no, you don't. I ripped many a blu-ray with an unsupported blu-ray drive (I was even the one to mail in the copy of the firmware as requested by makemkv when it doesn't recognize a drive). ripped great up until the poor drive started having read errors (much later).
new drive supports libredrive though, but I've noticed no real difference in functionality/behavior.
LibreDrive is a mode of operation. If you can rip with it, it’s LibreDrive compatible. That’s all I meant. For anyone getting into this now and that wants to rip UHD disks, they are going to need a compatible drive.
yes, it's a mode of operation, made possible by adding custom firmware by updating the device's microcode.
even your link notes:
> Change the optical drive embedded software in a way that the drive becomes a “primitive” device - one that just positions a laser, reads and decodes the data. Make a drive free from “policing” functionality, a drive that just passes all data from the disc to the user. We call this drive a LibreDrive.
but, libredrive support is not necessary for all drives.
