Upgrade Your Blu-Ray Drive to 4K UHD FOR FREE!

[@TheBrokenTech]

I have now released the playback video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKW8hq2FrJiXp9U Be sure to check the top comment if you're having .NET errors.

[@paulgaster9071]

Important note: The tool will give a .NET error and not work unless MakeMKV is already installed. Maybe I missed it, but I did not see that mentioned.

[@TheBrokenTech]

You didn't see it because I didn't know it. I have had a few people mention .NET problems though. Now I know why! 👍 Ladies and gentleman, I preset to you, *the hero we needed.*

[@simonbrennan7283]

Hijacking this pinned comment to add an informative statement, I found on the Make MKV forums, that I believe can help future viewers; "The open secret of LG desktop drives is they're all the same hardware on the inside, just different firmware enabling or disabling 'features'. Through empirical study over the years, it has been determined that the 16NS60 1.02 firmware is the best of the bunch for LG desktop drives. The MK version is what enables LibreDrive." (Particularly if your just reading or ripping) A LibreDrive is a mode of operation of an optical disc drive (DVD, Blu-ray or UHD) when the data on the disc are accessed directly, without any restrictions or transformations enforced by drive firmware. A LibreDrive would never refuse to read the data from the disc or declare itself “revoked”. A LibreDrive compatible drive is required to read UHD discs. If you have any errors I'd suggest reading the Flashing Guide and the FAQ section there, as most issues have already been resolved by someone else. And it's generally .NET or wrong firmware.

[@gabenewelltheprotector3548]

IMPORTANT REASONS to read comments before trying. You probably saved 93 people a lot of time lol.

[@mikeyfoofoo]

I think the flasher tool is a front end that uses cmd line features provided by makemkv. I saw that on the forums somewhere.@@TheBrokenTech

[@TheSwordThain]

Thanks for posting. I was having that exact problem. I encode on my server, so I didn't have MakeMKV on this PC.

[@deltacx1059]

If I buy hardware I'm definitely going to use it to it's full capabilities regardless of what the manufacturer thinks, they lost control when they decided to sell it to me.

[@xConundrumx]

If only you knew how bad it is ...

[@FR4M3Sharma]

​@@xConundrumxApple user : What are you talking about?

[@seedney]

@@FR4M3Sharma You holding it wrong! XD

[@rogergriffin9893]

ALL manufacturers are moving towards a model of putting software in physical devices that disable it after a time period unless you continue paying access fees. "You will own nothing and be happy". That includes TVs, refrigerators, laptops, Cars, Farm Tractors, etc.

[@StacyLangenkamp]

You’re the man!! Aside from trying and trying to find drives and figure out how to flash them, little did I know I had my old lg wh14ns40 and didn’t even know it could be flashed! Followed your instructions and worked like a charm! Ripping UHD movies with MakeMKV as we speak! I can’t thank you enough!

[@TheBrokenTech]

Awesome! I'm glad to hear it and happy to have helped. 👍

[@kilowatt8401]

Just tried this on a Asus BW-16D1X-U. It’s an internal drive preinstalled with an enclosure. Bought it mainly because my PC had no internal drive bay and I wanted a good quality drive for ripping Blu-rays. I didn’t even know it could do 4K UHDs till I tried flashing it and it just worked. Thanks for this video!

[@TheBrokenTech]

Awesome! I'm glad to hear it! Just as a note for other folks: There is never a guarantee of what drive is inside of one of those factory assembled enclosures or whether or not there is firmware for them (or that it will flash successfully). This is why I recommend the approach of assembling your own whenever possible. Looking at prices right this second, that approach is about $30 more expensive, but then you know what you have. The Vantec enclosure is also pretty much bomb proof. You get good value for your extra 30 bucks just in the weight of the aluminum. 😂

[@Alistarwormwood]

I have the exact same model but it didn't work for me. It seems to run fine, just as it did before flashing but still can't read UHD. I'll keep trying though

[@Alistarwormwood]

Update: It works now! apparently the secret is to just scream and cuss at it

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@Alistarwormwood 😂

[@MSCUMACHERisthebest]

I cant flash mine as it has an Pioneer Drive it..

[@iamfinky]

This is really cool. I don't use 4K, but I'm not surprised there is an industry wide cartel

[@TheBrokenTech]

It's way, way, worse than you may realize. I'll get into that in the next video on the topic.

[@iamfinky]

@@TheBrokenTech Thanks! I look forward to seeing it.

[@ReinMixTape]

@@TheBrokenTech Looking forward to it. If it's as bad as printer makers and their barely filled yet costly replacement ink cartridges... it will be interesting.

[@lucasrem]

We call it the Blue Book, not a cartel at all, it's all open, small fees only.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@lucasrem That's not the case in the US. If we're talking about the optical Rainbow Books, the blue book here is the standard for Enhanced-CDs and nothing else. As far as the DRM on commercially produced UHD 4K discs, that is expressly related to our laws and what the entertainment industry has shoved through our legislature. It very much is a cartel that worked together to make our laws as anti-consumer as possible. The laws in most of Europe are much more sensible (as far as I can tell). I do understand that the US isn't the whole world, but that's just not how it is here. 😔

[@paolo11x11]

Great to see this. I just spent too long trying to get an external 4K burner to play 4K movie discs - but after trying every kind of semi-shady software fix I gave up and bought a standalone multizone 2K player - which actually works. The software players were all very cagey about what they could actually play, with VideoByte's 4K Blu-ray player being unable to play 4K Blu-ray discs, for example. The external burner is now a tasteful usb-powered drinks coaster.

[@TheBrokenTech]

There are reasons why all of that software is so... questionable. I'll get into that in the "playing" video. The very short version of it is if what you want to do is put a disc in a drive and simply watch a movie, a stand-alone player is probably your best option. If you want a bit more... or other things... PCs are the way.

[@attic636]

As for Blu-Rays my choice was to use AnyDVD HD driver together with free VLC-player, which does display Blu-Ray menus, but movies freeze for a while in between until they continue, as if Win10 tries to store data in a cache file. There is SSD activitiy during these interruptions. This did not happen with Windows 7. Perhaps, I should try out another version of VLC. I also tried a few other software players, but they start the main movie direct and offer no option to jump to the Blu-Ray menu and use it as in a standalone BD-player. Do you know another software player which does support original Blu-Ray menus? And which external burner is your current choice?

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@attic636 I don't have any of those issues with that combination of software (except menu support is sketchy in all of them, primarily related to Java issues). But, the cost of the drive + AnyDVD is pretty much the same as the cost of a stand-alone player. AnyDVD itself is one of those "questionable" pieces of software I had on my mind, for reasons I will explain in detail in the future. 😉 So far, I still like the ASUS in the external enclosure the best. I'm testing an LG BU40N, but it hasn't blown me away yet.

[@Kalvinjj]

@@attic636 Can't say about 4K but I've been using both Leawoo and PowerDVD 22 here for my standard BDs. Both work with any disc I've thrown at it, including discs released this year, which I can't say the same about VLC. Tried to do the whole keys thing and it played discs up until 2022 masters, anything past that it blocked me out as revoked keys. Both options I said are paid tho (unless... you go Jack Sparrow, _if you know what I mean_ ). Leawoo tho got a way better/more fair free license, it plays discs fine, menus and everything, but will show adds when paused. The downside is it's horribly slow on menus. Like, atrocious slow, feels like it bugged and didn't register until it goes multiple clicks into it. Second issue is scaling: it just doesn't default to proper 1:1 or no crop reduction, it takes a few clicks to get to proper zoom. PowerDVD tho got a crappy free 1 month trial then it stops reading BDs altogether. The advantage is that it doesn't have Leawoo's weird scaling issues, menus work just as a stand-alone machine, and it even remembers the position of the disc so you don't go through all the menus and specially FBI crap at the start when you pick it back up.

