Pioneer BDR-UD03 UHD possibility

[TheVM]

Pm sent.

Hi Coopervid!

I stumbled on this topic and i'm wondering if you could help me flash my drive:

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: D:
Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDR-UD03
Revision: 1.14
Serial number: [redacted]
Firmware date: 2020-06-15
Bus encryption flags: 1B
Highest AACS version: 35

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: RS8511
Firmware name: PIONEER BDR-US03
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.14
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

No disc inserted

Check your PM.

Thanks! It works!

[raven9mm]

Hi Coopervid, Looking for UHD firmware for below drive, Thank you very much in advance!

Drive Information
OS device name: H:
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDRUD03AS
Revision: 1.10
Serial number:
Firmware date: 2017-04-18
Bus encryption flags: 1B
Highest AACS version: 68

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: Pioneer RS8511
Firmware version: ID23

PM is coming.

Got it done, no issues whatsoever, UHD now works! Thank you for prompt reply, and for simple and very effective instructions and files!

[Billycar11]

PM sent.

My apologies,

Apparently I missed your response, and you have deleted your PM.

emails always open and does not expire
i understand cooper is limited the amount of messages he can have we all are so thats why he wants to always stay below the limit

i get around this by using email see below

[McZion]

Hi Coopervid!
I was checking some forum topics and different instructions and came to this topic, where I see I can have my Pioneer BDR-US03 (in ASUS SBW-06D5H-U enclosure) flashed to be UHD friendly.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could send me the firmware I need to enable UHD disk reading. Here is my info:

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: F:
Manufacturer: ASUS
Product: SBW-06D5H-U
Revision: E101
Serial number: [redacted]
Firmware date: 2018-08-22
Bus encryption flags: 1B

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: RS8511
Firmware name: PIONEER BDR-US03
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: E101/ID26
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

Also, I would like to clarify - in case of problems, will it be possible to return to my drive's original firmware after flashing the UHD-friendly firmware?

Thank you in advance!

PS: I have enabled notifications, so I will for sure see your response

Check your PM.

Thank you very much! Unfortunately, I cannot answer via PM yet, but I wanted to say one more thing (if I shouldn't post this, please let me know).

It looks like after flashing, the drive pretends to be entirely a BDR-UD04 drive (even the part about the Asus enclosure disappears), and MakeMKV says that the firmware type is still "Original (unpatched)".
I tried and loaded the disk into PowerDVD, and it looks like the player was trying to read it! I have even seen a message in the form of "Initializing UltraHD disk playback for the first time...". But in the end, everything failed because not all of the requirements for 4K UHD disk playback were met on my PC.

Am I understanding everything correctly, with this kind of firmware I can legally play 4K UHD disks on a PC (when all requirements are met + licensed PowerDVD Ultra of specific version)?

[TheoDW]

PM is coming.

Finally managed to get around a Windows computer to do the update, worked flawlessly. Thanks for the help!

[MartyMcNuts]

Hi Coopervid!
I was checking some forum topics and different instructions and came to this topic, where I see I can have my Pioneer BDR-US03 (in ASUS SBW-06D5H-U enclosure) flashed to be UHD friendly.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could send me the firmware I need to enable UHD disk reading. Here is my info:

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: F:
Manufacturer: ASUS
Product: SBW-06D5H-U
Revision: E101
Serial number: [redacted]
Firmware date: 2018-08-22
Bus encryption flags: 1B

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: RS8511
Firmware name: PIONEER BDR-US03
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: E101/ID26
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

Also, I would like to clarify - in case of problems, will it be possible to return to my drive's original firmware after flashing the UHD-friendly firmware?

Thank you in advance!

PS: I have enabled notifications, so I will for sure see your response

Check your PM.

Thank you very much! Unfortunately, I cannot answer via PM yet, but I wanted to say one more thing (if I shouldn't post this, please let me know).

It looks like after flashing, the drive pretends to be entirely a BDR-UD04 drive (even the part about the Asus enclosure disappears), and MakeMKV says that the firmware type is still "Original (unpatched)".
I tried and loaded the disk into PowerDVD, and it looks like the player was trying to read it! I have even seen a message in the form of "Initializing UltraHD disk playback for the first time...". But in the end, everything failed because not all of the requirements for 4K UHD disk playback were met on my PC.

Am I understanding everything correctly, with this kind of firmware I can legally play 4K UHD disks on a PC (when all requirements are met + licensed PowerDVD Ultra of specific version)?

No, you can't use PowerDVD as the drive is not a real UHD drive. You can play UHD discs using MakeMKV as the on-the-fly decrypter and an unofficial player such as VLC among the many others. Just not PowerDVD!!

[SneakyGit]

emails always open and does not expire
i understand cooper is limited the amount of messages he can have we all are so thats why he wants to always stay below the limit

i get around this by using email see below

Thanks Billy ...

[McZion]

MartyMcNuts,

This is what MakeMKV shows me about the drive after flashing:

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: F:
Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDR-UD04
Revision: 1.14
Serial number: [redacted]
Firmware date: 2020-06-15
Bus encryption flags: 1B
Highest AACS version: 61

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: RS8A10
Firmware name: PIONEER BDR-US04
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.14
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

Basically, only the serial number is the same as it was before flashing - most of the other info has changed.

How does PowerDVD know that this is not an official UHD drive? And at which step of opening the disk PowerDVD will say to me that it is not supported?

