Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2024

[Tristanna]

any of the pioneers i sell are great but i recommend the UBK overall the UX has minimal improvement for a lot more

You recommend all Pioneer models and in the photos it says “Firmware v.1.03 supports for MakeMKV, AnyDVD & Leawo UHD Ripper” but nowhere does it say “DVDFab”. Does this mean that Pioneer models aren't really compatible with “DVDFab”?

they work with dvdfab for dvd and bluray but not UHD
but they are the way better drives and dvdfab is the worse program so the easy trade off to make is use makemkv or xreveal and get a pioneer drive.

Thanks Billycar11 for the answer and I didn't know that DVDFab was the worst program!
I didn't know about Xreveal and I'm going to test it, thanks for the info

[leonderooij]

Hi all, I received a bd drive yesterday, purchased a license and wanted to get started to rip my collection, but the flashing was a bit more complicated than anticipated I wrote down every step of what I did, but TL;DR - it didn't work out so great thus far, here goes:

This is an OWC Merucry PRO with a frontplate that does not show LG, onl "super multi" on the left and the "Blu-ray Disc" with logo on the right of the tray.

Following the procedures as found here: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19634

Read that the HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH16NS40 is the same as the WH16NS40: https://www.reddit.com/r/makemkv/commen ... _bh16ns40/

The BH16NS40 is the same exact drive as the WH16NS40, same exact drive put on it whatever you'd put on a WH, which is pretty much anything (ASUS BW16, LG NS60). The BH model comes in a box, with a cable. The WH is a bare drive that comes in a plastic baggie, and sometimes not even in that

I hope this is correct.

---

I'm on Arch Linux

dmesg -T output when drive is connected:

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[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: new SuperSpeed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=1e91, idProduct=de2c, bcdDevice= 1.00
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: Product: Mercury Pro Optical
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Other World Computing
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 2305248805F6
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] usb-storage 2-2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:19 2024] scsi host0: usb-storage 2-2:1.0
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:20 2024] scsi 0:0:0:0: CD-ROM            HL-DT-ST BD-RE  BH16NS40  1.05 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:20 2024] sr 0:0:0:0: Power-on or device reset occurred
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:20 2024] sr 0:0:0:0: [sr0] scsi3-mmc drive: 48x/48x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
[Wed Oct  9 06:11:20 2024] sr 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0

Show drive identifier with makemkvcon told me that no drive was found:

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makemkvcon f -l

Found 0 drives(s)

But this was fixed by loading the `sg` kernel module:

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modprobe sg

Seeing following in my dmesg after this:

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[Wed Oct  9 06:18:52 2024] sr 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 5

Again trying to show drive identifier using makemkvcon:

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makemkvcon f -l

Found 1 drives(s)
00: dev_21:0, /dev/sr0, /dev/sr0
  HL-DT-ST_BD-RE__BH16NS40_1.05_212005061331_KLKO53G0843

Got that info from here: https://discourse.nixos.org/t/makemkv-c ... rive/23714
Who got it from here: viewtopic.php?t=16939&start=90#p81635

Make sure next boot the sg kernel mod gets loaded:

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echo sg | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/sg.conf

When now starting the `makemkv` application, I now see the following in the info section:

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Drive Information
OS device name: /dev/sr0
Manufacturer: HL-DT-ST
Product: BD-RE BH16NS40
Revision: 1.05
Serial number: KLKO53G0843
Firmware date: 2120-05-06 13:31
Bus encryption flags: 17

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible (with patched firmware)
Drive platform: MT1959
Harware support: Yes
Firmware support: No
Firmware type: Original (patched version available)
Firmware version: 1.05
DVD all regions: Possible (with patched firmware)
BD raw data read: Possible (with patched firmware)
BD raw metadata read: Possible (with patched firmware)
Unrestricted read speed: Possible (with patched firmware)

This gives me hope

--

Ok reading further down the main thread and seeing mentions like this:

Hello. I have na LG WH16NS40, brand new with ... etc

With an answer to that like:

First thing is to make sure that the drive is SVC: NS50 (check drive label)

So this makes me unsure, is NS40 the same as NS50 ? I thought not, seeing lots of posts with ppl saying they are interchangeable and other that it is not.