[@greggv8]

@@TheBrokenTech have you updated to the latest JAVA SDK? For some reason Oracle stopped releasing the JRE (JAVA Runtime Environment) after version 8. They for some reason still continue to issue updates to JRE 8.x but the SDK (Software Development Kit) is up to version 20 or higher. I had to dump JRE and switch to JDK in order to get a commandline Android ADB backup file extractor to work, because it was built with JAVA SDK 11 that has functions not in JAVA 8. What's the difference between JRE and SDK? The SDK has the extra files needed to write JAVA apps so it installed some more stuff nobody just wanting to run JAVA apps will ever use. Dunno why the Windows JAVA download page on the Oracle site mentions nothing at all about this. It's almost like they're trying to kill off JAVA while simultaneously they've been continuously working in it since version 8.

[@zbluebox]

Randomly came across this video. Nice tutorial. Glad to see someone local is making videos like this.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Thanks! Local..? Where ya at?

[@13BulliTs]

@@TheBrokenTech Same, the Netherlands

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@13BulliTs That's not quite so local to me, but I'm glad to see you! 👍

[@OddOttAllen]

ended up finding the same Asus drive open-box on ebay last week, manufactured only a couple months after the one in the video! picked it up as well as the enclosure and i got my first 4K blu-ray ripping onto my hard drive currently :) thanks for this dude, you get a sub from me

[@TheBrokenTech]

Sweet! I'm glad it worked out for you! 👍

[@jimcooper78]

Thank you. I just flashed my LG WH14NS40 and the process went exactly like your video showed.

[@TheBrokenTech]

I'm glad to hear it. Hopefully Santa brought you some 4Ks to watch! 👍

[@HalfDizzy]

Thanks!

[@TheBrokenTech]

Thank YOU! I appreciate your support! 👍

[@CustomRCmodels]

man , I am thrilled ! - been getting me 2x slim external 4K UD drives , but all of my computers miss this SGX stuff ... I been using also makeMKV , but kind a got lost in these posts about firmware flashing ..... I watched your other video first , and then this here - ha , I am rolling now - one is an LG drive , the other one is an Archgon will do that one later - but so far it reads me from the LG drive via makeMKV without error - big thumbs up ! Thanks a lot - and I have to say , buy just watching only these 2 videos from you , you explain and show very well - keep up the great work

[@TheBrokenTech]

Thanks a lot! I'm glad you enjoyed the videos! 👍

[@lookn2find]

I really appreciate you doing this! I bought the Asus on your recommendation. It came in today, I just flashed it, and right away it can read my 4K discs! Thank you! Now I can finally back up my library.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Glad I could help! 👍

[@ChrisRussell99]

I wish they would make & allow 4K Blu-Ray disc capabilities in Desktop drives. I have the Asus drive I got for $80 a couple years ago & I currently use it to play Blu-Ray & 4K Blu-Ray movies. I learned so much about how difficult it is to just PLAY a movie, it honestly feels like someone is actively discouraging the idea.

[@TheBrokenTech]

They do allow that: With the right hardware and licensed software. You're not wrong in that "they" did intentionally remove that hardware from the market and make it impossible on purpose. That's pretty exactly what happened. That's what prompted me to make this series. 😏

[@jollygoodfellow3957]

Rip to your pc with MakeMKV, and put it on a Plex server. The benefits of physical and streaming in one place.

[@patrickday4206]

They want you to buy a license online for a movie so they can later revoke it 😮

[@daskampffredchen]

Getting that LG Drive without any prior knowledge was super lucky. Everytime I look through compatibility lists it is in there

[@TheBrokenTech]

It also helps that there are only about 5 drives being sold on the market anymore. 😉

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

It is, but it's not exactly unprecedented. Early DVDs often didn't have CSS on them, and sometimes the drives didn't respect region locking due to the incompatible video standards at the time and few people having the storage space to copy the discs.

[@Jideaohn]

Literally. Have seen that exact drive in a video referring to optimal OD's to rip CD based games. Who woulda thought some random ass LG OD would be so vital in preserving and digitizing media

[@DigitalDiabloUK]

I didn't realise the PC drives couldn't read 4k. Doesn't make any sense because surely it's just a bitstream read of the data on the disc and the player software does the decoding legwork.

[@TheBrokenTech]

You're absolutely correct. It's all because of DRM.

[@minipicc95]

It worked for me on my first try yesterday after I got an ASUS BW-16D1HT Drive in the mail Wednesday!!! You are the best!!!

[@jesseduran7353]

Thanks for the video! I was able to successfully update my LG WH14NS40, but not without some issues, through no fault of your video. First I couldn't get the drive to be recognized in Windows. After a complete teardown of the Vantec enclosure, it turns out they soldered a chip incorrectly so not all legs were making contact. Thankfully I have some soldering skills and was able to resolder the chip. I then had the .NET error that others experienced, but installing MakeMKV solved that issue. Looking forward to the next video!

[@TheBrokenTech]

Thanks for watching it! 👍 I'm sorry to hear you had trouble. I have several Vantec products now and haven't had any quality issues, but I suppose pobody's nerfect. 🙃

[@aaronreynolds2521]

Worked like charm! Thank you for the info.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Great to hear!

[@Mike__B]

This definitely has vibes of using a hole punch to turn a 5.25" floppy into a double sided disk

[@TheBrokenTech]

True, but slightly more reliable. 😂

[@MeppyMan]

I never had a 5.25” single sided made into double fail. 🤣

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@MeppyMan Man... You guys are making me feel like I missed out. I went straight from 360K to 1.44mb and only heard stories from others. 😆

[@broderp]

I'm betting not many remember the floppy drives let alone that trick (they even sold a tool to do it). 😂

[@tastymonkey]

@@broderp I remember doing that with the 3.5" and the 5.25". I did it more on the 3.5" though since those were more reliable than the 5.25". I was born in 1978 and have worked with computers since the late 80s or so.

[@PAPO1990]

The ASUS drives were the same, WAAAAY back, they were UHD friendly out the box, then they changed the firmware, but people then started flashing it, THEN they changed it again to make them harder to flash, so you couldn't just flash the old firmware onto them, you had to put a "newer" custom firmware on there instead, or maybe flash it custom, THEN flash it back, I don't quite recall. But it did take a little while for the flashers to catch up with each change.

[@TheBrokenTech]

That sounds pretty much in-line with my general understanding of events, but wow is it ever hard to figure out that out when you're starting in 2023. 😆 Fortunately things seem much easier today as there are many brand new drives that are easily supported.

[@PAPO1990]

@@TheBrokenTech yeah, there was a period where it was pretty rough, and quite confusing. but it's pretty manageable now, especially with the flashing tools having improved so much.

[@Pypical]

I'm still researching all of the information before I decide if I'm going to 3.02 or 3.10MK (Mine is 3.03 it was BRAND NEW IN BOX at a garage sale for $5)

[@wiiu7640]

But why do this? Like I get it, corporations are greedy and want you to pay more for a 4k drive, but there has to be a practical reason for making them incompatible on a firmware level. Drivers, maybe? 4k blurays are harder to read, so maybe they do this to list specific life expectations as the mechanisms ware out and dirtier drives may struggle to read the disc more. It's just overall a very weird scenario, since they technically work.

[@PAPO1990]

@ it’s just a copy protection thing. You aren’t supposed to be able to play 4K BD’s without meeting a bunch or requirements that prevent copying.

[@iamtheju]

This is so helpful! I had no idea you could do this. I work at a cinema and from time to time when you book a showing of something that isnt current you have to buy the Blu-ray yourself. I always want them in 4K so i can convert them to cinema format in the best quality, but I only have a regular BR drive. Will certainly be getting one of these now.

[@TheBrokenTech]

I had no idea there were theaters that just show regular old physical discs so today we both learned something!

[@LaNoturna1115]

They wonder why cinema is dying lmfao

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@LaNoturna1115 ...a "no cell phones" policy, punishable by summary execution, would be enough to get me to return to the theater. 😁

[@MegaManNeo]

Very interesting. I purchased one of the LG variants to rip my BDs and PS3 games. Having the option to rip 4k now gives me so many more options even if all I have are 720p and 1080p panels. Certainly won't hurt in the long run. Thanks for showcasing this.

