BU40N - Which firmware is best?

[MartyMcNuts]

I should have qualified my original post by indicating that these spin-downs can last several minutes prior to resuming the rip.

That's ok. It happens but they eventually pick up speed again.

Indeed - the drive always seems to resume on 1.00 (eventually). Just seems to randomly stall many times during each rip. For instance, I'm at 2 hours and 38 minutes on a 4k rip of Avengers-Age of Ultron with still a little more time to complete. But when the drive is actually active, at 6.0X, this ~55 GB rip would be done in around 45 minutes or so (maybe even less) if it consistently read the entire time. I wonder if the MK version of 1.03 would modify this behavior in any way?

Maybe use a stop watch to actually time how long a rip takes?

[d22901]

Maybe use a stop watch to actually time how long a rip takes?

I would say the drive spends far more time spun down than active, in watching a rip in action - this is what is pushing me in the direction of trying the MK version of 1.03, provided that it would be simple enough to get back to 1.00 in the event that the behavior is worse after changing firmware.

[asmcom]

Mike Chen's LibreDrive v1.03mk firmware is amazing. I have sold over 200 x LG-BU40N 2019 model, on firmware v1.03mk with no complaints whatsoever.

The answer is yes, you can easily swap between v1.03mk and v1.00 firmware.

Asmcom

[d22901]

Mike Chen's LibreDrive v1.03mk firmware is amazing. I have sold over 200 x LG-BU40N 2019 model, on firmware v1.03mk with no complaints whatsoever.

The answer is yes, you can easily swap between v1.03mk and v1.00 firmware.

Asmcom

Thanks for the feedback - will give this change a shot.

[d22901]

Just to follow up here, I did flash 1.03mk to compare to 1.00 - for the Archgon MD-8107-U3, I did still see some periods of inactivity in re-ripping a previously-ripped MKV. It seemed as though the profile of the drive was faster under 1.03mk, though, as there where really only two significant spin-downs during the rip. The last half hour or so of the rip was clean to the end without pause - roughly 45 minutes total for a ~57 GB file.

[Allistah]

I just ordered the BU40N drive. Is the 1.03 MK firmware still the best choice for this drive?

[asmcom]

The v1.00 is also very good firmware to use with this drive. Version 1.00 supports DVDfab which us a bonus.

I have tested both versions 1.03mk and v1.00 with MakeMKV.

I find v1.03MK LibreDrive to be slightly faster, but see no reason in changing if you have version 1.00 installed and you are not having any problems.

Asmcom

[Allistah]

I got my drive and flashed it to the 1.03 mk firmware. Worked fine. Now when I'm trying to rip a regular DVD, it starts around 2.6x and then sits. It doesn't spin up fast and start ripping at the higher speeds, it's like it's in movie watch quiet mode.

Any way to get this thing to spin up and really rip DVDs faster? I'm on OSX Mojave, I tried two MacBook Pros with the same results. Any ideas?

[mostlyautumn]

I got my drive and flashed it to the 1.03 mk firmware. Worked fine. Now when I'm trying to rip a regular DVD, it starts around 2.6x and then sits. It doesn't spin up fast and start ripping at the higher speeds, it's like it's in movie watch quiet mode.

Any way to get this thing to spin up and really rip DVDs faster? I'm on OSX Mojave, I tried two MacBook Pros with the same results. Any ideas?

Mine does the same. In fact it often rips quicker on Bluray and UHD than on DVD's. Not sure if this is part of the riplock which hasn't yet been disabled on the drive yet.

[Allistah]

I have the LG BU40N drive with the 1.03 MK firmware on it.

I've ripped a few DVDs so far and here are the results. Does this sound about right for this drive? I was thinking it was going to be faster.

2 Layers (OTP), 22:34 (1354s), 5.1 GB (5100 MB), ~3.76 MB/sec [2.85x Avg]
2 Layers (OTP), 21:52 (1312s), 5.12 GB (5120 MB), ~3.9 MB/sec [2.95x Avg]
1 Layer (PTP), 18:58 (1138s), 4.09 GB (4090 MB), ~3.59 MB/sec [2.71x Avg]
2 Layers (OTP), 15:12 (912s), 3.72 GB (3720 MB), ~4.07 MB/sec [3.08x Avg]

It's fine is that's all I'll get out of the drive, I just want to make sure it's not my drive or my system that is limiting the read speeds. I borrowed some cheap no-name Blu-ray Drive recently and it was quite a bit faster than this on the same disks so I wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong. Thanks for any info anyone may have.

[bachelorbob]

The v1.00 is also very good firmware to use with this drive. Version 1.00 supports DVDfab which us a bonus.

Asmcom

Does DVDFab work with 1.03 MK? DVDFab is the APP I use, as all I want is a whole disc copy. (I have no interest in compression, reformatting to a different ratio, etc., which most applications seem focused on.)

[MartyMcNuts]

The v1.00 is also very good firmware to use with this drive. Version 1.00 supports DVDfab which us a bonus.

Asmcom

Does DVDFab work with 1.03 MK? DVDFab is the APP I use, as all I want is a whole disc copy. (I have no interest in compression, reformatting to a different ratio, etc., which most applications seem focused on.)

I don't think so. I believe that to use DVDFab you want firmware DE BU40N 1.00.

[bachelorbob]

Is there any way to extract / dump the stock BW42 firmware from my hp HLDS BU40N drive on a Mac (connected via an external USB3 enclosure) before I flash downgrade it? Is there a real need for the stock firmware?

[MartyMcNuts]

Is there any way to extract / dump the stock BW42 firmware from my hp HLDS BU40N drive on a Mac (connected via an external USB3 enclosure) before I flash downgrade it? Is there a real need for the stock firmware?

Contact Mike Admin. He may want a copy of that firmware. If he can extract it remotely, he should also send you a copy.

[jonghotti]

Another vote for 1.0