40N drive with Windows 10 and DVDFab 13 (13.0.1.9) and MakeMKV 1.17.7
My problem is now that I cannot rip the 4k UHD Blu-Rays "Avengers - Infinity War" and "Avengers - Endgame" with voices of the actors.
This means I can rip both discs to the hard drive and everything is fine except that the voices of the actors cannot be heard. The soundtrack, music, etc. can be heard perfectly but you cannot hear enything when the actors speak…

This happens with DVDFab and MakeMKV.

I flashed now the LG BU40N with SDFtool Flasher (v1.3.5) from 1.0 to 1.03 (The all you need firmware pack.zip) but still the same issue.

Any idea how to solve this?

Best regards

I don't think either of those movies has an isolated score track.
https://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=47660

It looks like 4K has a Dolby Atmos 7.1 audio track and the blu-ray has a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track.

Probably, your playback setup is not correctly handling the center channel audio, which probably contains most if not all the dialog. I'd look there for the source of your difficulties.

Hello,

I checked now the Blu-Rays again with MakeMKV and there are 2 audio tracks.
"DDplus Surround 7.1 German" and "DD Surround 5.1 German"
Per default they are both selected so I tried to select only one but with the same outcome.
Regardless of whether I select 7.1 or 5.1, the actors' voices are again almost non-existent.

With DVDFab generally only 1 audio track "German E-AC-3/4.1" is displayed and selectable...

What else might that be?

Issue solved: the Speaker configuration in VLC was not correct.

Go to Preferences - All - Audio - Output modules - DirectX
If the Speaker configuration is still set to Windows Standard or Stereo, the problem with missing dialogue will occur with 4k UHD Blu-Rays.

Change Speaker configuration to 5.1 or 7.1 and everything will be okay.

So it was not a general problem with DVDFab or MakeMKV, but a "wrong" setting in VLC that caused the problem.
*facepalm*


@dcoke22 Thank you very much for the hint with the different audio tracks, in the end that led me on the right track.

[dcoke22]

Dear everyone,

do you have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

I have the LG BU40N drive with Windows 10 and DVDFab 13 (13.0.1.9) and MakeMKV 1.17.7
My problem is now that I cannot rip the 4k UHD Blu-Rays "Avengers - Infinity War" and "Avengers - Endgame" with voices of the actors.
This means I can rip both discs to the hard drive and everything is fine except that the voices of the actors cannot be heard. The soundtrack, music, etc. can be heard perfectly but you cannot hear enything when the actors speak…

This happens with DVDFab and MakeMKV.

I flashed now the LG BU40N with SDFtool Flasher (v1.3.5) from 1.0 to 1.03 (The all you need firmware pack.zip) but still the same issue.

Any idea how to solve this?

Best regards

I don't think either of those movies has an isolated score track.
https://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=47660

It looks like 4K has a Dolby Atmos 7.1 audio track and the blu-ray has a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track.

Probably, your playback setup is not correctly handling the center channel audio, which probably contains most if not all the dialog. I'd look there for the source of your difficulties.

Hello,

I checked now the Blu-Rays again with MakeMKV and there are 2 audio tracks.
"DDplus Surround 7.1 German" and "DD Surround 5.1 German"
Per default they are both selected so I tried to select only one but with the same outcome.
Regardless of whether I select 7.1 or 5.1, the actors' voices are again almost non-existent.

With DVDFab generally only 1 audio track "German E-AC-3/4.1" is displayed and selectable...

What else might that be?

You appear to have the German version of Avengers: Infinity War. DVDCompare.net says both the 4K and regular blu-ray have Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 for the German language audio track. It is probable that the "DDplus Surround 7.1 German" audio also contains a regular Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack as well; the legacy audio core.

E-AC-3 is another name for Dolby Digital Plus (DDplus). I have no idea why DVDFab would say the audio is only 4.1 instead of the expected 7.1.

I expect that MakeMKV is correctly ripping the movie and your chosen audio track(s). I also speculate that whatever software and/or hardware you're using to play the resulting rips isn't properly decoding the audio.