[@TheBrokenTech]

FWIW, I discovered that you can play the 4K disc content back over a 1080 screen once it's ripped. The software just dithers it down and you don't even notice. I was surprised by how nice it looked.

[@BTW...]

@@TheBrokenTech Couldn't you just use a 4K TV as a monitor? Is there a similar 'All Region' BluRay mod possible?

[@TheBrokenTech]

@ Yes, that's very literally what I do. I don't own a 4K monitor. Just TVs. This hack lifts the region restrictions too, or at least I'm pretty sure it does.

[@BTW...]

@ Yeah, whats the point of a 15" - 24" 4K monitor anyway. 4K is best for large +55" screen format.

[@MegaManNeo]

@@BTW... bigger number must mean better!!1!1!

[@nathan_tasker]

Very good video mate. I immediately subscribed and I will be getting an LG drive in the next few days so I can flash it for my PC. I look forward to watching your other videos.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Awesome! Good luck with it!

[@craigmurray4746]

I have 2 drives in my PC - one a decade old LG drive that has absolutely gorgeous styling vs the normal plain drives and 1 very recent 4K official Pioneer drive. The hysterical thing is that whilst I own a huge library of Blu-rays, I've never once watched one on my PC, always use my dedicated player in the lounge. Officially playing 4K disks on modern PC's is also officially impossible, though not technically of course

[@TheBrokenTech]

_Officially,_ you are absolutely right. The rest of the answer I need to carefully consider before publishing it. 👍

[@craigmurray4746]

@thebrokentech8132 Yeah, it's a bit of a minefield legally speaking, though it should never have been that way. I don't know who I blame more - Intel or the forum who maintain the spec, but either way they killed any chance of UltraHD Blu-ray being a thing on PC.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@craigmurray4746 This is squarely on the shoulders of "Hollywood" and the US government. ...and it's more of a thing than you may think. It just requires careful explanation.

[@noe3024]

@@craigmurray4746 The BDA, among other entities, demand that there is a SECURE ENCRYPTED link between player and device, and that no-one tapping on that link should be able to externally decode, decrypt, and siphon off the precious original 4k UHD from a spinning blu-ray disc. HDMI fulfills that on set tops. But in a computer, only a 7th to 10th generation intel CPU with its onboard GPU and enabled SGX can fulfill the same. PCIe GPUs, no matter how sophisticated, need not apply because "the PCIe bus presents a possible unencrypted point where the 4k UHD content can be tapped off". 4k UHD blu-ray powers-that-be are hellbent on the DRM they are utterly indifferent to the crashingly complicated minefield that is 4k UHD blu-ray playback on a wretched computer system. The irony is, an expensive payware AnyDVD HD can decrypt (most) blu-ray volumes (FHD and UHD) and it sits there in all its unencrypted glory, with apps like VLC making quick work of it. But a single AnyDVD HD key costs as much as mid-tier blu-ray player. So there.

[@mewimi]

Nothing a tool or two can't cure.

[@ScoutReaper-zn1rz]

Thanks man! I successfully flashed mine (LG) and it worked! EDIT: I also did it on Windows 7 without any problems for anyone wondering.

[@TheBrokenTech]

I quite suspect the GUIFlasher would work all the way back to XP. I may try that next time. 😂

[@MarvinParnell]

Thanks a ton man, My LG drive flashed just fine. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy lol! Awesome tutorial.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Awesome! I love it when a plan comes together! 👍

[@varese501]

Very nice guide, I am now the proud owner of a flashed LG WH14NS40 drive - thank you !. In case other’s come across my issue - I didn’t have a USB drive enclosure to hand, so I initially connected the drive to a SATA > USB cable (Powered with a 12v DC adaptor) which I had lying around. The drive was recognised by SDTool and MKV, they displayed all the information about my drive - however when pressing start after selecting the firmware or trying to read existing firmware - nothing happened. I guess this is down to the type of cable / adaptor used which in my case did not allow the firmware commands to be processed to the drive. So plugging my drive directly into my PC / motherboard SATA connector without the adaptor worked fine and was able to flash the drive . My SATA > USB adaptor cable works fine for reading/ripping my now flashed drive - it just couldn’t be used to apply the firmware.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Thanks! It might be good to know what cable you were using so others can avoid it. 👍

[@varese501]

@@TheBrokenTech Yeah the cable adaptor I own is branded 'BENFEI' and is a standard 12v powered SATA III > USB cable - probably best to invest in a dedicated USB enclosure I guess.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@varese501 I have a similar cable from Vantec. It's a SATA/IDE combo thing and it's the _only_ one I've ever used that actually worked for IDE drives. If I have another optical drive to flash, I'll try it out and see how it goes.

[@riverwolf695]

Something I found with the LG is that, if you flash it with the same firmware that you dump. It unlock the drive, if the drive is lock, and it read 4k too for reason

[@TheBrokenTech]

Interesting... The one and only time I tried to restore a drive to its factory firmware, the dump was apparently no good. 🤷‍♂️

[@Azagthoth12]

I have been terrified to try this, but following your video made it easy and painless. Thanks so much!

[@TheBrokenTech]

Glad I could help! 👍

[@jn1211]

the intro about how the manufacturers just don't want you watching 4k content on your computer hits right in the feels. I am a disabled compter user and my computer is where i consume all my media and do all my socializing. just trying to watch 4k content in general is such a nightmare. it feels like no matter how many different tricks and apps, i'm always getting a slightly blurry version. then when i switch over to the inbuilt tv app for netflix it looks awesome, but then the audio suffers because the audio on my pc is far superior. I've gotten the audio solution at least 75% solved via optical to rca converter, but the DAC itself that puts the audio out from the tv is lacking. ugh.. i went to ranting about 4k to ranting about audio because the dang netflix pc app is trash.

[@KORUPTable]

I feel for you, I feel like pirating 4k versions of the stuff I already own is not a crime.. but it's the only way to watch some content in 4k on pc

[@TheBrokenTech]

The playback has become easier than what you may have experienced, but it's not "simple". This has to be a separate video... Digital audio in an HDMI world can also be a pain. Depending on what you're trying to do, you may consider keeping it digital until it comes back to the PC. For a long time I was using a HDMI to Toslink Y-converter for similar reasons. In my case I was sending the Toslink to a receiver, but you could bring it back to your PC with either an upgraded sound card or maybe a USB dongle of some kind.

[@DimitriMoreira]

​@@KORUPTableif you already own it then you already gave the company their owed money so it's not pirating.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@DimitriMoreira That laws about that vary from place to place all over the world. It's probably for the best if none of us make any assumptions in any direction.

[@DimitriMoreira]

@@TheBrokenTech I'm not making assumptions and I know the law varies. I do know, however, that every single place uses the same base argument for that specific law and that is: pirating is stealing. So whether your country says you need to own a copy or make a dump of the original content yourself, one thing is clear: if you gave them your money, you didn't steal anything. Since the premise for the argument is no longer valid, whether the law is still applicable or not is a matter of how much that country wants to stop pirating entirely, which in this case is completely on the other side of the road against archiving owned media. And archiving media is what the comment I was responding to was about. So there's that.

[@nightwingzero8905]

Two thumbs up for this awesome tutorial, I just recently got an LG external Blu-ray player, but this is the thing I have been looking for since I got it, now I can finally see my 4K movies. Thank you so much for this.

[@TheBrokenTech]

You're very welcome. 👍

[@troyBORG]

I have the drive on the left. The LG drive. And I've used it to rip 4k movies. Mostly there was some imax special I wanted and they only released it in 4k.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Some of those IMAX features are pretty extraordinary. You might like the Planet Earth series too. The visuals are mind blowing.

