VLC cannot play one specific Blu-ray (AACS v76), but MakeMKV opens it successfully

[Alicey]

Hello,

I'm trying to play a commercial Blu-ray with VLC, but only one specific disc fails.

Environment:
- Windows 11 64-bit
- VLC 3.0.23 (official release)
- Also tested with VLC 4.0 nightly
- External Blu-ray drive: HL-DT-ST BP71NB10 (firmware 1.03)
- libaacs installed
- Latest KEYDB.cfg installed
- MakeMKV v1.18.4 installed
- MakeMKV successfully opens this disc without errors

Disc:
- Yorushika LIVE "Gekkou"
- Product code: UPXH-1079
- AACS version: v76

Problem:
The disc cannot be played in VLC.

Depending on the configuration, VLC reports either:
- "No valid Processing Key found in AACS config file"
or
- "Nothing to play"

What works:
- Another Blu-ray from the same artist ("Yorushika LIVE Zense") plays correctly in VLC on the same PC.
- The Gekkou disc plays correctly in Leawo Blu-ray Player.
- MakeMKV successfully opens the disc.
- Main title: about 20.4 GB
- 25 chapters detected.
- No errors are reported by MakeMKV.

Already tested:
- Latest KEYDB.cfg
- libaacs.dll
- VLC 4.0 nightly
- MakeMKV Integration (libmmbd)
- Replaced libaacs.dll and libbdplus.dll with libmmbd64.dll
- Directly opening the largest M2TS file
- Another Blu-ray ("Yorushika LIVE Zense") works correctly in VLC on the same PC
- Leawo Blu-ray Player plays this disc successfully

None of these solved the problem.

Is this a known compatibility issue between VLC/libbluray and this particular Blu-ray (AACS v76)?
If necessary, I can also provide VLC debug logs and MakeMKV logs.

Thank you.

[Sayaka]

This is very strange, since if the integration is done properly VLC should be able to open any Blu-ray disc that MakeMKV is able to open...

The "correct" possible workaround :

You could try making a decrypted backup of the disc, then turning that backup into an ISO file with IMGBurn (https://www.imgburn.com/ - be sure to use the UDF 2.50 file system when creating the ISO), and opening that ISO file with VLC.

The "not quite as recommended" possible workaround, but it would be interesting if it worked :

Would you mind downloading FindVUK 1.83 from the download link at the bottom of the first post in this thread : https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=172472 ?

Unzip it. Then install the trial version of DVDFab (https://www.dvdfab.cn/), close DVDFab, and run FindVUK.exe with the troublesome disc inside your Blu-ray drive (you may need to add an exception for FindVUK if you have antivirus software). Wait until the process is complete. Run "FindVUK - Synchronize.bat" afterwards, then try playing the disc again directly from the Blu-ray drive with VLC.

[Alicey]

Hi Sayaka,

Good news!

I followed your instructions:

Installed the DVDFab trial version.
Ran FindVUK 1.83.
Ran "FindVUK - Synchronize.bat".

At first, VLC still showed an infinite loading screen.

However, after trying again, it started working correctly.

The Blu-ray menu is displayed, the menu buttons work, and the movie plays normally in VLC.

Thank you very much for your help!

[Alicey]

Hi Sayaka,

Thank you again for your help.

FindVUK solved the original problem, and I can now play the Blu-ray in VLC.

However, I noticed that playback is not always consistent.
Sometimes the disc loads and plays normally, but occasionally VLC gets stuck on the loading screen or at the warning screen.

Restarting the PC seems to make it work again.

I just wanted to let you know in case this information is useful.

[Sayaka]

You're welcome ! It looks like VLC was unable to get the Volume Unique Key (VUK) from MakeMKV for some reason, and when you likely added it (or at least the Unit Keys) to KEYDB.cfg when you used FindVUK, it fixed this.

Sometimes the disc loads and plays normally, but occasionally VLC gets stuck on the loading screen or at the warning screen.

This happened to me as well in the past, in the following cases :

1) The drive wasn't getting enough power,
2) The disc hadn't been cleaned properly,
3) The drive had been flashed to a firmware which was having trouble reading the disc,
4) The disc itself was a "difficult" disc,
5) (Sometimes) I was using an LG drive instead of a Pioneer drive.

In short, the issue you're having sounds like your drive itself is having trouble reading the disc.

Restarting the PC seems to make it work again.

Good to know, thanks ! However, given the nature of this issue, I wouldn't be surprised if you ran into it again. If there's something you should try first and foremost, it would be 1) making sure the drive is getting enough power, and 2) making sure as few apps as possible are running in the background when playing the disc (odd as it may sound, I've had issues with this before).

[Alicey]

Thank you so much for all your help. VLC is finally working thanks to you. I learned a lot during this process. You're amazing! Hope to work with you again.
ARIGATO!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sayaka]

Thank you for the compliment !

ARIGATO!!!!!!!!!!!

I must confess I am not actually Japanese and picked my nickname for a variety of reasons.

That being said, I like Japanese culture a fair bit, so どういたしまして !