Pioneer Internal Blu-ray Drive BDR-S13UBK Setting The Standard for Excellent Reliability & Stability Internal BD/DVD/CD Writer with PureRead 4+ Realtime PureRead and M-DISC Support, Black

I have had this PIONEER Internal Blu-ray Drive BDR-S13UBK in service for about 6 months. For the most part it works great. Reliable writes and reads. I use it mostly for archiving large amounts of data on BD-R. One precaution, update the firmware as soon as you get it. I was of the old school to only update firmware if there was a problem. Well the problem I encountered was that I pushed the eject button and the tray opened while the disc was still spinning. Argh !!! The latest firmware fixed that. Yikes ! Also, you need to utility installed to change the drive default from quiet operation to maximum speed. With these precautions, highly recommended.

The drive will read UHD discs but will not play them and of course you can forget about ripping support. Because Hollywood and RIAA.Amazon is selling these drives cheaply as they cannot get rid of them.To any who are unfortunate to buy this, or considering this, I can suggest a google search for billycar11. Great person in the makemkv community.

Pioneer Model BDR-S13UBKASIN B0BN65Q26XPurchased 18 March 2024 AmazonReceived 30 March 2024 Amazon------Original Review 31 March 2024 (approx)Having some burn failures. Support recommends return or exchange. I returned. Then bought another.------Update 26 April 2024Like I say, first unit was troublesome. It wouldnot burn a dual-layer DVD except for some old Verbatim 2.4X that are bullet proof but no longer available. But, it wouldn't burn any dual-layer DVD's currently on the market. I spent about $100 buying various brands to try and find a current DVD+R DL that the Pioneer BDR-S13UBK would do. It did none of the current ones.So returned it.Got another. It's burns everything (although I do not have 128GB BDXL BD-R discs to test). So, the drive is expensive but seems to work pretty well.My main need is for archiving encrypted files on 100GB BD-RE (rewriteable-erasable) discs so I can scatter the discs off site away from my home. Important documents, choice photoraphs, and other things will fit the disc nicely. I can get friends to keep a disc and keep some at work and other places and then if a tornado, fire, flood and such imposes some damage upon me or my home, I can maybe recover a little easier if I have some digital backups out there.Pioneer states that if a particular MID code is not in the drive firmware it will fall back to a built-in failsafe algorithm to ensure a successfull burn.Wrong.They aren't entirely truthful. Because that is not the case for 100GB BD-RE discs. There is no failsafe algorithm for that type of disc. There are only two MID codes allowed: One is Sony and one is Panasonic. Unless you buy one of those 100GB BD-RE brands and unless you are sure the disc carries the exactly specified MID code fof that disc, it simply will refuse to burn. (This is buried in one of the Pioneer PDF's regarding allowable media.)But, I bought some Sony's. They work. Had to go to Japan but Japanese vendors are very nice. Thank you. Couldn't do this without you.The discs are marked as 100GB. You know? GB is a problem. It can stand for Gigabytes or it can stand for GiBibytes. The discs are surely 100 Gigabytes but that is equal to only 93 GiBibytes. (It's a power of 10 thing compared to a power of 2 thing.) Only nerds like me will encounter a problem with that but for those of you who are stymied trying to use these discs like I am using these discs....there's your clue.So, this drive is expensive but I need it to be powerful as Pioneer advertises. Why? Well...if you take a "virgin" factory new 100GB BD-RE disc, you can't just write on it. You have to format it first.The formatting takes 3 hours. The Blu-ray association stipulates it must be done at 2X. So...3 hours at best. It can take longer if you choose other settings in burn software but let's move on and consider that formatting a factory fresh "virgin" disc takes 3 hours.Then, to write a full 100Gigabyte disc takes another 3 hours.Then, to verify it takes another 3 hours.So...3 hours + 3 hours + 3 hours = 9 hours. Yep. That's the kind of thing I don't want to have to re-do. So, I need Pioneer to be as powerful as they say they are.Also...if I stash a 100GB disc somewhere with my encrypted precious digital files on it, I'm only going to try to read it in an emergency. I need for it to be readable. So, I need Pioneer to be as powerful as they say they are.Now, if a disc is readable, it can be read back in about 1.5 hours (one and one-half hours). It takes 3 hours to "verify" a burn but it doesn't take a full 3 hours to read it. That's a plus.So. 9 hours to burn a 100GB BD-RE (rewriteable-erasable).I wish Pioneer would incorporate that failsafe algorithm for 100 GB BD-RE but apparently it does not. That's a problem if Sony and Panasonic stop making these discs. But, I bought an expensive Pioneer hoping that Pioneer will accomodate with some new firmware to cover MID codes for a new manufacturers that might enter the market--like if Ritek or CMC. As it is today, though, even if Ritek or CMC makes some, the Pioneer will refuse them unless Pioneer specifically codes them into the drive firmware.So, I have tested a smattering of 4.7GB DVD, 8.5GB DVD, 25GB BD-R, 25GB BD-RE, 50 GB BD-R, 50GB BD-RE, and 100GB BD-RE. They have all worked. They burned, and they verified. I tried some random read-back and play-back of some portions of the discs but I did not render each and every bit from each and every disc in a read-back. I don't have that kind of time.Those mentioned all worked as described.I do not have 128GB BDXL BD-R's to test. Sorry.I am sticking to BD-RE because I am guessing they are non-organic. I think that improves longevity and data integrity...maybe. I am guessing that the write-once discs are organic dye and that is fragile, I think. Yes, there are M-Discs but those are so very expensive I just can't justify their use for my needs. I need to update the discs periodically so I need eraseable so I can update the discs then send them back to the nice people who archive my precious encrypted data for me.I'll also mention, Pioneer does not allow hacking firmware. Too bad. But, the trade-off, I hope, is assurance that Pioneer drives will continue to burn discs reliably and read them precisely. And, I also hope that the trade-off is that Pioneer will continue to update the drive firmware to accomodate changes in market offerings for blank optical media.I'll update if I discover something else significant.

Plugs and plays no drivers needed for 4K discs on Windows 10 + VLC w/ MakeMKV. The biggest issue with the product isn't itself, it's that cases, especially great ones, nowadays seldom contain a front-bay optical drive bay. For example, in my CoolerMaster NR400, the BDR-S13UBK (Or any optical drive for that matter) is blocking one of the case's top exhaust so severely that I am not even sure a 15mm-deep fan would fit when installed.Appearance-wise, it's very pretty and fits in very well on dark-colored cases. Not much to say.If you enjoy movies enough to that you're willing to limit the range of cases you can assemble in, then this is very much worth the cost.

After hearing nothing but great things about this drive, I bought it for use with MakeMKV, only to learn that in the latest firmware Pioneer has made it impossible to use with MakeMKV, and also impossible to roll back to a lower version of the firmware. They've made it impossible to use with Libre-Drive, and for someone like me who *legally* rips his movies for streaming on my in-home media server, it's useless until someone can crack the firmware.

fast ship super well made burner

Functionality is hampered by the firmware. DO NOT BUY THIS. Shame on you Pioneer.

Used with MakeMKV immediately and worked like a champ ripping a UHD disc. I have not updated the firmware and won't unless I absolutely have to. I set the parameters to speed/performance in the drive utility and do indeed get almost 16x write speed on a 25g disc. I have not tried the advanced audio/reading features yet, it's supposed to be able to tackle an audio CD with hardcore scratches on it. I bought this because my ASUS 16x died.