Flashing Pioneer drives

[Coopervid]

Hi,

most of the regular forum visitors might know me. New members might not.

LG / ASUS / Buffalo drive can be flashed by tools available free in this forum. Pioneer drives can't since the tool, even freeware, is not publicly available. For reasons I will not elaborate here.There are two members in this forum who can provide the tool. One of them is me. I don't charge for it. I only ask for a (small) donation after sending. Now this tool - BDRFlash- is Freeware but only works for pre 12/22 firmware. The other person who provides pre 12/22 firmware has an autoflasher that uses BDRFlash in the background and charges $40. Some time ago $20 what was still Ok. This person also has a monopoly solution until recently to flash post 12/22 drives and charges $200 for that service that always bothered me.

There's a new guy in town. Trevor. He invited me to test his new flasher for post 12/22 drives for free. He charges usually $29.99 per drive. So I decided to bite the bullet. I have a 212DBK drive that I flashed to S12U 1.02 for reading UHDs. The drive worked and works perfectly. My thought: I flash it to S12U 1.05 with the official flasher. It will still be supported by Mike's November 2025 update and still be Libredrive compatible and read UHDs. So if a flash goes wrong and the drive isn't bricked I will still be OK. The only risk was that Trevor's flasher might brick the drive.

I flashed to S12U 1.05 with the official Pioneer flasher and then tried Trevor's flasher. To make a long story short: It was successfully flashed back to pre 12/22 1.02 firmware!!!

The flashing process takes about 6 min.

Trevor's flasher is hereby recommended and a bargain compared to what was available until now.

Here's a link to his site:

https://research.trev.bot

And some more experiences with his tool:

viewtopic.php?t=42445

[zittrig]

Yes, first positive experience here too.

[Billycar11]

12/22+ pioneer flashing is now free for personal use
all you have to do is email me
it will be added to official guide soon

[Coopervid]

Hi,

most of the regular forum visitors might know me. New members might not.

LG / ASUS / Buffalo drive can be flashed by tools available free in this forum. Pioneer drives can't since the tool, even freeware, is not publicly available. For reasons I will not elaborate here.There are two members in this forum who can provide the tool. One of them is me. I don't charge for it. I only ask for a (small) donation after sending. Now this tool - BDRFlash- is Freeware but only works for pre 12/22 firmware. The other person who provides pre 12/22 firmware has an autoflasher that uses BDRFlash in the background and charges $40. Some time ago $20 what was still Ok. This person also has a monopoly solution until recently to flash post 12/22 drives and charges $200 for that service that always bothered me.

There's a new guy in town. Trevor. He invited me to test his new flasher for post 12/22 drives for free. He charges usually $29.99 per drive. So I decided to bite the bullet. I have a 212DBK drive that I flashed to S12U 1.02 for reading UHDs. The drive worked and works perfectly. My thought: I flash it to S12U 1.05 with the official flasher. It will still be supported by Mike's November 2025 update and still be Libredrive compatible and read UHDs. So if a flash goes wrong and the drive isn't bricked I will still be OK. The only risk was that Trevor's flasher might brick the drive.

I flashed to S12U 1.05 with the official Pioneer flasher and then tried Trevor's flasher. To make a long story short: It was successfully flashed back to pre 12/22 1.02 firmware!!!

The flashing process takes approx. 6 min.

Trevor's flasher is hereby recommended and a bargain compared to what was available until now.

Here's a link to his site:

https://research.trev.bot

And some more experiences with his tool:

viewtopic.php?t=42445

[Coopervid]

Hi,

most of the regular forum visitors might know me. New members might not.

LG / ASUS / Buffalo drive can be flashed by tools available free in this forum. Pioneer drives can't since the tool, even freeware, is not publicly available. For reasons I will not elaborate here.There are two members in this forum who can provide the tool. One of them is me. I don't charge for it. I only ask for a (small) donation after sending. Now this tool - BDRFlash- is Freeware but only works for pre 12/22 firmware. The other person who provides pre 12/22 firmware has an autoflasher that uses BDRFlash in the background and charges $40. Some time ago $20 what was still Ok. This person also has a monopoly solution until recently to flash post 12/22 drives and charges $200 for that service that always bothered me.

There's a new guy in town. Trevor. He invited me to test his new flasher for post 12/22 drives for free. He charges usually $29.99 per drive. So I decided to bite the bullet. I have a 212DBK drive that I flashed to S12U 1.02 for reading UHDs. The drive worked and works perfectly. My thought: I flash it to S12U 1.05 with the official flasher. It will still be supported by Mike's November 2025 update and still be Libredrive compatible and read UHDs. So if a flash goes wrong and the drive isn't bricked I will still be OK. The only risk was that Trevor's flasher might brick the drive.

I flashed to S12U 1.05 with the official Pioneer flasher and then tried Trevor's flasher. To make a long story short: It was successfully flashed back to pre 12/22 1.02 firmware!!!

The flashing process take approx. 6 min

Trevor's flasher is hereby recommended and a bargain compared to what was available until now.

Here's a link to his site:

https://research.trev.bot

And some more experiences with his tool:

viewtopic.php?t=42445

[KoLibre]

Hello Coopervid, I would like to request the BDRFlash tool, if you don't charge for it as you wrote. Thanks!

[Coopervid]

Hello Coopervid, I would like to request the BDRFlash tool, if you don't charge for it as you wrote. Thanks!

You need to post your Makemkv info for your drive.

[KoLibre]

Hello Coopervid, I would like to request the BDRFlash tool, if you don't charge for it as you wrote. Thanks!

You need to post your Makemkv info for your drive.

I do not have the drive yet, but all information except the serial number on the label matches with the one agent_x007 posted here about:
viewtopic.php?p=202739#p202739

I will check weather the firmware version on the drive is still old enough before I try flashing it, of course.

Does that help?

[Coopervid]

Hello Coopervid, I would like to request the BDRFlash tool, if you don't charge for it as you wrote. Thanks!

You need to post your Makemkv info for your drive.

I do not have the drive yet, but all information except the serial number on the label matches with the one agent_x007 posted here about:
viewtopic.php?p=202739#p202739

I will check weather the firmware version on the drive is still old enough before I try flashing it, of course.

Does that help?

C'mon! Get the drive and post its info. I will send the flasher then.

[topcat]

Hello, this is my drive information. not sure if it matters but it is an external drive over USB! wondering if it can be flashed for 4k discs!

Drive Information
Manufacturer: ASUS
Product: BW-16D1H-U
Revision: E116
Firmware date: 2020-07-21
Bus encryption flags: 1B
Highest AACS version: 81

LibreDrive Information
Status: Enabled
Drive platform: RS8F00
Firmware name: PIONEER BDR-212T
Firmware type: Original (unpatched)
Firmware version: E116/ID71
DVD all regions: Yes
BD raw data read: Yes
BD raw metadata read: Yes
Unrestricted read speed: Yes