So opened the enclosure and seeing the following on the label:

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Blu-ray Disc Rewriter
MODEL: BH16NS40
ROM VER: 1.05
Manufactured: MAY 2024
S/N 405HAGF197063
SVC CODE: NS51

Ahhhh so by NS50 or NS51 that is not the same as the last bits of the model.

Still not sure which to flash

Also the versioning confuses me.. so BH16NS40 is not necessarily an older model than the BH16NS60 ? (since my BH16NS40 is produce a couple of months ago...)

Closed the enclosure again.

--

Ok, i have read the first 10 pages of the thread and then the last 20 pages or so.. didn't read all 164 of them, so much!

On the first post i read:

Recommended Firmware to flash for MakeMKV:
WH16NS60 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK

WH14NS40 on any Firmware directly to > WH16NS60 1.02MK
...

So i should be able to directly flash to the WH16NS60 firmware. (assuming that the BH vs WH prefix does not matter)

I downloaded the sdf.bin file.

And downloaded the all-you-need-firmware pack:

New! The all you need firmware pack: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HRnbXi ... sp=sharing

Downloaded the zip and put the file for LG 5.25 desktop into same dir as where i put the sdf.bin:

HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

I think my drive identifier is:

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dev_21:1

(it changed from dev_21:0 to dev_21:1 after i unplugged in between - got this value from `makemkv f -l`)

Then the final step:

7. to perform the flash, type "./makemkvcon f -d '/IOBDServices/D5D25996' -f /tmp/sdf.bin rawflash main -i /tmp/your firmware filename here
or ./makemkvcon f -d '/IOBDServices/D5D25996' -f /tmp/sdf.bin rawflash enc -i /tmp/your firmware filename here
if your firmware is on the encrypted list

Should become either:

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makemkvcon f -d 'dev_21:1' -f sdf.bin rawflash main -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

or

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makemkvcon f -d 'dev_21:1' -f sdf.bin rawflash enc -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

So I've done it, after much reading I dare to ran the command.
Since I think my current firmware is encrypted i went for the latter:

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makemkvcon f -d 'dev_21:1' -f sdf.bin rawflash enc -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

But now it hangs................ ohno

Ok waited a full minute, i ctrl-c'ed it.

Why did the tool not print anything ? should I have waited longer ? I did not read anything about how long it would take...

Then tried by using `-d '/dev/sr0'` and tried using `main` instead of `enc`.

But all is the same, no progress, just hanging cli tool.

Using sudo also doesn't help.

I tried to strace the pid of the makemkvcon process but it seemed to do nothing.

ohno... i tried to disconnect and reconnect the drive and now i get nothing at all.. dmesg shows nothing anymore when connecting, is it bricked ?... well at least now the choice is made, i cannot return the drive anymore and i have to get this working.. or I've thrown away some good money. Let's see where this goes

Thinking my next step is to not use usb, connect it to a windows pc using SATA directly and see what happens. I'm afraid I've dug a hole for myself

If anyone has a tip how to proceed ? I would be very grateful I thought I was threading carefully.

[Billycar11]

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makemkvcon f -d 'dev_21:1' -f sdf.bin rawflash enc -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

That should have worked.

Power off the drive for 5 mins by using the power switch on back and then try again if the firmware did not change

[BigPines1]

Pioneer UHD drives are now supported more info about that will be coming from the developer and once the info is out i will update stuff here

I've been on this forum since 2011 but I can't log into my old BigPines account for some reason and password reset doesn't seem to work so I had to create a new account.

I have been unable to find much info on flashing Pioneer drives despite the claim that they are the most reliable. All I see is PMs going around. I would like to use Marty's SDF tool but there are no Pioneer firmware files in the "all you need" firmware pack.

