External Blu Ray Drive reads DVDs very slow but advertised as 8X Read.

[VideoDRONE]

I bought a New External Blu Ray drive for my New PC. It's this one here: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0757LMNDQ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

It advertises 8X Disc Read Speed but when running Nero DiscSpeed or DVDInfoPro and running their benchmarks, I am only getting 1X-2X speeds when running the benchmark.

I've read the Sticked Tips in these Forums but I'm not sure if they will apply to an External USB Drive.

For example, in Device Manager its saying my drive is a Pioneer BDR-UD03. I double click that and my IDE controller but theres no Advanced Settings to enable DMA. Also, I'm on Windows 11 and that tip is for Windows XP so I don't know if its still up to update.

No idea how to update firmware on external drive either, and searching for BDR-UD03 firmware online, I can't find that specific model.

Can someone help me get this up and running at the rated speeds? And if this isn't possible for whatever reason, can someone recomend an alternative. I am still in my Return window for this Drive so i can shop for a better option. I need high speed reads as I test scratched commercial media with it. I can't be taking 2 hours to test one disc.

[Subtitles]

It looks like a cheap gadget that you can buy on AliExpress for less money but branded for sale in the USA.
If you are unhappy with it, you should report it to Amazon and ask for refund or order a well known brand instead obviously adding a bit more.
Oh just noticed it is a used product not new. Is this correct?

[btwarden]

In have read in the drive description That the drive has noise reduction capabilities.
This means the maximum play back speed of movies is reduced to minimize noise. Also when you copy a dvd/bluray movie the speed is reduced.
This is also known as a Riplock (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riplock). This only effect move dvd/blyray not data dvd/bluray.
Afaik only a patched firmware of the drive can diable this "feature"

[VideoDRONE]

It looks like a cheap gadget that you can buy on AliExpress for less money but branded for sale in the USA.
If you are unhappy with it, you should report it to Amazon and ask for refund or order a well known brand instead obviously adding a bit more.
Oh just noticed it is a used product not new. Is this correct?

Oh for sure its a cheapie product. Quite literally it was the cheapest External Blu Ray Drive I was able to find online. But if it does the job I would have been happy with it.

I also don't even know at this point if paying more would give me better performance, since this 2X cap on read speeds seems to be a common issue with lots of drives. I am hoping someone experienced here can suggest a better alternative or a method of getting it going at higher speeds rather than just returning it at this point.

It's a New Product. Well... it's supposed to be "New" but the first one Amazon sent me actually was opened and looked like a Returned unit. That one didnt work, so I returned that and reordered it again hoping for a new one that works. I did get one that works, just not at the rated speeds now.

[VideoDRONE]

In have read in the drive description That the drive has noise reduction capabilities.
This means the maximum play back speed of movies is reduced to minimize noise. Also when you copy a dvd/bluray movie the speed is reduced.
This is also known as a Riplock (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riplock). This only effect move dvd/blyray not data dvd/bluray.
Afaik only a patched firmware of the drive can diable this "feature"

I just saw that on the Amazon page now that you mentioned it.

Are there drives I could buy without this "feature". Any suggestions?

Is there a way to update firmware on an external drive? I couldnt find firmware for BDR-UD03 online.. and even if I did I'm not sure how to update firmware on an external drive. Never done it before.

[Skiller]

There is a tool called "DriveUtility" by Pioneer which allows to unlock the read speed by disabling "quiet mode".
The BDR-UD03 is not listed there, but you could try anyways:

https://pioneer.jp/device_e/product-e/ibs/device_e/dev00001r_e.html#DriveUtility

[VideoDRONE]

There is a tool called "DriveUtility" by Pioneer which allows to unlock the read speed by disabling "quiet mode".
The BDR-UD03 is not listed there, but you could try anyways:

https://pioneer.jp/device_e/product-e/ibs/device_e/dev00001r_e.html#DriveUtility

Hmm yeh I saw that page. Tried downloading the Drive Utility for the closest sounding model number, unfortunately the App said no Drive Detected.