Advice for new optical drive purchase

[Coopervid]

Imgburn.

[Grendizer]

Hello Va1der

Thanks for all the information.

I didn't really want a external slim drive, I already have one : Hitachi LG hl-dt-ST- BD-RE BP55EB40. But thanks for your help.
If you know of any nice newly release internal drive, for 5.25" drive bay, able to burn all kind of discs including 100 and 120 Gb blu-rays, able to read or rip 4K Blu rays (with a Firmware patch), please let me know!
As for the burning app, I use Ashampoo. It's very nice and I pay only 10€ per year, with all updates.

See you!
Gz

[standforme]

I've just been buying flashable used and NIB/NOS Pioneers, from eBay, to hopefully not have to revisit the subject any time soon. As more 4K discs come in, I'll flash and use the NIB ones a little. I'm kind of surprised how long very flashable drive listings hang around, TBH. Watch them, wait for offers, and take them. But, I do like slim drives, especially the clamshell form factor.

ImgBurn should be good to go, with WINE, on most distros.

[Grendizer]

Hello Standforme, what do mean NIB and NOS ?

[dcoke22]

Hello Standforme, what do mean NIB and NOS ?

I assume standforme means New In Box (NIB) and New Old Stock (NOS).

[standforme]

Yes, that ^.

[Grendizer]

Ok thanks, so let's see what the ideal Pioneer internal drive to check on Ebay: On https://pioneer-blurayodd.eu/ there are 4 recent drives and according to Copilot, 3 of them were released in 2023 : BDR-S13E-X, BDR-S13EBK, and BDR-213EBK. Comparing the specs, the BDR-S13EBK is the best one, and the better looking too!
But on Ebay.com this drive is nowhere to be found and I'm sure if I find it, it will cost about 1500$ !

[Coopervid]

Ok thanks, so let's see what the ideal Pioneer internal drive to check on Ebay: On https://pioneer-blurayodd.eu/ there are 4 recent drives and according to Copilot, 3 of them were released in 2023 : BDR-S13E-X, BDR-S13EBK, and BDR-213EBK. Comparing the specs, the BDR-S13EBK is the best one, and the better looking too!
But on Ebay.com this drive is nowhere to be found and I'm sure if I find it, it will cost about 1500$ !

Forget it. You want a drive that has old firmware before Dec. 2022. Good news is that asmcom will reopen soon.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=19387&start=1410

[Grendizer]

OH 2023 drives are unflashable?
What's the 2022 equivalent for the Pioneer BDR-S13EBK ?

[Coopervid]

OH 2023 drives are unflashable?
What's the 2022 equivalent for the Pioneer BDR-S13EBK ?

These drives already existed in 2022. Pioneer changed their firmwares starting Dec. 2022 and encrypted them. Cross-flashing after that date wasn't possible anymore.
With the most recent development Mike has made these encrypted firmwares libredrive capable, but not able to be cross-flashed. Therefore a new drive with encrypted firmware has to be UHD capable out of the box. These would be the S13EBK and the S13E-X. The 213 is not UHD capable.
So find any S13EBK or S13E-X or a 213 with firmware (production) before Dec. 2022.

[MartyMcNuts]

OH 2023 drives are unflashable?
What's the 2022 equivalent for the Pioneer BDR-S13EBK ?

The Pioneer BDR-S13EBK with firmware dated pre 12/2022.

[Grendizer]

Ok thanks all for the info. Could you define "Cross-flashing" for me?

[MartyMcNuts]

Ok thanks all for the info. Could you define "Cross-flashing" for me?

Flashing a drive to a different model firmware, for example, flashing a non UHD compatible drive (Pioneer BDR-XD08TB) with the firmware of the UHD model (BDR-XD08UMB-S) which would result in the drive appearing as a BDR-XD08UMB-S with libredrive enabled and UHD readability enabled.

[Cid67]

so just some info. I had a bu40n for about 4 years that worked flawlessly on every disk I fed it but sadly the ribbon cable failed and the drive was dead in the water. I had a backup bu40n that was made in 2016 but that drive was noisy and failed to rip disks often. i decided to try again and bought 3 bu40n drives as backup and they are from 2023. these are quieter and more reliable then the 2016 drive by far but the firmware was encrypted. I was able to still flash the drives though. so, i recommend if using these drives to get as late a model year as possible.

[zaqqaz6917]

Best buy in USA has few in store stock of LG
Model: BP50NB40 SKU: 9243009
No longer available for shipping
On sale for $92