[@oddworlddude]

I bought the ASUS drive and enclosure that you showed here, only my drive was made in July 2023, but it still flashed successfully and it has just read my 4K UHD of Alien! Thanks so much you legend!

[@TheBrokenTech]

I'm glad to hear it worked out well!

[@methamphetamelon]

I started getting kind of excited at the possibility of being able to read UHD discs with my existing drive (WH14NS40) then I thought about how long I've had it (it doesn't look like the one(s) you show). I tried SDFTool and it has a red X for the MT1959 bit. So I pulled the drive out. Manufactured March 2014. Womp womp.

[@TheBrokenTech]

That's a bummer. 2 of mine are like that too, built in 2015 I think. I believe _some_ of them that old will just play 4Ks natively. Neither of mine do. 😔 If it's any consolation, I don't think drives with that chipset have been manufactured in many years. You shouldn't get bit twice if you're still interested in trying it.

[@methamphetamelon]

Yeah. I may buy a newer drive, I honestly hardly use this one. It has probably ripped a handful of CDs and BDs in its lifetime. I specifically bought it because it was supposed to be one of the better choices for ripping, etc. but as seems to be the usual, my buying/building with the future in mind rarely ends up being necessary. I will say this at least got me to pull the drive out and disassemble it to figure out why the tray would eject and then mostly fail to pull back in. Functions fine now despite me not doing much more than a bunch of repeated manual ejects/closes.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@methamphetamelon Heh... My future plans were also why I bought my drives in 2015, only to start using for 4K in 2023 and discover they didn't work. 😂 Oh well... Fate is a cruel and mysterious mistress. If they had worked, I probably wouldn't have started this series on KZbin and discovered a shocking amount of people that are also interested in it. I would have never guessed.

[@werecow68]

Your video was very helpful, thanks for sharing the steps and links to get everything going!

[@TheBrokenTech]

Thanks! I'm glad to hear it!

[@aarongreenfield9038]

The title kind of reminded me of those old scams that tried to sell you Ram through downloads or software, except this one works.

[@TheBrokenTech]

It's better than the spam emails I get, which are getting more prophetic as I grow older. 😂

[@lucasrem]

Great you did video on these updates, did this years ago, i have been flashing these drives since the late 1980 years. Kees Schouhamer Immink fanboy here ! Red book, blue book etc, great standard it still is. Streaming is not for all... The PC Bay Blu-ray players own control system has to be updated to understand the UHD and BDXL specifications on the disks, not changing anything at all, all the Codecs are handled by the PC system, not by these players, this works.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Yep. We're just giving the drive the opportunity to read the entire disc with these changes. What the software does with that information is up to whatever the software decides.

[@Marcello-m2y]

Thank you so much for this very interesting video!!! I stream and play DVDs only through my desktop computer connected to a TV and was curious how to start with blu-ray / 4k uhd on PC. Subscribed !! 👍👍👍

[@TheBrokenTech]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. 👍

[@DankerTVTimeCapsule]

now if you can do one for region freeing them this would make things perfect.

[@TheBrokenTech]

This is also that. Also, 4K Blu-rays don't have regions. 😉

[@Stilkdog]

​@@TheBrokenTechnot entirely true, there are a handful of 4k movies that came with region locks which is a horrible thing to see pop up, but yes a majority of them will have no region locks which is a big reason I like 4K discs.

[@khangphamchannel016]

Thanks for this tutorial, I was able to flash my LG Blu-ray drive to be readable with the 4K discs now:))

[@TheBrokenTech]

Sweet! 👍

[@Stellerex]

Thanks! Can you maybe do an updated video for external BR players too such as the ASUS SBW-06D2X-U? I'll do some more checking around the forum if theres anything on it.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Thanks for watching! 👍 _Probably_ not... It's been my experience that the performance of an internal drive, in an external enclosure, is so vastly superior to a 9.5mm drive that I'm just not interested them. For people who want to travel with their disc based 4K content available, I suggest ripping them down to local storage. That will become a topic on the channel in the near-ish future.

[@vi_EviL_iv]

You can always get the internal and buy an external kit so you can use it as external. My Lian Lee Evo as you know it has no DVD drive slot so I use a by Vantec with Asus blue ray drive.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Turns out that you're in luck... I did some additional research and it appears that there is an LG 9.5mm drive* that is not only supposed to be quite good, but excellent. I just ordered one, so... "probably not" only lasted about two weeks. 😂 *I ordered the internal version of that drive, but there are several external versions that have the same drive inside and people claim they're also great. I'll cover that in the video.

[@Stellerex]

Sweet! Thanks lots man. I'll pick me up an internal drive soon to do the procedure you covered. Pretty dang cool if you ask me@@TheBrokenTech

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@Stellerex I'm glad you liked the video! 👍

[@shegocrazy]

Brilliant. A real easy to follow tutorial.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Thanks!

[@Synthematix]

I have an M-Disc LG blueray recorder in my htpc, ive only ever used it for os backups, however theyre a really handy tool to have for music archival too.

[@TheBrokenTech]

M-DISC is way too expensive for me. Hard drives are so much less expensive that I just have sets of mirrored HDDs for backups instead. It's an interesting technology though.

[@Synthematix]

Yea, but I learned the hard way that Hdds can fail without warning ⚠ it’s a good idea to have your important backups on at least 2 types of media @@TheBrokenTech

[@lucasrem]

@@TheBrokenTech Historical DATA, these Blu-Ray disks are the best, restoring 20 year old data without any issues. HDD, you can never trust them on Historical DATA, they just die too easy, and then your data is gone, or too hard to restore. If one of my historical DATA disks fails, if can restore the DATA in a raw format, use algorithms to repair the missing data, making a new ISO, but non of them failed me.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Guys... I said "mirrored", that means I have 2 sets of my data duplicated across 2 different HDDs. This is still less than half the cost of what it would take to do it with optical discs and a single failure will not result in any data loss. In the future I'll be building a RAID array on the channel, which will also be mirrored by a second RAID array. This will still be less expensive than optical discs.

[@skypallman6169]

​@@TheBrokenTech just caught the Western digital 18 TB easy store external hard drives for $199 ea.... I'm about to shuck them and run them internally instead. There is a trick you have to pull with the 3rd pin on there sata power cable...but every way is deff not hard! Apparently it is supposed to be identical or at least really close to the WD red drives. 18tb for 200 instead of +350...yes please haha. Might see if I can use old external case for my Blu-ray drive!😂😂

[@syntaxxing1809]

OMG, i don't know how to thank you. You saved Christmas for me and my Family.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Wow! Glad I could help! 👍

[@TedBackus]

you COULD do it this way, but ive had great results by simple inserting a slice of cured genoa salami in the blueray disc tray, close it (using the command for close, not by pushing it in, or by using the button), then eject the salami (must be genoa), and after which your drive will be cured🥁

[@TheBrokenTech]

...he'll be here all week, folks. Remember to tip your servers.

[@DanielCoffey67]

Phew those Vantec enclosures are getting hard to find in the UK! In the end since the one UK eBay seller was closed for the New Year holidays I ended up ordering from Amazon US. They handle all the customs dues and tax for you and the shipping is around two weeks. Price is a little less than it would be in the UK but at the moment there are no reputable sellers with stock at comparable prices. Some folks are even asking over £90 on eBay and similar. My ASUS was labelled as April 2023 manufacture and came with the MT1959 chip and 3.11 firmware. MakeMKV said that out of the box it was Libre capable but not enabled. As per the video above a quick reflash with the 3.10 firmware and MakeMKV knew the drive was Libre, all regions and AACS up to 81. Thank you for the easy video.