I have gathered from reading that the BDR-212V and BDR-212DBK can be cross-flashed to BDR-212JBK or BDR-S12JBK to enable UHD capabilities but exactly how eludes me. Have I simply missed this info?

I am considering these two drives. Not sure if there is any advantage of one over the other:

https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-BDR-212V ... 08R89FN61/
https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-BDR-212D ... 081R5CS4L/

Any information is appreciated. Unfortunately, I will not be able to respond to PMs because this is a new account. If anyone can help me get my old account back, that would be preferred. I requested help but I don't know if anyone is reading those contact emails these days.

Thanks in advance.

[d00zah]

Pioneer UHD drives are now supported more info about that will be coming from the developer and once the info is out i will update stuff here

I've been on this forum since 2011 but I can't log into my old BigPines account for some reason and password reset doesn't seem to work so I had to create a new account.

I have been unable to find much info on flashing Pioneer drives despite the claim that they are the most reliable. All I see is PMs going around. I would like to use Marty's SDF tool but there are no Pioneer firmware files in the "all you need" firmware pack.

I have gathered from reading that the BDR-212V and BDR-212DBK can be cross-flashed to BDR-212JBK or BDR-S12JBK to enable UHD capabilities but exactly how eludes me. Have I simply missed this info?

I am considering these two drives. Not sure if there is any advantage of one over the other:

https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-BDR-212V ... 08R89FN61/
https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-BDR-212D ... 081R5CS4L/

Any information is appreciated. Unfortunately, I will not be able to respond to PMs because this is a new account. If anyone can help me get my old account back, that would be preferred. I requested help but I don't know if anyone is reading those contact emails these days.

Thanks in advance.

Due to this, there are limitations WRT Pioneer drives. IF you are lucky enough to get a drive w/ FW prior to late 2022 (IIRC?), the flashing method is not public & must be requested, posting your specific drive info. If you want a known-good Pioneer drive, local sellers are your best bet.

Having said that, the Pioneer-BDR-212DBK drives from Amazon have been coming w/ an older FW, but there's no guaranty that's still the case.

[BigPines1]

I understand the need for older Pioneer firmware in order to do any useful flashing.

Thank you for confirming that the Pioneer flashing solution has not been made public. That is really what it boils down to and all I need to know. I think this fact should be added to the initial post of this thread for clarity. The way it reads right now is that this information is known and will be added but it sounds like it actually will not be. It seems like a cross-flash shouldn't be that hard to do if we had the firmware for BDR-212JBK or BDR-S12JBK but whatever. It doesn't really matter.

I can continue to flash Asus drives until they are no longer available. They have been reliable for me and I don't actually know that a Pioneer drive would be better anyway. I was just interested in trying.

[d00zah]

I understand the need for older Pioneer firmware in order to do any useful flashing.

Thank you for confirming that the Pioneer flashing solution has not been made public. That is really what it boils down to and all I need to know. I think this fact should be added to the initial post of this thread for clarity. The way it reads right now is that this information is known and will be added but it sounds like it actually will not be. It seems like a cross-flash shouldn't be that hard to do if we had the firmware for BDR-212JBK or BDR-S12JBK but whatever. It doesn't really matter.

I can continue to flash Asus drives until they are no longer available. They have been reliable for me and I don't actually know that a Pioneer drive would be better anyway. I was just interested in trying.

See Recommendation for best (most reliable and versatile) LibreDrive for 2024? for a taste of what's 'in'.

[leonderooij]

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makemkvcon f -d 'dev_21:1' -f sdf.bin rawflash enc -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

That should have worked.

Power off the drive for 5 mins by using the power switch on back and then try again if the firmware did not change

Hi, thanks for replying so quickly

Well this is a little embarrassing, the USB connector on rear of the enclosure was half loose That explains it not showing up when plugging into my laptop..

