UHD drives

[st4evr]

If you didn't jump straight to the end you would see my previous post stating I have read most of this thread!

I asked because mine is an older drive and therefore may not have been tested.... and those who are doing the testing may know with some confidence which are *likely* to work or not.

Testing is done. We have been doing this “UHD Friendly” thing for over a year (two since this whole UHD thing started). We are past that. In technology time, you are late to the game. What has been listed and dicussed during that time is what it is. Those drives are listed for very SPECIFIC technical reasons. Period.

So no, that drive you mention will NOT work. Stick with the list and findings/recommendations within this forum as it has been advised and you’ll be fine.

LG has been VERY adamant about fixing the loophole in ALL their drives since discovery. To the point where they opened up existing stock in their warehouses and begun updating those drives with the fix and repackaging. So, you will have to prepare for a downflash if you purchase a new drive from retailers wherever you are located.

[mgrobins]

Thanks for the advice. I guess the low down is grab a drive now and look for a means of downgrading fw if required. Maybe my parents old PC will do.

Worst case I'll buy a $50 piece of crap PC off gumtree and then on-sell it after I'm done

[st4evr]

Unless I'm misusing the terminology, the new drive Alex has is an official AACS 2 drive, while the older models are not? I'm guessing (?) that the older models cannot actually play AACS 2 movies because they don't report being AACS 2 to the software? Or is that what the loophole is actually allowing?

Playback and decryption are two completely different things in this matter. The loophole is allowing the decryption of AACS 2 protected disc/content. In other words, allows the removal of said protection and allows backing up and playback of said digital content without having to worry about AACS protection altogether. It's NOT trying to mimic Official UHD drive functionality and trying to be AACS compliant.

I understand that they are hardware capable of reading (ripping) the discs, but I thought every link in the playback chain had to be AACS 2 compliant in order to actually play a movie directly from the drive to your screen/TV.
If this is the case then I think this drive would be more future proof than the earlier models?

Not necessarily and depending on which route you were to take. If you want to be fully SGX compliant (this applies to PC playback only) and not use any decryption methods then yes. AACS/SGX compliance is required across the entire playback chain in that case. But with the right software to decrypt the disc you can playback from the drive (this includes using UHD Friendly drives). There is only one piece of software I have personally seen/tested that has been successful in this.

HOWEVER, it may not playback on licensed software players like PowerDVD for example. I personally have not tried it, but I have also not heard any positive/negative feedback on something like that since most people who want the best UHD BD playback on PCs (proper HDR10, high quality playback, etc) and know what they are doing go a completely different route and avoid licensed players like PDVD like the plague.

[jonghotti]

Apologies I’m overdue on confirming that yes the WH16NS60 is one of the two or three UHD “official” drives and yes it’s been out for a couple years almost and no I have not re-invented the wheel I just got sick of seeing the dope ass Ultra HD Blu Ray logo on the bezel of that particular drive and not being sure about it’s flashability. lo and behold it flashes to whatever LG or ASUS friendly firmware you’ve got lying around and rips as fast as the ASUS which is tight.
I really wanted to buy all 81 units Fry’s had scattered across the country but Woodstock refused to lend me the 7 grand I was short so I bought as many as I could but those went quick and i ended up selling even the one unit I’d set aside for myself, SMH

[jonghotti]

Thanks for the advice. I guess the low down is grab a drive now and look for a means of downgrading fw if required. Maybe my parents old PC will do.

Worst case I'll buy a $50 piece of crap PC off gumtree and then on-sell it after I'm done

No you're not gumming anything, I've got you covered

[wippet]

Can I just confirm with others that you MUST have the SVC code NS50 for an LG BH16NS40? Is the difference that one can ready BDXL and the other can't (even though the model number is the same?).

Have successfully flashed to an Asus drive and so on, but still getting 'No Disc Found' messages, so am about to go through the process of the clean firmware flash (even though all the links have been pulled on the redfox post) but thought I'd ask before spending all the time down that path as I notice a few people at the start of this thread have the same drive (I made it to page 9 of the thread so far).

[Woodstock]

NS50 or higher is required for any LG drive to read UHD; while the older units can do BD-XL, it isn't enough to read the higher-density BD-XL used for UHD.

[wippet]

Ah okay, thanks for the clarification Woodstock.

Does this new thread "Support for LG UHD Drives" that recommends the "official UHD" LG WH16NS60 (pending it being backup-able in a few weeks time) now supersede the Asus recommendation at the beginning of this thread?

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18346

[Billycar11]

Ah okay, thanks for the clarification Woodstock.

Does this new thread "Support for LG UHD Drives" that recommends the "official UHD" LG WH16NS60 (pending it being backup-able in a few weeks time) now supersede the Asus recommendation at the beginning of this thread?

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18346

yes the WH16NS60 is now the best drive to own for make mkv or will be in like 2 weeks

[jonghotti]

LG has been VERY adamant about fixing the loophole in ALL their drives since discovery. To the point where they opened up existing stock in their warehouses and begun updating those drives with the fix and repackaging.

LOL what? I may have mentioned hearing a rumor about that but it was by no means fact at the time.

[wippet]

Hmm well an LG WH16NS60 is going to set me back about $250aud from Amazon with the runaround of getting it shipped here (as Amazon won't directly ship anymore) whereas I could get an ASUS BW-16D1HT-PRO for $119 locally...

[st4evr]

LOL what? I may have mentioned hearing a rumor about that but it was by no means fact at the time.

I kid you not. 100% confirmed by several individuals including myself after receiving the exact same and what was blatantly obvious NOT the original/retail packaging from distributors like Amazon amongst others that came straight from LG warehouses (confirmed brand new stock). They weren't playing around. Unlike ASUS who really didn't give a shit and continued to sell their existing stock with "Friendly" firmware for several additional months.

But by now it's not like it matters since after a year+ that stock has been depleted and both are now selling only patched drives. I'd say flashing is now required 99.99% of the time.

[wippet]

I take it the main advantage of LG support being on the horizon for the WH16NS60, and to grab one of them over an Asus BC-12D2HT is for future proofing a little? Is the idea that an 'official' drive will now be compatible with backups so any future firmware updates for new disc releases shouldn't be any problems, compared to grabbing a 'friendly' Asus? I'm just trying to justify grabbing an Asus since it'd be significantly cheaper than the official LG.

I know you've all been doing this for over 12 months, but some of us are a bit late to the party sorry

[st4evr]

I take it the main advantage of LG support being on the horizon for the WH16NS60, and to grab one of them over an Asus BC-12D2HT is for future proofing a little? Is the idea that an 'official' drive will now be compatible with backups so any future firmware updates for new disc releases shouldn't be any problems, compared to grabbing a 'friendly' Asus? I'm just trying to justify grabbing an Asus since it'd be significantly cheaper than the official LG.

I know you've all been doing this for over 12 months, but some of us are a bit late to the party sorry

If you are looking for "future proofing" you are in the completely wrong hobby/scene. Best thing you can do is grab one of each like many of us have and pray there will always be some sort of solution that will work with at least one them.

[wippet]

haha fair enough! I suppose I was looking for the reasoning behind why the new 'official' LG drive is the new recommendation, over the Asus which everyone seems happy with it working.
Is it because new Asus's likely come with 3.03 which requires you wiping and re-flashing it? Whereas the LG will be supported by MakeMKV out of the box?