4K UHD is a different animal from standard Blu-ray. The protection is stronger, the files are bigger, and not every drive can do it. This is the companion to Part 2 of the Media Ripping Station series.
Why 4K Is Harder
Standard Blu-ray uses AACS 1.0. 4K UHD uses AACS 2.0, which adds hardware-level authentication. Drives have to prove they're certified UHD hardware, which most aren't, and software has to work around this. That's what LibreDrive is for.
File sizes also jump considerably. Where a standard Blu-ray rip might run 25-50GB, a 4K HDR rip is typically 50-100GB. The NAS RAID array from Part 1 starts to matter at that scale.
Hardware
You need a drive that supports LibreDrive firmware modification. The MakeMKV compatibility forum maintains an up-to-date list. Well-supported options include the ASUS BW-16D1HT with firmware 3.10, the Pioneer BDR-XS07UHD, and the BU40N.
Check the compatibility list before buying. Many standard Blu-ray drives simply can't read UHD discs regardless of what software you use.
Installing MakeMKV on Linux
MakeMKV doesn't have an official .deb package, so you compile it from source. It sounds scarier than it is.
The video used MakeMKV 1.17.7. The current version as of writing is 1.18.3. The process is the same either way. Download both packages from makemkv.com/download (or the old versions page if you need a specific version):
makemkv-oss-1.18.3.tar.gz(source code)makemkv-bin-1.18.3.tar.gz(binary components)
Install build dependencies:
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libc6-dev libssl-dev \
libexpat1-dev libavcodec-dev libgl1-mesa-dev qtbase5-dev zlib1g-dev
For better audio support (24-bit FLAC, DTS-HD decoding), build a recent version of ffmpeg first. Download the tarball from ffmpeg.org/releases, then:
# Build ffmpeg
./configure --prefix=/tmp/ffmpeg --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-pic
make
make install
Then build the MakeMKV source package (makemkv-oss) pointing at the ffmpeg you just built:
tar -xzf makemkv-oss-1.18.3.tar.gz
cd makemkv-oss-1.18.3
PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/tmp/ffmpeg/lib/pkgconfig ./configure
make
sudo make install
Then build the binary package (makemkv-bin):
tar -xzf makemkv-bin-1.18.3.tar.gz
cd makemkv-bin-1.18.3
./configure
make
sudo make install
MakeMKV installs to /usr/bin/makemkv. Run it once to confirm it launches, then copy your license key into ~/.MakeMKV/settings.conf to activate it.
LibreDrive Firmware
LibreDrive is modified drive firmware that bypasses the hardware-level 4K authentication check. You flash it once per drive and it persists.
Back up your existing firmware before flashing.
On Linux:
# Check current drive status
makemkvcon f -l
For BU40N drives, download the firmware pack from the flashing GitHub repo and the SDF tool from https://www.makemkv.com/svq/sdf.bin. Then with no disc in the drive:
makemkvcon f -d /dev/sr0 -f sdf.bin rawflash enc -i BU40N.bin
For other supported drives the command is similar but the firmware file will differ. Check the MakeMKV forum for your specific drive model.
Use MakeMKV v1.18.3 or later. Versions 1.17.8 and 1.17.9 had a bug where the flash would silently hang. After flashing, MakeMKV should show "LibreDrive enabled" in the drive info panel.
If you're on Windows, see Part 3 for the SDFtool Flasher process.
ARM Config for 4K
The ARM config from Part 1 works for 4K too. Just point COMPLETED_PATH at your 4K folder:
SKIP_TRANSCODE: true
COMPLETED_PATH: "/mnt/nas/media/4K-Movies"
MAINFEATURE: true
MINLENGTH: 600
ARM detects the disc type automatically and calls MakeMKV with the right settings. The workflow is insert disc, walk away, get a Telegram notification when it's done.
Checking Your Rip
After a rip finishes, verify it with mediainfo:
mediainfo /mnt/nas/media/4K-Movies/Movie.mkv
Look for 3840x2160 resolution, HDR10 or Dolby Vision metadata, and TrueHD Atmos or DTS-HD MA audio. Bitrate should be in the 80-100+ Mbps range for a proper 4K HDR encode. If something looks off, the disc probably had a protection issue.
The Disney Problem
I want to be straight with you on this: Disney 4K discs, especially anything Star Wars or recent Marvel, have extra protection that detects LibreDrive and kills the rip mid-stream. Not at the start, not immediately. Usually 45+ minutes in. The partial file is useless.
The error looks like this:
WARNING ARM: LIBMKV_TRACE: Exception: Error while reading input
CRITICAL ARM: Failed to save title 0 to file
It's not your hardware, it's not your drive, it's not your setup. Disney's DRM does a hardware authentication check that LibreDrive doesn't pass. It's working as intended.
My success rates in practice:
- Non-Disney 4K: about 95%
- Older Disney 4K (pre-2023): inconsistent, maybe 50/50
- Recent Star Wars and Disney+: around 20% if you're lucky
What I do when Disney 4K fails: check the MakeMKV forums to see if anyone's found a workaround for that specific disc, rip the standard Blu-ray instead (1080p still looks great), or just buy the digital version on sale.
There's a paid Windows tool called DVDFab Passkey that reportedly has better Disney success rates. It requires a UHD-certified drive though (not just any LibreDrive-flashed drive), so I wasn't able to test it fully. Worth researching if Disney 4K ripping is specifically what you need.
Playback in Jellyfin
Don't transcode 4K. Direct play only. Transcoding strips HDR metadata and hammers your CPU for no good reason. The NUC's Quick Sync can technically transcode 4K HEVC, but you lose the HDR that makes 4K worth having.
Requirements for direct play: a 4K HDR TV or monitor, a client device with HDR support (Apple TV 4K, Nvidia Shield, etc.), and a network that can sustain 100+ Mbps. A wired connection to your NAS makes that easy.
What's Next
The ARM + Linux setup is the most automated approach, but it's a project to get running. Part 3 covers doing the same thing on Windows with just MakeMKV. No automation, but you can be ripping discs in 15 minutes.