I still like to buy movies & TV shows I really like on physical media (I don't want to rely solely on streaming services for things I might want to watch again), but also, I have a media server, and I like to rip my media and put them on my media server for easier viewing. I was using an LG WH16NS40 optical drive for the past 5 years, which generally worked fairly well, but sometimes it would have trouble reading some discs (and usually would work after I cleaned them though, sometimes after several cleanings), but sometimes it would have a lot of trouble, and then the drive would 'disappear' where the OS couldn't even see the drive. These days, people have been recommending Pioneer drives for ripping, and I recently decided to buy one.

I often use MakeMKV to rip my discs, and I read forum.makemkv.com for advice & such. I saw this thread with people asking about recommended drives for 2024: https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=32736

Based on that thread, I bought one of these Pioneer BDR-212V drives: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R89FN61

There's a user on forum.makemkv.com that sends information via private message with a link to firmware and a flasher tool, with instructions on flashing that drive to make it rip 4K/UHD discs (yes, despite the product description saying it supports only up to regular blu-ray, it can support 4K/UHD with a firmware flash). I received my drive yesterday and just installed it in my PC tonight, flashed it, and I've been able to successfully rip a 4K movie with it. It sounds like this Pioneer drive should be more reliable than my LG drive was, and I'm hoping that's the case.

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