WH14NS40 SVC - NS50 FIRMWARE 1.03

[drixy]

Hello all,

Just wanted to start out by saying, I am an absolute noob to makemkv and blu ray drives. I tried searching this topic before posting, however was unable to find recent and accurate information.

I picked up a WH14NS40 on sale from newegg seeing how some people were able to read UHD or 4k discs with this drive. It wasn't until after I got it and tested a disc that I found out about the firmware issue.

My drive was manufactured in January of 2018 and has the SVC NS50 rating with a firmware of 1.03.

I've read that people have success by cross flashing or flashing the firmware to 1.02. Is anyone able to confirm this?
I wanted to try for myself, however I had trouble finding any tutorials on how to do this. I found one tutorial regarding using a modified version of DOSFLASH, however I can't get it to run even after disabling driver signature requirements.

Can someone provide me some assistance in getting my drive to work with 4K media?

Thank you!

[d00zah]

MUST boot from a USB drive. Read 1st post carefully (even though it doesn't specifically mention your drive):

http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic ... 16&t=17058

Did the DOS boot procedure to downgrade my WH16NS40, so it should work for you. Just use the 'flash_HL-DT-ST_BD-RE_WH14NS40_1.02_NS50.bin' file, contained in 'Clean_NS50_compatible_firmwares.7z'. Hint: look for hyperlink(s) 'here' throughout the instructions for referenced tools, clean images, etc..

[drixy]

Okay update, got some good news and some bad news.

Good News: Downgrade to firmware 1.02 was a success. Pop a 4K bluray into the drive and low and behold, Windows can view the discs contents!

Bad News: I have 3 discs, all of which can't be read by MakeMKV because there is a missing volume key. Second part of my issue, PowerDVD 18 gives me a "Disc with an unsupported format in drive" so I can't even watch them regularly to begin with.

Any advice here?

[st4evr]

1. READ this FAQ CAREFULLY:

http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic ... 12&t=16883

It has very important/useful information regarding ripping/decrypting UHD discs with MakeMKV. As detailed in that FAQ, make sure you have the hash key file in the CORRECT place for decrypting UHD discs.

2. PowerDVD 18 is an official licensed player and has to abide by rules/laws put in place by the BDA, AACS LA, and movie studios. There are strict requirements that have to be met to play UHD discs using PowerDVD. Why and what are they you ask? Google is your friend. They have been discussed in detail in thousands of places across the web since the begining of 2017. This subject in detail could go on for pages.

I suggest you start looking into unlicensed/unofficial players like JRiver and/or MPC-BE. If you are a beginner at this I would recommmend to start with JRiver as it bundles UHD playback functionality pretty neatly and they provide useful FAQs over at their website and their own support forum for assistance.

3. To be clear. MakeMKV is a ripper/converter. It is NOT an application that decrypts and then enables direct playback of UHD discs that have been inserted into UHD Friendly drives or other in the background like AnyDVD. You either have to create an MKV file from the titles presented/available after it scans the disc, or dump the decrypted full disc structure onto an HDD/SSD for playback.

[drixy]

Hi st4evr thanks for your reply.

I didnt know about the hashed keys, thank you.

As for powerdvd 18, i fully meet every requirement even with intels newest generation of processor. The only limitation i am finding is the drive. I realize it says UHD supported drives, however my drive can recognize and spin up 4k drives. Is it something deeper that i am misunderstanding that would give the format issue?

I understand this isnt the proper place to be discussing powerdvd, however my intention for bringing this up, is that, my discs would not spin up at all. Now they will spin up, but no software ive tried so far can handle the discs. Is this hardware or software? By searching online the specific error, there isnt any conclusions on what causes the error, and especially not UHD media. If there is, then i must have missed something, but I've combed through over 20 pages of information regarding both the WH14NS40 drive and its functionality, and also about how to get the discs usable after i got it running.

[d00zah]

Somewhere in this rather lengthy thread, cross-flashing the WH14NS40 NS50 drive to an ASUS FW is discussed:

http://makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=16832

Teddy Raspin seems to be the resident expert on such things, so perhaps a PM to him might help if you hit a wall.

[st4evr]

You answered your own question.

“The only limitation i am finding is the drive. I realize it says UHD supported drives, however my drive can recognize and spin up 4k drives.”

WH14NS40 is a “UHD Friendly” drive. NOT an official UHD drive. It could make pancakes for all PowerDVD cares, but it’s still not an official UHD Drive. PowerDVD is designed to look for an official UHD drive. I have yet to see/hear about anyone successfully play an UHD disc off a friendly drive with PDVD because it’s a break in the chain its designed compliance.

UHD Friendly drives primary use is to provide a loophole in conjunction with software that allows us to exploit said loophole and decrypt/rip/dump/backup UHD discs. Period. Not for playback on official software.

Other decrypting software could allow playback, but on UNOFFICIAL players like the ones I mentioned in my previous post, BUT only after the disc has been decrypted. This is the MakeMKV forum so I will not get into details as to how on that subject.

If the drive spins up the discs and you can see the files, by NO means does that mean that its immediately decrypted and ready for playback. That is why we still need software like MakeMKV for decryption.

[jonghotti]

I can supply factory original UHD friendly drives. No flashing required, nor performed at my end. I've got at least 20 in stock.

[DecryptThis]

I have a WH14NS40 and WH16NS40, both NS40 versions, not NS50. Both are on version 1.02 firmware, but cannot read UHD disks. Is there a way to flash these with NS50 version firmware, or is this an actual drive hardware variation?

[st4evr]

I have a WH14NS40 and WH16NS40, both NS40 versions, not NS50. Both are on version 1.02 firmware, but cannot read UHD disks. Is there a way to flash these with NS50 version firmware, or is this an actual drive hardware variation?

NS50 is not a firmware version, it's a service code. For which you assumed correctly. It IS a hardware variation. No way around it.

Attempting what you mention (flashing firmware from an NS50 drive to an NS40 drive) WILL brick your drive(s). Already attempted by some months ago.

[jonghotti]

No reason not to try again

Then when they're bricked come by the real thing from me.

[atc98092]

I have the WH14NS40, and I believe the firmware is 1.02. I haven't flashed it, nor do I intend to. So far I've been able to rip four UHD discs without error. Haven't bought any more yet, but I'll get around to it when there are more titles I'm willing to buy... again.

Success:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Dracula (1992)
Independence Day
The Fifth Element

Planning on buying an Nvidia Shield next week and finally be able to stream everything with lossless audio. Tired of waiting for Roku to add it.

[jonghotti]

.

[IITravel01]

OK, I'm in the same boat. I got this WH14NS40 NS50 1.03 for a hackintosh (suggested Hackintosh recognized drive) build and see its UHD friendly and need to downflash to 1.02. Anyone crossflash to Asus 3.02 and then to LG 1.02 to see if that works?

[indyjoe1977]

I have this drive as well. Yes, you will be able to rip with it via MakeMKV, but you'll need a legit UHD-BD drive like the Pioneer drive I've got to actually play back UHD discs in PowerDVD. I see you've likely got this figured out. I have ripped hundreds of UHD discs with the WH14NS40 with SVC code NS50 and firmware 1.02. I just updated to FW 1.03. Now it doesn't read UHD discs. Just as a heads up for all y'all.