[@TheBrokenTech]

I could have never predicted this video would become so popular that it attracted an international audience. That's been something new for me and something I'll try to pay better attention to in the future. More than a few European watchers have had different hardware available to them that I didn't consider. FWIW, Amazon UK works well in the US too. I've imported a handful of things that way and it all ended up being very affordable in the end. Awesome! I'm glad to hear you got your drive prepared without any issues! 👍

[@DanielCoffey67]

@@TheBrokenTech Oh and for the UK folks buying the Vantec enclosure, be prepared that it will almost certainly ship with a US power adapter, not any form of UK one. It just needs a normal 12V centre-positive barrel jack of between 2.0 and 3.0A. The ASUS drive is labelled as needing 12V 2.0A

[@LUNATIC75]

I did this early last year (or even back in late '21) with a WH14NS40. Worked just fine, playback and ripping... and still does now. Nothing beats that feeling of dread when flashing firmware! But sticking it to "the man" makes it worthwhile. 😄

[@TheBrokenTech]

I have multiple WS14NS40s flashed and running too. 🍻

[@enitalp]

I watched again last weekend, Appaloosa, a Western with Ed Harris, and the sound is as good as I remembered. A hidden gem?

[@TheBrokenTech]

A gem for sure, but I'm not sure how hidden. Appaloosa is pretty well known and I'd argue that's how Ed Harris ended up with his role on Westworld... in which he was excellent.

[@jordannyc2769]

Biggest takeaway for me: there are people who still use hardware drives to watch 4k content

[@TheBrokenTech]

I'm as surprised as anyone by the popularity of this topic.

[@Psythik]

Yeah seriously; I haven't used optical media in at least 15 years. My last 3 PC cases didn't even have a disc drive slot. I mean why bother, when I can instantly stream any blu ray I want to my PC or smart TV for free? And in original quality with no re-encoding, thanks to gigabit internet speeds. It's way too easy to "obtain" any movie you want in the modern era without spending a dime. The only thing you need is an internet connection and some tech-savvyness.

[@GizmosGameLounge]

If you are having issues while in an enclosure, direct connect it to sata from the motherboard. some of the enclosures and adapters are funky. Also the LG wh16NS40 flashes to the WH16NS60_1.02_MK. can confirm from use and the forums. 2/12/24 working as intended

[@TheBrokenTech]

This is why I only recommend products that I've personally tested. Usually the stuff you see in these videos I've been testing for months and months before uploading. So far, the Vantec enclosure has been bullet-proof.

[@BigTime817]

Of course I find this after I bought a $350 4k player! Now I just want to try it!

[@TheBrokenTech]

Heh... I too have a stand-alone 4K player. You'll see in future episodes that it's not quite as easy as simply dropping a disc into your PC and playing it. So, your dedicated player may still give you a lot of service in the future.

[@lucasrem]

BigTimes This is for PC BAY players only, PC needs to do all the encoding. What Home TV player you bought, Sony, non HDR ?

[@BigTime817]

@@lucasrem I bought a Sony. But I have a gaming PC hooked up to the same tv. No big deal, the player does a great job and plays nice with my Sony tv.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@BigTime817 Mine is also a Sony. It's been fine. 👍

[@mattsanchez4893]

I really enjoyed this video and want to thank you and all the people out there who make these upgrades possible. My only question and it may be a dumb one is now it will read the 4k discs, but does it also play them in 4k?

[@TheBrokenTech]

You're very welcome. Thanks for watching! 👍 The drive is capable of playing 4K discs. What happens on your screen is up to the playback software, your PC, your monitor, etc. I'll get more into those details in later videos. The _very_ short answer is "yes". 😉

[@dodgem259]

Point to note, the software used in the video will only flash a limited few bluray drives, not every drive can be flashed. Secondly there is very very limited bluray programs that can play 4k discs and the reason for that is Intel stopped supporting 4k in it's latest chips. I believe it has something to do with DRM and the reason Intel dropped supporting DRM is because it contains a few backdoors that can let in hackers which would mean hackers could get direct root access to the Intel processor which would be devastating for those using Intel cpu's that supported it. From what I have learnt, 4k is supported in 7th gen to 10th Intel CPU's only. Due to the hacking risk of DRM, Intel removed support in 11th gen and onwards so anyone wanting to use their newly flashed drive will not only need a CPU that supports 4k but also a graphics card which means for many an expensive upgrade of their computer.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Your first point is accurate. I would say there are 3-5 drives that are popular for this purpose that are being sold today. I showed 2 in this video with a 3rd on the way. Your other points are less accurate. Playback of the discs is pretty much no big deal. It's that you have to use unlicensed software. This is what I'll be covering the follow-up on this topic. Also, 4K output has been a standard feature on basic Intel Graphics for quite some time now. If you want HDR support, you may need a GPU upgrade (and there are other reasons to consider that path as well), but as a general rule I'd say if your CPU is 11th gen or newer, you already have HDR support too. Again, this will be covered in the future. 😉

[@noe3024]

@@TheBrokenTech "...4K output has been a standard feature on basic Intel Graphics for quite some time now..." is not an/the issue. The issue is 4k UHD DRM demands a SECURE DIRECT link between disc and display, and only intel UHD onboard graphics 7th to 10th gen has it by way of enabled SGX. NO PCIe GPUs, no matter how sophisticated, can play and output a spinning 4k UHD blu-ray disc as I know it so far, and that is because the PCIe bus presents an "open unencrypted link, the point where the decoded decrypted sweet precious original copyrighted 4k UHD can be intercepted and siphoned off by enterprising pirate people", as per a cyberlink powerDVD missive, the latter remaining the only viable legal app to tinker with, regarding 4k UHD blu-ray playback. Cyberlink has in fact told enthusiasts "sorry if you want 4k UHD blu-ray playback, you gotta stick with 7th to 10th intel onboard GPUs". Eff off to owners of swanky nvidia rtx4090ti, we are implicitly told. I imagine an alternate approach where the 4k UHD volume is decrypted with, say, AnyDVD HD, and laid bare for any app (VLC?) to play. Is that possible? Is this what you are hinting at? AnyDVD is not freeware, if that.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@noe3024 You can play the discs with unlicensed software. Cyberlink sells licensed software. So... who cares what they say? I wouldn't ask a traffic cop about the speed limit at the Indy 500. As far as what software you use, there are various free and paid options. AnyDVD combined with VLC _sounds like_ an amazing suggestion. For certain people living in some parts of the world, that's probably a great idea. For some of the rest of us, we would have to pretend that something like that might work... I'll be discussing that potentially fictional scenario (and others) in a future video... carefully.

[@ghostofdre]

​@@TheBrokenTechI think the question around ultra 4k and DRM is correct. Neither current green AMD or Intel processor have the necessary hardware support for the DRM. There may be 3rd party solutions, you could rip them but I think you want to try direct playback off disc. Looking forward to your next video

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@ghostofdre I mean... I already let the cat out of the bag here in as much as is possible without the next installment of the video explaining it in more detail. Direct playback off of the disc is possible with the right combination of unsupported software and hardware... if the law allows that where you live. I hope to have the next video out this week. 👍

[@EliteRock]

I stopped playing discs of any kind over a decade ago - ALL CD's, DVD's and BRD's I buy are immediately ripped and added to my library for playback in F2K, Kodi or whatever - people who rely on streaming don't know the fantastic ease of browsing a local media library, particularly the literally instantaneous response - FF, RWD, skipping and resuming (not all movies deserve my attention for their entire duration ;-). I can't even imagine going back to playing discs OR relying on streaming for that matter. Hence an optical drive (preferably internal) has been a must for me for over 20 years. Don't need or want 4K movies BTW (pointless on a screen smaller than about six feet), but I guess I might occasionally end up with a UHD version of something and your flashing walk-thru might come in handy.

[@TheBrokenTech]

That's pretty much my feeling on all of it as well, except I do aspire to have a screen over 6 feet (my current screen is, literally, 6 feet wide 😂), so, a 4K collection is nice to have around. As regards screen size, I can tell you that somewhere around 100" diagonal is where 4K starts to become an obvious answer. I've simulated ~170" and its _very_ obvious, to the point of necessity, versus 1080. Since that's where I wanna go, this is where I'm starting.