[Coopervid]

MartyMcNuts,

This is what MakeMKV shows me about the drive after flashing:

Code: Select all

Drive Information
OS device name: F:
Current profile: BD-ROM
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDR-UD04
Revision: 1.14
Serial number: [redacted]
Firmware date: 2020-06-15
Bus encryption flags: 1B
Highest AACS version: 61

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: RS8A10
Firmware name: PIONEER BDR-US04
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: 1.14
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes

Basically, only the serial number is the same as it was before flashing - most of the other info has changed.

How does PowerDVD know that this is not an official UHD drive? And at which step of opening the disk PowerDVD will say to me that it is not supported?

PowerDVD needed the official SGX chain. Also with an original UHD drive. You can either decrypt the UHD to folder or MKV and then play this using PowerDVD. If you want to play directly from the disc you need a real-time decryptor like XReveal.

[McZion]

Coopervid, yes, I know.

I have everything needed according to Cyberlink's and Intel's FAQs, currently, I do not have the perfect PC (laptop) for playback, but the one I can test with before moving forward (if that's possible, of course). It has an Intel Core i5-10210U CPU with Intel SGX, and at some point, PowerDVD installed some plugins for SGX that are needed for playback, so no problem here. Even Cyberlink's UHD advisor says every mandatory part in my setup meets the requirements (just the SGX module gives a known error for modern hardware, which is not an error actually). I might get myself later an Intel NUC for some tasks, so I will get one with Intel SGX and HDMI 2.0.

Yes, I entered the UHD disk playback zone a bit late. But I still believe I can do it, I mean legal UHD playback on the PC. Just it is not a priority now, and if I can rip UHDs or decrypt them in a non-official way, that would be a good workaround at the time of no legal ways to play UHD disks on PC.

To be honest, the only requirement in my test that is not met - the PowerDVD 20/21/22 Ultra license key (because it cannot be officially bought from the official website anymore).

Right now, I'm just interested in why my flashed drive cannot be recognized by PowerDVD correctly. So I can understand if I need to find a UHD official drive when possible, or if I can use the one flashed recently.

PS: I am an experienced user with firmware - in the past, I have worked with BIOS firmware and programmers, and even fixed the Intel TXE region on a faulty device. That's why I am always interested in "how it works". Maybe one day I will investigate the possibility of directly accessing the drive's firmware using a programmer, but not now

[Coopervid]

You don't understand. SGX playback has beeen switched off by Cyberlink and also the newest versions of PowerDVD even don't support UHDs anymore. So stop here. Rip the disc or use an on-the-fly-decryptor like XReveal. And you have to use an older version of PowerDVD. The newest ones are crippled regarding UHDs.

[McZion]

Coopervid, so you mean that even if I find a license for PowerDVD 22 Ultra (theoretically, there are resellers, but not verified yet), install the build that was before the patch that removed UHD playback (probably PD 22 build 3418, and disable updates), I won't be able to play UHD disks?

I might not fully understand, what's wrong with Intel SGX, as it is a built-in feature in the CPU and works in Win10 (not Win11), and why older "supported" versions of PowerDVD cannot work properly.
If you have any posts on the forum that explain this or some external links (you can PM them to me, if you still have the capacity), I would appreciate it. Just I have a feeling that I am going off-topic...

I might think that Cyberlink will not connect to some of their servers, or that fetching decryption keys is disabled on the server level, not the application. That would make sense to me, why even older versions of PD won't work now.

PS: Thank you for XReveal. Looks promising. I will look into that later.

[Coopervid]

Coopervid, so you mean that even if I find a license for PowerDVD 22 Ultra (theoretically, there are resellers, but not verified yet), install the build that was before the patch that removed UHD playback (probably PD 22 build 3418, and disable updates), I won't be able to play UHD disks?

I might not fully understand, what's wrong with Intel SGX, as it is a built-in feature in the CPU and works in Win10 (not Win11), and why older "supported" versions of PowerDVD cannot work properly.
If you have any posts on the forum that explain this or some external links (you can PM them to me, if you still have the capacity), I would appreciate it. Just I have a feeling that I am going off-topic...

I might think that Cyberlink will not connect to some of their servers, or that fetching decryption keys is disabled on the server level, not the application. That would make sense to me, why even older versions of PD won't work now.

PS: Thank you for XReveal. Looks promising. I will look into that later.

SGX support has been turned off at the server side. No legal way anymore to play UHDs on a computer. This was extensivly discussed in the Redfox forum but that forum is down and so no external links.

If on-the-fly decryption is enabled, older PowerDVD versions will work. Newer ones don't even play decrypted UHDs anymore.

[McZion]

Coopervid, that's sad

So this means that people who met all the requirements and successfully played UHDs in PowerDVD up until Nov 2023, now cannot do that anymore?

OK, thank you very much for explaining! All hope now for those people and their apps, which decrypt new UHDs and let others play those disks as if it was officially supported
And again, thank you for helping me with my drive. Now I have a potential way of playing my UHDs, just need to take a look at XReveal

[Coopervid]

Coopervid, that's sad

So this means that people who met all the requirements and successfully played UHDs in PowerDVD up until Nov 2023, now cannot do that anymore?

OK, thank you very much for explaining! All hope now for those people and their apps, which decrypt new UHDs and let others play those disks as if it was officially supported
And again, thank you for helping me with my drive. Now I have a potential way of playing my UHDs, just need to take a look at XReveal

Yes, now you are up-to-speed with all restrictions even owners of a bought UHD disc are facing.