www.makemkv.com

Headbanger wrote: Tue Jan 20, 2026 11:48 am Thanks Coopervid.
What drive(s) are the 212T and 212V variants of? So confusing!

HB

Headbanger wrote: Tue Jan 20, 2026 11:48 am

Coopervid wrote: Tue Jan 20, 2026 11:29 am

Headbanger wrote: Tue Jan 20, 2026 7:11 am I found this article on the Pioneer 12 series (although not all variants are listed). Looks like they all have an identical drive with differing externals but with different capabilities enabled. Makes sense because as long as they don’t have Pioneer’s latest firmwares installed, they can all be cross flashed.

https://www.cdrinfo.pl/artykuly/artykul ... 12English/

I ordered another pro version from Scan to keep as my last resort backup should both my current 2 fail. It again came with a Pionner 212T drive now flashed as the UHD variant.

HB

The 212BK and 212DBK have a plastic laser lens instead of a glass lens. Not important for reading UHDs when crossflashed but writing performance on 3 and 4 layer discs is worse according to asmcom who performed tests for comparison.

Thanks Coopervid.
What drive(s) are the 212T and 212V variants of? So confusing!

HB

Coopervid wrote: Wed Jan 21, 2026 10:54 am

Headbanger wrote: Tue Jan 20, 2026 11:48 am

Coopervid wrote: Tue Jan 20, 2026 11:29 am

The 212BK and 212DBK have a plastic laser lens instead of a glass lens. Not important for reading UHDs when crossflashed but writing performance on 3 and 4 layer discs is worse according to asmcom who performed tests for comparison.

Thanks Coopervid.
What drive(s) are the 212T and 212V variants of? So confusing!

HB

Like said the BK and DBK use a plastic laser lens. The Vinpower 212V has some reinforced gears compared to the others as the purpose is to duplicate discs on a large scale.

Coopervid wrote: Wed Jan 21, 2026 12:37 pm I haven't analyzed which drives show as 212T. Are the ASUS limited to burn 50GB discs like the 209DBK? That would be an indication.

Headbanger wrote: Wed Jan 21, 2026 12:56 pm

Coopervid wrote: Wed Jan 21, 2026 12:37 pm I haven't analyzed which drives show as 212T. Are the ASUS limited to burn 50GB discs like the 209DBK? That would be an indication.

Not sure tbh - specs don’t state max disc size.
Are you able to tell from the specs?:
https://www.asus.com/uk/motherboards-co ... /techspec/

Edit - actually they do state quadruple layer 128GB

Write Speed (max)
BD-R : 16X
BD-R(SL, M-DISC) : 4X
BD-R(DL) : 12X
BD-R(TL) : 8X
BD-R(QL) : 6X
BD-RE : 2X
DVD+R : 16X
DVD-R : 16X
DVD+R(SL, M-DISC) : 4X
DVD+RW : 8X
DVD-RW : 6X
DVD+R(DL) : 8X
DVD-R(DL) : 8X
DVD-RAM : 5X
CD-R : 40X
CD-RW : 24X

Whereas for the 212V it is limited to DL/50GB https://www.vinpowerdigital.com/product ... r-bdr-212v

So looking at the drive variant details on cdrinfo, it looks like the 212V is likely a variant of BDR-212DBK (plastic lens) and 212T is likely a variant of BDR-S12XLT (glass lens).

HB

Vildar wrote: Sun Jan 25, 2026 9:27 am Just got this exact drive, from scan too.
It's identical to the op's.

Any chance I could possibly get some assistance aswell?

Vildar wrote: Sun Jan 25, 2026 10:07 am I have emailed you

SPoD-Man wrote: Sun Feb 08, 2026 5:50 pm Hello

I too have the same ASUS external drive as Headbanger; could someone please advise how to update this drive to allow UHD access ready for future use.

The drive MakeMKV info is as follows:

Drive Information
OS device name: G:
Manufacturer: ASUS
Product: BW-16D1H-U
Revision: E116
Serial number: .....
Firmware date: 2020-07-21
Bus encryption flags: 1B
Highest AACS version: 76

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

No disc inserted

Many thanks