[@frommatorav1]

I have a 65" LG C1 OLED and 4k UHD is noticeably better than 1080p. The picture is so good, it makes me want to re-watch movies I've seen before. On my previous 4k TV, I didn't find it worth the extra HDD or SSD space to save 2160p files, instead of 1080p. What a difference a great TV makes.

[@ReinMixTape]

I had no idea that not all bluray drives could not read the larger bluray 4k movie discs. The more you know I guess. When I need to put together a new PC I'll buy one of those flashable ones.

[@TheBrokenTech]

I don't really think UHD Blu-ray and regular Blu-ray should have shared the same name. From what I can tell, just about everything about both formats is different. It's pretty misleading from a customer perspective. Also... This is a dying technology. The drives I mentioned in the video have been on the market, in one version or another, for nearly 10 years already and probably won't be around forever. If you really want one, now is probably the time.

[@ReinMixTape]

@@TheBrokenTech Quite likely... it's like how PC cases are moving towards removing all drive bays and having glass panel fronts stuffed with RGB lit fans that get little air flow.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@ReinMixTape Yep. I went out of my way on my last build to use a case that had basically none of that stuff and my audience pretty much completely ignored it. 😂 That said, the external drive videos have done extremely well.

[@jimbotron70]

It's an artificial limitation imposed by manufacturers, technically they share the same guts, only the video coding format and decoding differ.

[@EliteRock]

@@ReinMixTape ​ @ReinMixTape Yeh, I decided on a Fractal Design Define for my last build (about two years ago) and had to go for the older R5 instead of the then-current R6 because they deleted the (two) 5.25" bays in the latter. I use both bays BTW, the second for a hot-swap SATA HDD bay.

[@G7LWT]

Great video - thanks for sharing! The expressive hand movements remind me of "Thing" from the Addams Family :-)

[@TheBrokenTech]

Thanks for watching! 👍 Believe me... I've been called worse. 🤣

[@gradertfamilymakes]

Is this because of a license they have to pay to enable 4k discs or a marketing ploy to get you to pay more? Also, goodwill is a good place to find 4k drives in my experience.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Ehhh.. Sorta. I'll give the whole history of it in the next video on the topic.

[@Majeskty]

Very nice video of the process! Does the installation pack cover Sony Blu-Ray Burner Drives? Any issues flashing a Sony Drive? Thank You!

[@TheBrokenTech]

I'm not aware of any support for Sony drives. 😔

[@Majeskty]

@@TheBrokenTech Thanks for the information. Have a good New Year!

[@middle_pickup]

Thanks for the video. Btw, what enclosure are you using? Does it rip discs at the same speed as a SATA connection, or is it noticeably slower?

[@TheBrokenTech]

You're welcome. Thanks for watching it! 👍 The links for everything, including the video I did about the enclosure (and speed testing it) are all in the description. The short version is that it's a Vantec and it's as fast as SATA. In fact, I have 7 drives USB connected (which will be a future video) and the bottle neck for speed is the mechanical hard drive they write to. 😆

[@Kani8122]

So hold on... is UHD BD just a glorified BD that can *technically* be read by any BD drive, if it weren't for some bullshit firmware that's intentionally shitty for the sake of making "legacy BD" artificially obsolete?

[@TheBrokenTech]

In function, as the PC hardware market exists today, I think that's pretty much the sum of it. In reality, I'm more inclined to believe that all PC blu-ray drives just became 4K hardware with backward compatibility, nerfed for copy protection/licensing reasons, and released with different firmwares for each use case. Today I don't think you can even buy these drives as "official" 4K drives anymore, so, we have no choice.

[@NMRH258]

Always has been. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are nothing more than multilayer BDs (50GB) and BDXLs (100GB), just formatted with different encryption containers.

[@OriginalDubb]

I've done this and matched everything 100%. Correct model of drive and all. My system would ALWAYS fail to open disc.

[@TheBrokenTech]

I have an entire video about playback. It's in the linked comment. That said, AnyDVD is now defunct.

[@FunkatronicGeek]

I discovered a few years back that the drive I had been using supported UHD discs out of the box. I hope it lasts a while before I need to replace it

[@TheBrokenTech]

Right now the LG drives are only about 60 bucks and LG just discontinued all of their set-top players. If you actually use your drive for 4K, you may consider getting a spare to have around. I've also run into many discs where one drive of mine would read it while another would not, with no rhyme or reason, so having a few drives around never hurts.

[@FunkatronicGeek]

@@TheBrokenTech Probably what I'll do. I'm using and LG UH12NS40 and it reads most anything I throw at it. I'm not picky with HD vs UHD and I don't actually have anything that can display 4k but I have a few UHD discs lying around that I've ripped for my Plex setup

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@FunkatronicGeek IMO, HD vs. UHD doesn't really pay off until you get into screen sizes over 75" _or_ the new 4K scan of the source material is a big upgrade for some reason. Regular HD blu-rays are a lot more forgiving to read than than UHD discs. So... if you're not likely to ever be in the 4K camp, you'll prob ably have a pretty simple time with your stuff.

[@Falorepus]

I have tried it with the ASUS and it works perfect. THX for the Video

[@TheBrokenTech]

You're very welcome. 👍

[@KarthikChalvadi-s7z]

Can they burn 4k I have lg UH12NS30 What version of firmware do I need to flash to it

[@TheBrokenTech]

Theoretically they can burn 4Ks, but they're so expensive that I don't recommend it. It's cheaper to just hand someone a 128gb USB stick. This is a topic I will likely cover in a future video. It appears your drive is not supported. 😔

[@KarthikChalvadi-s7z]

@@TheBrokenTech Thank you for your reply. The UH12NS30 is not compatible with the 4k I’m looking for other 4k disk drive should I go with LG BP60NB10 which is 170$ I don’t wanna send that much I’m looking for the drives that you mentioned in the video which one should I go that can do the job as LG BP60NB10.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@KarthikChalvadi-s7z I still prefer the full-size drives for longevity, but if you want to have a slim I suggest the LG BU40N. I will have a video about it soon, including placing it in an external enclosure.

[@WeberEnthusiast]

Great video , thanks for sharing 👍👍

[@TheBrokenTech]

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching! 👍

[@RobertR3750]

Did this with a Pioneer drive. Works well. My computer has no problem playing the files with Kodi or MPC H64 running MadVR.

[@TheBrokenTech]

I'm glad to hear it! 👍

[@Hombre1jp]

I also have a Pioneer Drive BD-RW BDR-208D and was wondering which firmware did you use to flash it?

[@RobertR3750]

@@Hombre1jp My drive is the Pioneer BDR-XS07S. I have no idea if your drive can be flashed to do this. It only works with certain drives.

[@Hombre1jp]

@@RobertR3750 Thanks for the quick reply, guess I'll pass for now and not risk bricking my drive.

[@Jideaohn]

a 4k optical drive typically retails for about $130 right now. You're effectively saving 30 whole dollars (up to $60-ish) if you're purchasing a suggested OD.

[@TheBrokenTech]

There's more to it than just money. In reality I've paid about $100 for each of my last official 4K and unofficial drives. There was no cost advantage either way. -Official 4K drives are getting hard to find for sale in the US. They have all pretty much evaporated outside of some slimline models (most commonly, the LG BU40N). -Official 4K drives can only be used with officially supported hardware for 4K discs. That means Intel processors from 6th-10th generation, Windows 10 and PowerDVD for playback. Nothing else is officially supported. So if you buy an official drive, that's what you're stuck with. Microsoft and PowerDVD also technically no longer support UHD playback and blame it on Intel. Intel blames it on hardware vendors. Anyhow... It's all more nuanced than that, but, that's the nutshell version. So... No matter how much you spend, if you buy an official drive you're stuck with those limitations unless there happens to be an _unofficial_ firmware for it (as is the case with the BU40N), which then turns your official drive into the same thing as any other unofficial drive. Official 4K drives are actually _less_ capable than their unofficial counterparts due to the hardware DRM requirements. I'd pay _more_ money for an unofficial drive for that reason. It just happens that you can get them pretty cheap anyhow.

