In the market for a new drive

[sremick]

Well, I think it's time to upgrade my BD drive. I currently have an Asus BW-12B1ST_a w/ firmware 1.00. From what I can tell, it's a dead-end as far as LibreDrive is concerned.

The few times I've ripped commercial disks it's been fine. But I have this very important custom (unencrypted) BD-R that I really need to rip. It plays in a regular BD player just fine. But MakeMKV kicks tons of "Error 'Scsi error - MEDIUM ERROR:L-EC UNCORRECTABLE ERROR' occurred while reading" errors that I get nowhere. It's not the disc (it's pristine, and I've even cleaned it w/ a microfiber cloth in the proper manner). I've also tried cleaning the drive.

So what I need is a wonkiness-tolerant drive. I don't care about speed/performance at all... it can take hours for all I care (I don't need to rip often). At the moment I don't care about UHD/4K although I suppose future-proofing would be prudent. But I don't own a 4K TV or subsequently any 4K discs.

Price, for the most part, isn't an issue. I'll pay for quality (I own one of the first 50 Oppo BD players ever made, and paid a pretty penny for it at the time). And I'm happy to pay for a pre-flashed drive from a reputable seller on here. I'm in the USA.

Drive suggestions for my situation? Got something to offer? Please let me know.

[MartyMcNuts]

Well, I think it's time to upgrade my BD drive. I currently have an Asus BW-12B1ST_a w/ firmware 1.00. From what I can tell, it's a dead-end as far as LibreDrive is concerned.

The few times I've ripped commercial disks it's been fine. But I have this very important custom (unencrypted) BD-R that I really need to rip. It plays in a regular BD player just fine. But MakeMKV kicks tons of "Error 'Scsi error - MEDIUM ERROR:L-EC UNCORRECTABLE ERROR' occurred while reading" errors that I get nowhere. It's not the disc (it's pristine, and I've even cleaned it w/ a microfiber cloth in the proper manner). I've also tried cleaning the drive.

So what I need is a wonkiness-tolerant drive. I don't care about speed/performance at all... it can take hours for all I care (I don't need to rip often). At the moment I don't care about UHD/4K although I suppose future-proofing would be prudent. But I don't own a 4K TV or subsequently any 4K discs.

Price, for the most part, isn't an issue. I'll pay for quality (I own one of the first 50 Oppo BD players ever made, and paid a pretty penny for it at the time). And I'm happy to pay for a pre-flashed drive from a reputable seller on here. I'm in the USA.

Drive suggestions for my situation? Got something to offer? Please let me know.

A new drive is always a good idea. Speak to Billycar11 or jonghotti.

As far as that custom unencrypted BD-R you have, is it still the standard blu-ray structure? If so, why not just load the mpls/m2ts file into mkvtoolnix and output your MKV file that way?

[jonghotti]

Well, I think it's time to upgrade my BD drive. I currently have an Asus BW-12B1ST_a w/ firmware 1.00. From what I can tell, it's a dead-end as far as LibreDrive is concerned.

The few times I've ripped commercial disks it's been fine. But I have this very important custom (unencrypted) BD-R that I really need to rip. It plays in a regular BD player just fine. But MakeMKV kicks tons of "Error 'Scsi error - MEDIUM ERROR:L-EC UNCORRECTABLE ERROR' occurred while reading" errors that I get nowhere. It's not the disc (it's pristine, and I've even cleaned it w/ a microfiber cloth in the proper manner). I've also tried cleaning the drive.

So what I need is a wonkiness-tolerant drive. I don't care about speed/performance at all... it can take hours for all I care (I don't need to rip often). At the moment I don't care about UHD/4K although I suppose future-proofing would be prudent. But I don't own a 4K TV or subsequently any 4K discs.

Price, for the most part, isn't an issue. I'll pay for quality (I own one of the first 50 Oppo BD players ever made, and paid a pretty penny for it at the time). And I'm happy to pay for a pre-flashed drive from a reputable seller on here. I'm in the USA.

Drive suggestions for my situation? Got something to offer? Please let me know.

Hello sir,

I can say without hesitation that all of the dedicated sales professional at jonghotti optical drives international (JODI) appreciate your commitment to quality but may I suggest that if you don't need 4K UHD blu ray support in a drive right now please don't pay for it. Speaking for myself I am happy to suggest a drive that you may purchase on your own that has the potential to be flashed later, so when and if that time comes we'd be happy to do it, or simply assist you in doing. it from afar. By the way, where in the USA do you live? Anyways, just my .02 cents. Feel free to contact me anytime, email or text, leave a voicemail you're on your own as I don't check them enough Thank you and have a wonderful day!

Alex
alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com
650-850-2442

[kws53]

Load the BD into your Optical drive and don't use MakeMKV (it is unencrypted). Your operating system will allow access to drive contents - just copy the entire file structure to a HDD/SSD location, then use MKV Toolnix to create your MKV files[s].

[sremick]

Thanks for the quick replies from all of you willing to assist.

To answer the multiple people who suggested it: I already tried just copying the m2ts files in the OS, but even that chokes. That's why I know it's not a MakeMKV issue and more fundamental at the drive level, and jumped straight to this forum. That would've been too easy.

jonghotti: I'm in Vermont, so more "East coast" but I can pay for shipping from anywhere in the USA and it's not like this is urgent, so I can wait for it to take its merry time to get here without splurging for expensive shipping.

It's sounding like a flashable drive is only necessary if I care about UHD... in my case, I care about an "error-tolerant" or "weirdness-tolerant" drive that would be more able to handle whatever is wonky about this unencrypted BD-R. If that can be done with an off-the-shelf drive without flashing, fantastic. I just need some model suggestions from people with experience. And if best results requires a specific firmware level, and the easiest way to ensure that is to buy from someone on here, I'm ok with doing that.

[jonghotti]

If you're able to mount the drive internally in your tower pc pick up an LG WH16NS60, it's a UHD Official class drive that can be updated later to enable 4K disc backup.
https://www.cdw.com/product/lg-optical- ... hd/5972012


If External is your only option buy a Buffalo slim drive again can be updated later to enable 4K disc support.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... prtbl.html

Notice, no Amazon or eBay links.

[sremick]

If you're able to mount the drive internally in your tower pc pick up an LG WH16NS60, it's a UHD Official class drive that can be updated later to enable 4K disc backup.

Sounds like a plan. I can (and prefer to) go internal. Does firmware/revision matter for this model?

[jonghotti]

If you're able to mount the drive internally in your tower pc pick up an LG WH16NS60, it's a UHD Official class drive that can be updated later to enable 4K disc backup.

Sounds like a plan. I can (and prefer to) go internal. Does firmware/revision matter for this model?

For standard blu ray I don't believe so. I'm so quick to flash these things when they come I've not tried on the latest firmware revision. I've more of these arriving Monday and can certainly check if you want to hold off ordering until then.

[sremick]

I've more of these arriving Monday and can certainly check if you want to hold off ordering until then.

That'd be great, thanks. I'm certainly in no rush. I'll hang tight until I hear back from you.

[sremick]

For standard blu ray I don't believe so. I'm so quick to flash these things when they come I've not tried on the latest firmware revision. I've more of these arriving Monday and can certainly check if you want to hold off ordering until then.

Just thought I'd follow up to see if you had had a chance to confirm the stuff you wanted to check....? Thanks!

[jonghotti]

sremick drop me an email if you get a chance alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com thank you