So now I see it being recognized after properly plugging it in, dmesg shows the same output as in my previous post, however still on 1.05 firmware.

But I think this happened after trying to flash.

I just now tried to do it again using the `enc` variant and it again hung. Then tried it on my workstation and again the same result. I also notice it takes 100% cpu:

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top - 21:32:56 up 17 days, 10:57,  2 users,  load average: 1.37, 1.04, 0.56
Tasks: 551 total,   2 running, 549 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu(s):  4.7 us,  0.3 sy,  0.0 ni, 94.9 id,  0.0 wa,  0.1 hi,  0.1 si,  0.0 st 
MiB Mem :  63461.3 total,  15824.7 free,   8435.7 used,  40179.8 buff/cache     
MiB Swap:   4096.0 total,   3108.4 free,    987.6 used.  55025.5 avail Mem 

    PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU  %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND                                                 
 631017 ldr       20   0  325188  27092  17140 R 100.0   0.0   0:18.67 makemkvcon                       
 ...
 

Will try some other USB ports, see if it makes a difference. Otherwise, native SATA connecting and if that doesn't work maybe I'll have to dust off my windows partition, see if that still boots and try it from there :>

Should I not do something else to downgrade from 1.05 to 1.02 ?

Maybe you have some other tips ?

thanks again,

Leon

[rimmi2002]

Hi excellent guide. I was a little confused about this section below.

Newer OEM Firmwares and encrypted:

New Encrypted firmware
List of Know Encrypted firmware (so far, any firmware with date in 2020 is encrypted)

For the drives whose firmware is flashable (listed on top of the thread)...do I need to be careful of which drive I purchase or can a brand new Thin BP50NB40 or Internal LG WH16NS40 / ASUS BW-16D1HT be flashed after jumping through enough hoops.

Basically wondering if there are drives (of the recc'd UHD Friendly list) now from other brands which can't be flashes due to encrypted firmware.

Thanks!

[leonderooij]

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makemkvcon f -d 'dev_21:1' -f sdf.bin rawflash enc -i HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin

That should have worked.

Power off the drive for 5 mins by using the power switch on back and then try again if the firmware did not change

Woohoo!! So I tried the same thing when connected to SATA on my workstation (also running Arch) but with same result, 100% cpu load.

I then booted to windows and tried the `SDFtool Flasher` with the same firmware `HL-DT-ST-BD-RE_WH16NS60-1.02-NM00100-211810291936.bin` (while it was still connected to SATA) and it worked immediately!!

I'm currently ripping one of my uhd bd's so happy that I didn't brick it :>

Thanks for the help and nice software!

[Phoenix0870]

I have new USB Adapter from Amazon.
I bought this USB 3 3.0 to SATA 3.
It can flash to USB 3.0 and also USB 2.0.

WAVLINK USB 3,0 auf SATA Adapter
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B09PV5 ... prod_image

Picture:

[Coopervid]

The BENFEI adapter is 2 Euros cheaper and has a combined USB-C / USB-A connector. It also works for flashing optical drives.

[Tristanna]

The BENFEI adapter is 2 Euros cheaper and has a combined USB-C / USB-A connector. It also works for flashing optical drives.

It's not the same product !
Your adapter is for NVME disks : https://www.amazon.de/BENFEI-Geh%C3%A4u ... ast_sto_dp
and his is for 2.5“ or 3.5” SATA hard disks (or drive/writer): https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B09PV5 ... prod_image

[Coopervid]

The BENFEI adapter is 2 Euros cheaper and has a combined USB-C / USB-A connector. It also works for flashing optical drives.

It's not the same product !
Your adapter is for NVME disks and his is for 2.5“ or 3.5” SATA hard disks (or drive/writer).

It's not the same but better and cheaper and works with optical drives very well. As I wrote. But you picked the wrong one.

https://www.amazon.de/BENFEI-SATA-USB-K ... r=1-1&th=1

[Billycar11]

.