[@broderp]

Does flashing either of these drives impact their specifications - as in the ability to rip all the different formats at the rated speeds?

[@TheBrokenTech]

Yes. It increases the speed to unlimited. 😁 That said, there is debate in the community of whether or not that's a good thing. Functionally, mine don't seem to outrun their advertised top-speed. So, a distinction without a difference.

[@antiWhiteism777]

​@TheBrokenTech --- Can this play directly to a TV or once saved to laptop can it play on TV?

[@TheBrokenTech]

Yep. I have an entire video dedicated to playback, which you will find in the pinned comment.

[@antiWhiteism777]

@@TheBrokenTech--- Can these drives be used to directly play to a TV without a player?

[@TheBrokenTech]

The pinned video explains all of that.

[@DanzoSrife]

Thanks for the video! So i'd rather get a 2.5" Blu Ray for 4k usage because it doesn't require a power socket (very important). Anyways is that a bad idea? Any drives you recommend to do this task on this video for that? Thanks!

[@TheBrokenTech]

I currently have a slim drive in testing and will release a video about it once I draw my conclusions. However, _everybody_ recommends you select a model that uses a power supply in addition to just a USB cord.

[@DanzoSrife]

@@TheBrokenTech ok great. I subbed n will look fwd to your testing so i can draw my decisions ;)

[@DEKOproducties]

Is this also possible with a standard Blu-ray player? I have an old one (Panasonic DMP-BD35). And can this also be done to a built in Blu-ray player in my old desktop?

[@TheBrokenTech]

Set-top players are pretty much locked down. Your old desktop drive might work, but you'd need to find out what exactly it is.

[@DEKOproducties]

@@TheBrokenTech thanks!

[@AnthonyP2A]

Skip ahead to it - 6:08 Firmware needed to convert read scope.

[@m1dnightcrisis]

Received the LG drive yesterday. (Imported from Amazon US to Europe) Rom-Ver 1.05, manufactured in march 2024. Flashed, no problem

[@TheBrokenTech]

Glad to hear it! 👍

[@Smart-Skippy]

G'Day Mate! Great Video. Earnt you another Sub. I have a HTPC Radeon 6400 GFX card feeding an Atmos Amp and a big OLED. You made my day with this info. Sadly Australia is the first country phasing out Discs, according to something I recently read.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Yep... I saw Disney is pulling out of your market. 😔 I suppose you can always import them yourself.

[@t0mn8r35]

Good guide. Thank you!

[@TheBrokenTech]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching! 👍

[@MauroEnass]

Never knew this. I have the Asus and it worked straight out of the box. Bought new May od 2023. Currently is in service because it started misbehaving with copying data from data discs. I need to bookmark this video it they update the firmware overe there. Thank you

[@TheBrokenTech]

I'm glad you found the video useful. Thanks for watching! 👍

[@johnhopkins6260]

2 LG BDs: BH16NS40 and BH16NS50... Both purchased in Poland

[@PringoOrSomething]

Will they play from disc without ripping them? (I was gonna rip them anyways)

[@TheBrokenTech]

Yep. I go over that in the video in the pinned comment.

[@asifchowdhury2718]

Anything on Pioneer drives?

[@TheBrokenTech]

It depends on what Pioneer you have and what firmware level it's on. Pioneer locked their drives down some months ago, but if you have an older one you may be able to flash it. Since I can't buy one to try it myself (since they aren't available for sale anymore) I can't say much about them.

[@asifchowdhury2718]

@@TheBrokenTech It's an internal model I bought in 2021 (not uhd) but I didn't see a flash image for it with MakeMKV. Was wondering if one of the exising ones for LG and/or ASUS would work. I was luckily able to trade drives with my daughter who had an LG model that I was able to use one of the flash images for, and it worked like a charm, making sure to use the enc button with it.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Pioneer drives are made by them, so, you can't cross-flash LG firmware to them. Glad you found something that worked out in the end though!

[@myretronation]

When shopping for the WH14NS40, please check the top sticker If it's a 1.0 drive, it's on the MT1939 chipset and is not compatible I learned this the hard way :(

[@TheBrokenTech]

I have a couple of those myself, but they were bought in 2015. I'd be surprised to find any sold new in the wild today.

[@Simon_Hawkshaw]

Great info. Many thanks.

[@TheBrokenTech]

Thanks for watching! 👍

[@yajtramer6913]

Awesome Thank you for the help and info Nice

[@TheBrokenTech]

You're very welcome. Thanks for watching! 👍

[@cyberpunk88-]

How did you connect the internal drive you had on top of your pc? Is there some Sata to usb cable that can make such a drive work externally? Since my pc has no room to put it inside, but external drives are usually more expensive..

[@TheBrokenTech]

It's a drive I put in an external enclosure. There are links in the video description for all of the parts as well as a video about the enclosure itself.

[@lndnfsu2]

no luck for the GGW-H20L?

[@TheBrokenTech]

I don't think so. I think that's an HD-DVD drive so it's from a few generations ago. That said, I think these 4K drives can also read HD-DVDs. I've never tried it, so...

[@branmambaz]

Will flashing the drive reduce the life of it at all? Just curious wanted to purchase one.

[@TheBrokenTech]

It shouldn't. The only thing that could potentially effect lifespan is that flashing removes any maximum speed limits. In reality, my drives all read about the same top speed both before and after. It seems the read speed is more a limit of the quality of the disc than it is the drive.

[@GavinColbourne]

I have got the LG BH16NS40 dated Feb 2015 (writes to 100Gb BDXL disks) and it reads 4K absolutely fine

[@TheBrokenTech]

Sounds like you bought one right in the sweet spot. 👍

[@tihzho]

What can I say other that "That's so cool! 😎" Here I was wondering why do I have to buy a 4K Blu-ray player 🤔, now I know. 😁 Subbed

[@TheBrokenTech]

I'm happy to have you! 👍

[@tihzho]

@@TheBrokenTech Uh oh Command error

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@tihzho Can you be a bit more specific?

[@tihzho]

@@TheBrokenTech Thanks for getting back to me! This what I have as I tried again today LG BD-RE WH16NS40 Revision: 1.04 LibreDrive Information Status: Possible, not yet enabled Drive platform: MT1959 I did everything as you 11:15 and I get and I get a popup window ERROR: Command produced error code 0x82052603 I tried this again with SDtool run as ADMIN this time it flashed with 100% Operation finished. Please wait...then that same ERROR code! However maybe it's a 2024 New Year Miracle it worked - even with the ERROR Code! Maybe because running SDtool as ADMIN? Revision: 1.02 LibreDrive Information Status: Enabled Drive platform: MT1959 Firmware type: Patched (microcode access re-enabled) Firmware version: 1.02 DVD all regions: Yes BD raw data read: Yes BD raw metadata read: Yes Unrestricted read speed: Yes Disc Information Label: CLOSE_ENCOUNTERS_OF_3RD_KIND I am slowly shaking my head

[@markdjdeenix6846]

This was interesting.i think the delay is because the index is larger on uhd disks 2 layers in dvd 7 layers in blue ray I’m not sure how many layers in uhd But the index is a map of each layer for the laser to know we’re the next layer starts and ends

[@TheBrokenTech]

That would make sense.

