All Pioneer drives will be LibreDrive supported

[ThatOutlaw573]

Take this with a grain of salt. may be good news!
Shanxi Lightchain Technology could continue making optical Drives! Found this information online.

It is likely that Shanxi Lightchain Technology will continue to make optical disc drives, as they acquired Pioneer's optical disc business in April 2025. Pioneer had been one of the last major Japanese manufacturers of optical drives, and they transferred their related business to Shanxi Lightchain Technology.
Here's a more detailed explanation:

Pioneer announced in May 2025 that they were exiting the optical disc business.
They transferred their Pioneer Digital Design and Manufacturing (PDDM), which was responsible for Blu-ray, DVD, and CD drives, to Shanxi Lightchain Technology.
Pioneer is focusing on their car electronics business.
Shanxi Lightchain Technology, a subsidiary of China's Shanxi Group, is expected to continue the optical disc business.
The commercial aspects of the optical disc business will be taken over by Shanxi Lightchain Technology.
Pioneer has stated that they believe it's better for the optical disc business to advance with a new partner, according to StereoNET.

[BrianDW]

I'm wondering: Will a new SDFtool Flasher be required to flash Pioneer drives?
I never had to flash my older (2022) Pioneer drive at all. It just worked.
I did flash my Buffalo / LG drives successfully with a UHD tool a friend actually found already installed on a used laptop he bought.
He still has that software.
What is the best option for flashing Pioneer drives in the near future if flashing is required, as it seems to be?

[MrPenguin]

What is the best option for flashing Pioneer drives in the near future if flashing is required, as it seems to be?

To be honest, I only know what Mike posted at the top of this thread . I have two Pioneer drives which are affected by this update - one which is UHD-capable, and another which would need cross-flashing. And I have no idea whether Mike's flasher tool will work on Linux either. Nothing else to do but wait until Mike provides more information...

[SamuriHL]

It sounds like from what Mike said the built in SDF tool in MakeMKV command line will be used to flash the pioneer drives. This heavily suggests there'll be a new SDF.bin version released that'll contain updated code for flashing those drives. But we will have to wait and see what Mike cooks up. But if that's the case, it's like SDFTool will be updated with any new command line options required, but I didn't write it so I'll defer to the author on that. But the SDF tools are part of makemkvcon executable so should work on Linux and Mac in theory once it's updated.

[MonkeyFarmer]

Long-time lurker, first time poster...

With this news, I just purchased a BDR-212V when it popped back into stock on Amazon. I'm hoping that it will replace my LG, which can be hit or miss with UHD discs.

Here's how it shows up in MakeMKV:

Code: Select all

Drive Information
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Product: BD-RW BDR-212V
Revision: 1.02
Serial number: xxxxxxx
Firmware date: 2022-05-31
Bus encryption flags: 13
Highest AACS version: 77

LibreDrive Information
Status: Possible, not yet enabled
Drive platform: Pioneer RS8F00
Firmware version: ID06

Anyway, I've seen on other threads that this appears to be flashable now:

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=34159

That said, I'm curious if I should wait until the new "tool" is available, or if it is OK to reach out to Coopervid or BillyCar11 for the existing flashing tool? Basically, I'm just wondering if there would be any benefit to waiting.

[FeralGrizz]

Perfect timing for this announcement. I'm just in the process parting together a Plex server. Anyone have any recommendations for an internal Pioneer drive? I see there's quite a price different from top to bottom and I'm just trying to make some sense of where to begin and most of the drives in the main post seem unavailable.

[Ryushin]

Long-time lurker, first time poster...

With this news, I just purchased a BDR-212V when it popped back into stock on Amazon. I'm hoping that it will replace my LG, which can be hit or miss with UHD discs.

Anyway, I've seen on other threads that this appears to be flashable now:

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=34159

That said, I'm curious if I should wait until the new "tool" is available, or if it is OK to reach out to Coopervid or BillyCar11 for the existing flashing tool? Basically, I'm just wondering if there would be any benefit to waiting.

I just got four 212Vs to replace my four LGs after they had issues ripping some discs without errors. Pioneers have been awesome. They ripped each of the four problem discs the first time, without issues when the LGs couldn't do it after a dozen times and with me cleaning the disc within an inch of it's life. Even had it rip the most problematic disc set I have, Games of Thrones in 4K. Ripped each disc perfectly the first time. @@Coppervid sent me the firmware after a PM.

Very pleased. Flash it and don't look back.

[MartyMcNuts]

I'm wondering: Will a new SDFtool Flasher be required to flash Pioneer drives?
I never had to flash my older (2022) Pioneer drive at all. It just worked.
I did flash my Buffalo / LG drives successfully with a UHD tool a friend actually found already installed on a used laptop he bought.
He still has that software.
What is the best option for flashing Pioneer drives in the near future if flashing is required, as it seems to be?

More than likely. I am ready, though. Should hopefully only take me a couple of days to update when the time comes.

[SamuriHL]

More than likely. I am ready, though. Should hopefully only take me a couple of days to update when the time comes.

I didn't want to speak for you but I was hopeful and that's good news.

[Richard876]

HI
So just checking, but the Pioneer BDR-212V is a good drive to get to use with Makemkv ?

To use for UHD 4K