Ultimate UHD Drives Flashing Guide Updated 2025

[Coopervid]

I recently bought an external Verbatim drive to hopefully play 4k blu ray discs, it didn't work. I have read various threads/posts that discuss friendly UHD drives, and even offer lists!
However having read through various posts it suddenly occurred to me that my current blu ray reader/writer might in itself be suitable.
I have an LG BH 16NS40. No idea what year it is manufactured, as after 2015 seems to be important?
How do I find out? I guess I have to take my machine casing off to look at label/date on my blu ray drive?

Or is there another way of doing this from my pc desktop?

I am not attempting to flash until convinced I won't damage my current player.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Post your Makemkv info for your Verbatim drive.

[Gedred]

I have sent it back, as it was supposed to work straight out of the box, it didn't! I spent too long messing with settings in VLC Media but could not get it to read from the drive.

[Coopervid]

I have sent it back, as it was supposed to work straight out of the box, it didn't! I spent too long messing with settings in VLC Media but could not get it to read from the drive.

Either it was defective or underpowered. The Verbatim enclosure is very power hungry and should be connected via USB3. USB2 might not deliver enough.

[Emulgator]

And to add to that: An external slimline burner drive can easily draw 1.5Amps.
Taken from a Pioneer BDC-TD03 Slimline BD-ROM drive's datasheet:
"BD-ROM Full-stroke Seek 1.790A @5V (peak maximum), power consumption 8.95W"

Each USB2.0 Type A socket can only supply 500mA at best.
(Historically USB1.0/1.1 supplies 100mA max, the unit load, barely supporting a USB keyboard or mouse,
and a USB2.0 host may accommodate up to 5 such unit loads)
There are Y-Cables which splice DC from a second USB-A socket in, but the result might not be 2x max. current.
Not safe for anything HDD, SSD, let alone an external DiscWriter ! Some very slow power-saving HDDs might just run, but...

Each USB3.0 Type A socket can only supply 900mA.
(A USB3.x unit load is 150mA, up to 6 unit loads might be accommodated by the host)
Just ok for anything HDD, SSD, and some slower power-saving slimline drives might just read, but...

Each USB3.1 Type C socket can supply 1.5A, some 3Amps.
From here on it is safe to connect anything HDD, SSD, NVMe SSD and power-hungry slimline writers up to 6x speed.

So if USB3.0 I suggest a Y-cable USB-A||USB-A -> USB3 Micro-B,
which should be able to draw just the needed 1.8A DC peak from 2 USB3.0 A Outlets.
The Vantec NST-510S3 Slimline enclosures (USB3 Micro-B, no DC barrel socket) are delivered with such cable.

If Slimline enclosure has a DC barrel socket, use an external PSU, 5V/2A.

[DarkSkull]

Hello, looking at getting into ripping UHD disks and I had a few questions hopefully someone can help me with.

I am looking at the Pioneer Electronics BDR-212DBK (from amazon - https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B081R5 ... 52WR&psc=1).

From my understanding unless it has firmware from before ~2022 I'll need to get it flashed to rip UHD disks? And that this flashing software isn't public so I'll need to pay someone (like Billycar11) to flash it for me?

Second question, do I need to worry about region locks? Or is that something the firmware can get past?

Much thanks.

[Woodstock]

If it is a Pioneer drive and has firmware dated on or after 12/22/2022, it won't work and cannot be flashed. Prior to that date, it can work. But Amazon hasn't had older drives for some time.

[dcoke22]

Second question, do I need to worry about region locks? Or is that something the firmware can get past?

4K UHDs don't have region locking. If you have a LibreDrive capable drive, you can generally always get past any region lock on a DVD or regular blu-ray. If you don't have a LibreDrive, then maybe you can get past region locks; it depends on the drive.

[bluesky]

Hello - new user here. I've just acquired the drive shown below and I would be grateful for assistance in flashing this to support UHD drives. I've been reading for a while here and it seems possible, unless I'm missing something. Thanks in advance for any help with this!

Verbatim drive.jpg (30.89 KiB) Viewed 716 times

[Coopervid]

Hello - new user here. I've just acquired the drive shown below and I would be grateful for assistance in flashing this to support UHD drives. I've been reading for a while here and it seems possible, unless I'm missing something. Thanks in advance for any help with this!

Verbatim drive.jpg

PM is coming.

[bluesky]

Thank you so much! It works perfectly! I appreciate you!

[Karlemagne]

Good evening everyone,

I recently switched from Windows to Linux Mint. While my BD-RU BU40N player worked fine for BDs under Windows, it seems to be stuck under Linux. When I put a disc in the player, I then launch MakeMKV, the disc loads but it does nothing more....

Capture d’écran du 2024-12-26 00-25-57.png (86.58 KiB) Viewed 496 times

Without much hope I tried the reverse operation, but as I expected it did not change anything.
In the image above, we see that LibreDrive is possible, but not activated. Could my problem come from there?
I am a beginner in this area, so thank you for being understanding enough.

Thank you in advance.

[Billycar11]

Good evening everyone,

I recently switched from Windows to Linux Mint. While my BD-RU BU40N player worked fine for BDs under Windows, it seems to be stuck under Linux. When I put a disc in the player, I then launch MakeMKV, the disc loads but it does nothing more....

Capture d’écran du 2024-12-26 00-25-57.png

Without much hope I tried the reverse operation, but as I expected it did not change anything.
In the image above, we see that LibreDrive is possible, but not activated. Could my problem come from there?
I am a beginner in this area, so thank you for being understanding enough.

Thank you in advance.

for linux you need to be on DE fw for some drives not sure why or if this can be fixed i have reported this many times
go to BU40N 1.00

[Karlemagne]

Good morning,

My player is natively in 1.03, so I have to downgrade it to 1.00?
I got version 1.00, is there a tutorial for downgrading under Linux Mint? The one indicated in the first post of this topic is only for Mac. I specify that I am a complete beginner in command line....

Thanks for your feedback.

[Fuschy]

Hey everyone. I have flashed my BD Drive today and ever since that, the ripping process sometimes take a stop. Like it does 5 minutes and then it just stops for another 5 minutes before starting to finish ripping.
I went from:

makemkv_lKt4CPv5HY.png (13.24 KiB) Viewed 398 times

to this

makemkv_W8GZq9zzqU.png (10.09 KiB) Viewed 398 times

Did I break anything or is this something known? Couldnt find anything on the quick search besides that sleep bug, but that doenst quite describe whats happening for me.

[MartyMcNuts]

Hey everyone. I have flashed my BD Drive today and ever since that, the ripping process sometimes take a stop. Like it does 5 minutes and then it just stops for another 5 minutes before starting to finish ripping.
I went from: makemkv_W8GZq9zzqU.png to this makemkv_lKt4CPv5HY.png

Did I break anything or is this something known? Couldnt find anything on the quick search besides that sleep bug, but that doenst quite describe whats happening for me.

Why would you do that???!?!??!!??

WH16NS60 1.02-MK is the recommended firmware. It is faster and removes the sleep bug. You've just given yourself a slower, buggy firmware that also has the sleep bug.