[@markdjdeenix6846]

@@TheBrokenTech digital disk media goes from the centre out to the edge You can sometimes see the index ring on burnt media The entire concept is incredible really . Layers of digital IO stacked up ,and the bit I don’t get is how the laser can go through the stack and land on the next layer seamlessly Maybe different grove angles and variable laser beam intensity

[@markdjdeenix6846]

It’s pressed like vinyl but not like vinyl

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@markdjdeenix6846 I think there could be some pre-fetch and caching behavior around the layer changes. On a stand-alone player I'd be absolutely shocked if there weren't. I think the drives themselves have something like a 4MB cache, but I think that's more commonly used as a write buffer. I think the multilayered technology is also a matter of the laser lens changing its focal length. When it does, it can't actually see the other layers. Just as a point of interest, I have some scoped rifles that are able to look "through" the front sight post for the same reason. The focal length of the optic is greater than the distance to the post. It's genuinely disturbing how clear the sight picture is despite knowing full well that it's mechanically obstructed. What I'm less certain about is the mechanism the laser uses to change its focal length. My assumption is that the mechanism itself physically moves up and down, but I suppose it could actually have an adjustable lens, something like an auto-focusing camera would. It's absolutely bonkers that its about to do that for 4 layers though. As I've discovered, it frequently doesn't. 😂

[@markdjdeenix6846]

@@TheBrokenTech I have done a lot of pioneer CDJ repair.I know from my vocational music production course I did 20 years ago A CD laser ,has 7 beams I know from retuning cdj lasers that the laser is suspended on 2 electro magnets. This is how the CDJ can move across the surface of the tracks and be instant in the audio pick up I have puzzled about the buffering I think is 2 seconds ish before real time It’s just the makers of the equipment don’t seam to want it to be available for cheep. And the hacking community always comes through 😊 Thanks for your content

[@zuffin1864]

Companies for some reason forget that paying customers own what they buy. Lets make them remember what we want

[@TheBrokenTech]

I couldn't agree more. Consumers rights... or else!

[@FortyTwoAnswerToEverything]

I never had a chance to see if my now-dead LG external slim bluray burner could read 4k discs. It's an old BP40NS20. Bought it brand new early 2012 and she's made at least 200 BR discs (about 1/4 of those were dual layer). So long 'ol pal.

[@TheBrokenTech]

If it's any consolation, I'm testing a BU40N right now and it seems to a decent little drive.

[@GadgetyMV]

Haha, great ending of the video. Thank you for posting. I got my drive a looong time ago so this procedure wasn't necessary. If I would like a second drive, or that first one dies, this video is a very nice walk through and debunking of, what I perceived to be, information that this was no longer possible or/and likely to result in bricking. With all that said some 4k discs still won't read. I believed that to be due to disc error, but they do play on a 4k player so it's something else. EDIT, what about other drives, like slim drive versions? Anyone know?

[@TheBrokenTech]

Thanks! 4Ks are very very picky discs, and yes, there are some that will appear perfect in all aspects but just won't work in a drive. I currently have a slimline drive under test and will publish a review once I have made my mind up about it.

[@GadgetyMV]

@TheBrokenTech Great, looking forward to it!

[@EnolMuks]

KZbin Brought me here at 5am, I don't even have a DVD drive, greetings go out 😅

[@TheBrokenTech]

Having been down that rabbit hole plenty of times myself, I'm honored to be what you found at the bottom this time. 🤣

[@ejunkempire2459]

Thanks for the info, now for some research to see what I can upgrade my old Pioneer burner.

[@TheBrokenTech]

You're welcome. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone offers custom firmware for Pioneer drives.

[@jgoulet921]

​@@TheBrokenTechThey do, actually! Even for the most expensive one the BDR-S13U-X (J-X for the Japanese model) they are a bit more picky on the firmware version but they are supremely well built drives in my opinion.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@MrBrendanjordan Sorry, I got confused. There's some nebulous stuff out there about what era your drive must be from to be flashed to work with whatever software so I just put a mental block on Pioneer drives. 😅 I do agree that Pioneer has an excellent reputation as far as the hardware goes.

[@ejunkempire2459]

@thebrokentech8132 I haven't even checked yet. I bought the drive in 2015/16. It'll burn 50gb but the main reason I wanted it was for how well it did with cd-r that I used in old computers and consoles. Recently I've been wanted to back up my TV series collection and consolidate to as few disc's as possible. I still like grabbing media from the shelf.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@ejunkempire2459 The fuss with Pioneer seems to be around late 2022, so your drive may be supported. That said... The cheap Asus/LG drives are doing alright for me if all of that fails.

[@flarcyflarcy1]

Can you make a guide for setting up dolby vision on pc?

[@TheBrokenTech]

I may cover that at some point, but I think its pretty much as easy downloading the Dolbyvision driver from the Windows store.

[@NEOREV_MUSIC]

Could this be done with a laptop that has a built-in Blu-ray drive? I have a Toshiba Qosmio X870 with Windows 10 .

[@KORUPTable]

Depends on what drive you have and if someone made a modified firmware for it, I tried looking for what drive is in your laptop but it could be a few different types download a tool called speccy to find out what model of drive you have.

[@NEOREV_MUSIC]

@@KORUPTable Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

[@ivegyattocomment]

stupid question maybe, after the flash. these drive can still play dvds just fine still?

[@TheBrokenTech]

Indeedly-doo, neighbor. 👍

[@edgarfigueroa6266]

thanks alot for this video i finished process in seconds and it worked going on my second now great

[@TheBrokenTech]

Awesome! Thanks a lot for watching! 👍

[@virus86]

I bought the LG drive almost a decade ago! It was on firmware 1.01 and I can only upgrade it up to 1.03. It cant read 4k UHD discs and I cant flash it since it doesnt support MT1959. Time to try the ASUS one. Edit: Works like a charm from an Amazon bought ASUS drive!

[@TheBrokenTech]

I have 2 LG drives in that position, myself. 😔

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@TheBrokenTech My LG doesn't support MT1959 either. I'm just glad that I saw this videos as I was going to buy a region free DVD drive for my Europe and Asia DVDs, so I just bought a used ASUS BW-16D1HT instead. It's a bit more, but probably a wise decision in the long term.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@SmallSpoonBrigade It's hard to go wrong with a drive that will play pretty much every optical disc format. Good luck with it!

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@TheBrokenTech I got a used one from 2020, and despite forgetting to check the encrypted box, it did work. I reflashed with the encryption enabled and now it seems to be working just fine. I'll probably only use it when I'm ripping things that require it as I do have that LG bluray drive that's a lot more replaceable. The UHD support does seem to be working in other software, so, I'm not going to complain, but I'm sort of confused because I didn't think software other than makemkv would get any benefit from this. But, I definitely wasn't able to open this disc with my Bluray drive with this software previously, so it does seem to have done something. EDIT: Ultimately, I had to cross flash to the BH16NS60 v1.2 firmware, but since then, it's been working like a champ with my 4k movie, several DVDs from random regions and it's even making short work of my Disney DVDs that have that weird encryption.

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@SmallSpoonBrigade Over the years I've noticed that optical drives tend to die at an unpredictable rate no matter how they're used. I've never had one fail because something mechanically gave up. It seems the lasers lose the ability to focus for reasons beyond my control. So... I don't fear using one more or less than the other. I actually tend to err to the other side and make sure I use them all "a little bit" just to keep the moving things moving, the lube inside them spread around, and the internal dust displaced (do not ever "air dust" an optical drive... I've killed several trying that). Without knowing more about your software loadout, I couldn't really say. I have had people tell me that simply having MakeMKV open (and presumably decoding their discs) was all it took for them to use other software. I haven't tried it...

[@iphantommenace704]

Do these 4k friendly drives support all the same important features as on an official 4k UHD blu-ray drive? Such as HDR, Dolby atmos, and possibly even dolbyvision?

[@TheBrokenTech]

Yes. All of that stuff is a function of the rest of your PC. The only thing I haven't experimented with is Dolbyision because it would require a firmware update to my TV that I really don't want to do... 😅

[@MegaDante4]

@@TheBrokenTech why? :o is there any disadvantage by upgrading the firmware of your tv?

[@TheBrokenTech]

@@MegaDante4 Potentially. I've heard of some brands (Samsung?) serving in-menu advertising, and others data harvesting (Visio?) and such without any way to opt out. Hard pass on that for me. I think my Sony is _mostly_ free of all that. Plus, it's not internet connected for exactly that reason. I just use it as a monitor for the PC plugged into it. So... I don't consider it broken, so I'm not going to fix it.