[rottedmood]

drive quality rank here you go best to worst

Pioneer BDR S13UX
Pioneer BDR S13UBK
Pioneer BDR 213 212/S12
Pioneer BDR XS07, XD07, XD08
Pioneer BDR UD04, UD03, XD05

LG BU40N BP50NB40 BP60NB10 ect..
LG/ASUS WH14xx-WH16xx Asus BW16D1HT BH14xx-BH16xx ect... all the same junk if your getting one of these they are all the same get the cheapest available and hope you get a good one.

Since your SOL on pioneer, what’s the best of the “junk” to buy? I’ve got a XS07 and was literally *one* month too late on the firmware so I’m now SOL on ripping UHD. So was just gonna buy another drive to use only for UHD. I need external and usb-c would be nice but not needed. I’d thought about BP60NB10 but wasn’t sure.

[Billycar11]

drive quality rank here you go best to worst

Pioneer BDR S13UX
Pioneer BDR S13UBK
Pioneer BDR 213 212/S12
Pioneer BDR XS07, XD07, XD08
Pioneer BDR UD04, UD03, XD05

LG BU40N BP50NB40 BP60NB10 ect..
LG/ASUS WH14xx-WH16xx Asus BW16D1HT BH14xx-BH16xx ect... all the same junk if your getting one of these they are all the same get the cheapest available and hope you get a good one.

Since your SOL on pioneer, what’s the best of the “junk” to buy? I’ve got a XS07 and was literally *one* month too late on the firmware so I’m now SOL on ripping UHD. So was just gonna buy another drive to use only for UHD. I need external and usb-c would be nice but not needed. I’d thought about BP60NB10 but wasn’t sure.

If your determined not to buy a pioneer with old fw from me or a seller in your region

The bu40n/ bp60/bp50 would be best

Remember it's easy to turn an the internal drives I sell external and USB c easy.

See details below

[BaiDuYunPan]

Hello, I'm a rookie, what should I do with this question

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: \Device\CdRom0
Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: ASUS
Product: BW-16D1HT
Revision: 3.10
Serial number: [redacted]
Firmware date: 2119-01-04 10:14
Bus encryption flags: 1F
Highest AACS version: 77

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: MT1959
Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled)
Firmware version: 3.10
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

Disc Information
Label: The wandering earth
Timestamp: 2024-04-24 09:47:24
Protection: AACS2.0/C v77
Data capacity: 87.43 Gb
Disc type: BD-ROM UHD
Number of layers: 3
Bus encryption flags: 80



MakeMKV v1.17.7 win(x64-release) started
Using LibreDrive mode (v06.3 id=0FA242DD4D0B)
Backing up disc into folder "D:/Video/backup/The wandering earth"
Downloading latest HK to C:\Users\BDRAW/.MakeMKV ...
Automatic HK downloading is disabled or failed.
Saved AACS dump file as C:\Users\BDRAW/.MakeMKV/MKB20_v77_The_wandering_earth_E3F2.tgz
The volume key is unknown for this disc - video can't be decrypted
Backup failed

[d00zah]

...
MakeMKV v1.17.7 win(x64-release) started
Using LibreDrive mode (v06.3 id=0FA242DD4D0B)
Backing up disc into folder "D:/Video/backup/The wandering earth"
Downloading latest HK to C:\Users\BDRAW/.MakeMKV ...
Automatic HK downloading is disabled or failed.
Saved AACS dump file as C:\Users\BDRAW/.MakeMKV/MKB20_v77_The_wandering_earth_E3F2.tgz
The volume key is unknown for this disc - video can't be decrypted
Backup failed

UHD FAQ

Fixing Volume Key is Unknown

[gschmidl]

Just found this forum and I'm thrilled to find out my BDR-UD03 1.11 seems to be flashable. Now trying to figure out how to do that...

[Billycar11]

Just found this forum and I'm thrilled to find out my BDR-UD03 1.11 seems to be flashable. Now trying to figure out how to do that...

Email me for that see below