Pioneer BDR-211M with MakeMKV

[jaydub211]

Yes, you are right. It was my monitor. My apologies. Thanks.

[Coopervid]

Yes, you are right. It was my monitor. My apologies. Thanks.

Try an UHD. Report back.

[jaydub211]

I purchased a 4K copy of Big Lebowski. I can rip uhd discs with mkv and slysoft anydvd (no longer in business). I can play uhd discs in VLC or MPC (but not powerdvd) provided anydvd is running and has decrypted the disc. No software i have will play uhd discs if anydvd is not running. It took about 60 minutes to rip BL, and from what I've heard that seems to be par for the course. As far as disk playback goes, when powerdvd chokes I get an error code that says i don't have SGX extensions installed, which I don't. So what does this tell me about my Pioneer BDR-211M and it's inability to play back encrypted disks but with the ability to rip them. Is this a software issue or firmware issue?

[MartyMcNuts]

I purchased a 4K copy of Big Lebowski. I can rip uhd discs with mkv and slysoft anydvd (no longer in business). I can play uhd discs in VLC or MPC (but not powerdvd) provided anydvd is running and has decrypted the disc. No software i have will play uhd discs if anydvd is not running. It took about 60 minutes to rip BL, and from what I've heard that seems to be par for the course. As far as disk playback goes, when powerdvd chokes I get an error code that says i don't have SGX extensions installed, which I don't. So what does this tell me about my Pioneer BDR-211M and it's inability to play back encrypted disks but with the ability to rip them. Is this a software issue or firmware issue?

It's not your drive, the fact is there is no longer any official UHD playback software. PowerDVD removed that ability a couple of years ago when Intel depracated SGX. The only way to play UHD discs directly is via an unofficial player such as VLC etc. Once the player has been integrated in MakeMKV, it can be used as the on-the-fly decrypter.

Although UHD disc playback is not recommended as you will wear out the lasers a lot faster.

[jaydub211]

So if someone buys one of these pre-flashed UHD friendly drives i hear about on this forum, are they able to play back discs on the fly with VLC, or do they still have to rip to a file with mkv and then view? My other question is Slysoft has not been around for a number of years, but it still was able to depcypt Big Lebowski. Why would that be?

[Billycar11]

So if someone buys one of these pre-flashed UHD friendly drives i hear about on this forum, are they able to play back discs on the fly with VLC, or do they still have to rip to a file with mkv and then view? My other question is Slysoft has not been around for a number of years, but it still was able to depcypt Big Lebowski. Why would that be?

Yes you just need to enable integration for VLC in makemkv
Might have already had the keys or your using keydb

[jaydub211]

OK, so i integrated it, and yes, VLC does play blu-ray on the fly. Fantastic. So now my Pioneer 211M can rip and play 4K discs with the help of MKV.

So do pre-flashed drives from folks like Billcar11 enable you to do something that I can't do with my current setup? Do those players allow you to play or rip 4k blu-ray on the fly without decryption software or perhaps more types of players?

Lastly, on the integration tab the first entries are to enable or not "System Path C:\WINDOWS/System32" and "System32 (32-bit) Path C:\WINDOWS/SysWOW64". What is the purpose of enabling those two entries and do I need to enable those? I have 64-bit windows; do both those options apply to me?

[MartyMcNuts]

OK, so i integrated it, and yes, VLC does play blu-ray on the fly. Fantastic. So now my Pioneer 211M can rip and play 4K discs with the help of MKV.

So do pre-flashed drives from folks like Billcar11 enable you to do something that I can't do with my current setup? Do those players allow you to play or rip 4k blu-ray on the fly without decryption software or perhaps more types of players?

Lastly, on the integration tab the first entries are to enable or not "System Path C:\WINDOWS/System32" and "System32 (32-bit) Path C:\WINDOWS/SysWOW64". What is the purpose of enabling those two entries and do I need to enable those? I have 64-bit windows; do both those options apply to me?

It is not possible to "play" UHD discs directly without using decryption software as there is no official UHD player software and no SGX which was required. Not unless you have an old Intel PC (I think 7th - 9th gen) with SGX and an old version of PowerDVD that still has UHD playback ability. Not worth the hassle. Also, as I mentioned before, direct UHD disc playback is not recommended as you will wear out the lasers faster.

No, nothing you can't already do with your current setup.

I have both of those checked in integration tab. Not sure what's required exactly but have not had any issue with both checked. I don't use VLC. I have MPC-HC integrated.

[jaydub211]

I did some research on the 211M that i bought in 2017. apparently, subsequent firmware updates from pioneer didn't add additional restrictions like updates from LG and Asus did. so i'm very happy with the 211M.