ASUS BC-12B1ST b - could it be a newer LiteOn drive?

vbimport
#1

Well… I’ve started to look for the drive photos and found this eBay offer:

When I’ve seen the drive photos (real photos!), I was shocked. It looks completely like a newer LiteOn model - housing, bottom cover, front panel… And the manufacturing date is May, 2015.

Old iHES112 bottom cover looked completely different:

So it is possible, that newer ASUS BC-12B1ST is built on Mediatek chipset and can scan BD media, and maybe even BDXL!

Does anyone here have this drive? Seeing some tests would be just great.

And the drive internals photo (PCB and OPU) would be even greater!

#2

Very Interesting! :cool:

I’ll be going shopping later this morning for food and cleaning supplies.

I’ll try to drop by a local computer store, and see whether the newer BC12B1ST drives look like a LiteOn enclosure (like in the above ebay ad), or the older LG enclosure (like mine with a September 2014 manufacturing date).

#3

Blah.

Nearby computer stores didn’t have any left in stock. Other stores in the same chain in town, didn’t have any in stock either.

Guess I’ll have to wait several weeks for a new shipment to come in.

#4

(Going very far offtopic fwiw).

While at the local computer store, I did notice they had other oem dvd drives with more current manufacturing dates:

  • ASUS DRW-24F1ST with a November 2015 manufacturing date

  • a current OEM Samsung dvd drive (don’t remember the model #) with a January 2016 manufacturing date

(I didn’t buy either one, since they were not on sale).

#5

[QUOTE=blackened2687;2772494]Well… I’ve started to look for the drive photos and found this eBay offer:

When I’ve seen the drive photos (real photos!), I was shocked. It looks completely like a newer LiteOn model - housing, bottom cover, front panel… And the manufacturing date is May, 2015.

Old iHES112 bottom cover looked completely different:

So it is possible, that newer ASUS BC-12B1ST is built on Mediatek chipset and can scan BD media, and maybe even BDXL!

Does anyone here have this drive? Seeing some tests would be just great.

And the drive internals photo (PCB and OPU) would be even greater![/QUOTE]
Well spotted. :clap::clap:

#6

I dropped by a local computer store during lunch.

They got some new ASUS BC-12B1ST b drives in earlier this week. I asked to take a look at one, and noticed they were NOT LiteOn rebadges.

The ones I looked at were the LG rebadge version, with a February 2016 manufacturing date.

If these rumored LiteOn rebadged versions do exist, they have not shown up yet in my neck of the woods.

(Hopefully the pictures from the OP ebay listing are real and not a forgery/fake. It would be great if LiteOn is still in the bd drive market).

#7

[QUOTE=jcroy;2772522](Going very far offtopic fwiw).

While at the local computer store, I did notice they had other oem dvd drives with more current manufacturing dates:

  • ASUS DRW-24F1ST with a November 2015 manufacturing date

  • a current OEM Samsung dvd drive (don’t remember the model #) with a January 2016 manufacturing date[/QUOTE]

(FWIW at the same computer store today).

I noticed the OEM Samsung was a current SH-224FB model with a January 2016 manufacturing date.

The ASUS DRW-24F1ST drives also had several with a December 2015 manufacturing date. (I have no idea if the November/December 2015 models are rebadges of the iHAS124 F with CL98/CL99 firmware, or the older CL05/CL06/CL07/CL08/CL09 firmware).

#8

(This is not foolproof).

Besides looking at how a drive’s metal enclosure is moulded/shaped, the only other indicator I’ve noticed a correlation, are the “factory ID” codes written on the sticker on the bottom or top of a particular ASUS drive.

factory id “GH” = LG rebadge?
factory id “B” = LiteOn rebadge?
factory id “T” = Samsung rebadge? (hypothetically)

#9

This drive uses an MT1959USFN chip.

#10

The drive does not support Blu-ray scanning with either ODC or PlexTools.

#11

So, still an LG. Still a CH12/UH12NS…30? The firmware probably can say what LG it is for sure, if there’s a new batch of hardware (which there probably is, though I don’t see a firmware date or manufacturing date on the drive itself).

#12

[B]jadburner[/B], I’va asked [B]jcroy[/B] about firmware dump, but on his computer Devilsclaw’s flasher failed to read anything from the drive with the command everyone used to dump mediatek LG drives. Could you give it a try?

flasher -d {drive id} -l firmware.bin 6 00000000 00200000

where {drive id} is the number gotten from the "flasher -D" command

Thanks in advance!

#13

[QUOTE=blackened2687;2773034]Could you give it a try?[/QUOTE]

Sure. The firmware can be found here.

#14

[QUOTE=blackened2687;2772494]So it is possible, that newer ASUS BC-12B1ST is built on Mediatek chipset and can scan BD media, [U][B]and maybe even BDXL[/B][/U]![/QUOTE]

Currently it appears LiteOn is not licensed to make pc 4k bd drives.

https://www.blu-raydisc.info/licensee-list/flla-rom4drive-licenseelist.php

(I don’t know how often they update this list).

#15

[B]jadburner[/B], thank you very much! :clap::clap::clap:

[B]jcroy[/B], does your drive report the same 1.00 firmware version?

Currently it appears LiteOn is not licensed to make pc 4k bd drives

Support of BDXL format (-R v3 and -RE v4) [B]does not[/B] mean UHD BD support :wink:

#16

[QUOTE=blackened2687;2773190][B]jadburner[/B], thank you very much! :clap::clap::clap:

[B]jcroy[/B], does your drive report the same 1.00 firmware version?
[/QUOTE]

Same 1.00 firmware. Even the same “extra information” string.

My drive has a September 2014 manufacturing date.

#17

@jadburner

Just wondering.

What is the manufacturing date of your BC-12B1ST b drive?

#18

[QUOTE=jcroy;2773208]What is the manufacturing date of your BC-12B1ST b drive?[/QUOTE]

June 2015.

#19

[QUOTE=jadburner;2773236]June 2015.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the info.