UHD BD Readers for PCs - Worth it or Not?
I am considering a UHD BD reader for my PC.NOT to clone 4K BDs and sell them down the market or anything like that, but rather to rip them / back them up onto a PC hard disk so I can stream them around the house, and keep the originals safely tucked away where they won't get damaged.Legally I regard this as much the same as the legal agreement reached in the 70s or 80s, where the Courts decided it was okay to make a single copy of an LP on a cassette or whatever if the intention was to preserve or conserve the original and so long as it wasn't done to sell or give copies away.As I'm sure all of you have found, the move from CD to DVD, from DVD to regular BD, and now regular BD to UHD BD means the finer the "print" the easier it is to damage the discs, and that. as much as anything else, is my motivation.
I have been reading mixed messages about whether the current range of UHD BD readers for PCs and / or software like MakeMKV can read, decrypt and back up UHD BDs.MakeMKV themselves are offering mixed messages and I am reading on the internet (so it must be true, right?) that the drives themselves use some sort of hardware encryption / decryption that can be overwritten or updated so that even if a drive starts out capable of reading the discs, it won't be for long.
So... the bottom line question - are UHD BD readers worth bothering with at all? Bottom line - IMO no!
Reason - a few standard BluRay drives can read UHD discs (some need older firmware). A quick search for 'UHD friendly blu ray drives' finds lists of drives such as this - The ultimate Ultra HD Blu-ray 'friendly' drive list - with recommendation of best - Myce.com
Mark. Yeah, I read somewhere else that the new BD drives include automated firmware updates that actually work to block copying discs, that the firmware gets updated every time someone cracks the last encryption, and that the firmware gets updated whether the owner likes it or not.
Since I only have a dozen or so UHDBDs right now anyway, not a big problem.All the old standard BDs and DVDs have been ripped already and put away in the attic.I usually rip the regular BDs that come with the UHDBDs to hard disk as well.
FWIW I actually have one or two of those LG WH16NS40 BD drives and when I tried reading a UHDBD with one, it couldn't open it, so MakeMKV had no chance. I've not heard of auto updating of firmware on any drives, but if some do it then I doubt it would be any of the so called UHD Friendly drives - well it wouldn't be very friendly if it stopped reading UHD discs would it.
Mark. https://www.amazon.co.uk/LG-WH14NS40-Blu-ray-Writer-Optical/dp/B007VPGL5U
buy one of these....they will recognise your uhd movies in windows 10, i have one, if you get one with the upgraded 1.03firmware that does not allow uhd disk reading....go here
User posts method to downgrade firmware of all LG XXxxNS40/NS55 Blu-ray writers and Asus rebadges - Myce.com .....this will allow you to downgrade to uhd friendly firmware 1.02
then seek out slysoft or this
Passkey for Blu-ray, the best blu-ray decrpter in the world that decrypts and removes almost any Blu-ray protections in movies, even Blu-ray 3D movies.
as you are stating you are "NOT" pirating movies i have added the link to dvdfab passkey.....you can trial this software and see if it works for you......or the latest makemkv software
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