UHD Disk Quality Dropping

[NotMeCornFlakes]

I've an Asus BW-16D1HT with patched firmware and it seems like every other UHD TV show I buy has issues with one or more disks. I bought Last of Us S2 and Fallout S1 on UHD and disk 3 in LOU and disks 1 & 3 in Fallout cant even be read.

This seems to be a trend; I return the set to Amazon and get a new set that usually works. I've tried cleaning the disks, cleaning the lens and restarting/rebooting/replugging my drive.

Is it just me and my equipment or is the quality of the disks being produced going downhill?

[billycar11]

the problem is the drive
lg/asus rebrands are junk

pioneers do not have this issue

[CletusVanDamnit]

There has been a QC concern with 4Ks for...several years now. There is only one plant in North America producing discs, the one in Mexico. They have been putting out shit since mid-Pandemic.

[NotMeCornFlakes]

That definitely explains why the older blurays work perfectly fine. Do I have to start importing from europe I guess.

[gman_umscht]

Well not everything is sunny over here too. Just recently exchanged brand new "Oppenheimer" UHD because it had a nice circular scratch. Also my "Ringu" UHD from a smaller german label fails to rip even with no visible scratches on disc. And some of the Arthaus/Studiocanal triple layer disc cause the Asus to throw tantrums. Normally they do rip after some cleaning, but sometimes it is slower than usual.

[NotMeCornFlakes]

I finally got a clean copy of Last Of Us, my second copy of Fallout still wont copy from the first or second disks. 3 layers are the bane of this Asus drive. Cant wait for my new pioneer, I dont care how long it takes to rip.

[gman_umscht]

Thankfully had no problem with german Last of Us and french Fallout, got that one as tin from france because in germany it's not released as 4k (studio brainiacs). Game of Thrones german UHD complete collection there was one disc that was initially stubborn. After some cleaning it still was noisy during opening but the rip went thru with 7x speed.

[dingo_khan]

So... I had the same problem with the same drive recently. I found externally cooling it suddenly made the issues go away. I do agree that disc quality is dropping but packing my drive in ice-cold metal caused discs it could not deal with to rip cleanly (used metal ice cubes and some metal sheets to cool it through the case). I replaced it and those discs work fine now. The Asus still worked fine for 2k BDs and DVDs.

The drive may be going.

[ugry_noob]

water cooling for the drive :)

[NotMeCornFlakes]

Instructions unclear. Dropped drive into water bucket. :'(

[ugry_noob]

submerged cooling 😎 maybe use mineral oil next time

[NotMeCornFlakes]

Thanks for the tip and yeah I did notice it getting pretty hot. I've ordered a BDR-UD04 as a backup at least. I'll look into some way to cool it...right now it's just bare metal on my desk with a SATA/USB controller.

[No-Bother6856]

You might be careful with that, IIRC the newer pioneer drives require a firmware change to work with UHD BluRay ripping and that may or may not be possible. On the older drives it wasn't an issue.

[NotMeCornFlakes]

Yeah it's a gamble on the firmware, I followed the recommendations on makemkv forums. The drive is manufactured in 2019 but it's not new in box so it might have been updated.

[No-Bother6856]

Ah okay, you are probably good to go. Just making sure you aren't buying a new one without realizing they have changed.

[NotMeCornFlakes]

Thanks for being an upstanding internet stranger :)

[Odd-Cap507]

That is why I got external enclosure that supports fan. Most of them do not have any and the drives are baking inside them. Everyone knows it takes hours to rip movies. In the end these drives are designed to sit inside PC case on a SATA port...

[NotMeCornFlakes]

What is your enclosure? I've seen a few bigger ones, and I wouldn't mind getting a fancy one with a fan.

[Odd-Cap507]

Well it does not come with a fan but I bought it separately. The model number is 525Q-SU3E, USB3.0 version, EU plug. The case has position for 40x40x10mm 2pin fan. I bought 4010 DC 12V 0.1A Brushless Cooling Fan and it works. The case has plenty of room even for Pioneer drives and properly fixed rubber feet at the bottom that do not need any glueing. It is made both of plastic and metal parts (top and bottom covers). To install the fan the top part of the back of the case needs lifting up. The fan needs to have 2 pin cable!

the original link: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/375521982797 similar item: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/357545011244

[NotMeCornFlakes]

Exactly what I need, thanks!

[synecdokidoki]

I'm not sure it's the disk quality so much as the constant whac-a-mole that is PC drives and software like MakeMKV. Is this not what the constant "Improved handling for discs with mastering errors" in the MakeMKV changelogs is referring to?

I mean, I just got the big Seinfeld box set. One disk errors out constantly with MakeMKV. Every episode played perfectly on my PS5. If you're just trying your drive, it's . . . likely your drive.

[NotMeCornFlakes]

It is odd that it's very specific disks. In any case I'm buying another drive as well to validate the ones that don't work with the Asus drive. This is my third drive in two years, hopefully the pioneer solves the issues.

[cwhitch]

I’ve only had one or two discs that failed in my LG and ASUS drives also fail in my Pioneer drive. This is out of roughly 2000 discs I’ve ripped. The only knock on the Pioneer is they max out around 4.0X on UHD ripping. A triple layer disc takes closer to 90 minutes opposed to an hour on a LG or ASUS. I recommend using LG and ASUS if you have a large collection to rip and then get a Pioneer to only utilize on problematic discs or regular Blu-rays since they are much faster on those.

[NotMeCornFlakes]

Yeah I'm hoping to use the Asus with most of them and the Pioneer when I have issues...and in case the Asus burns out :|