Can't download Camera Raw 8.1

Question

I'm running CS6, a licensed copy, and when I check for updates I have never been given the joption to download Camera Raw 8.1.  I get the typical warning message when I edit a photo from LR5 to CS6 which asks whether I want to render using LR, open anyway, etc.  I have confirmed that I am running CR 7.4 only.  I may want to point out that I upgraded from CS5 to CS6 - both licensed copies.

Answer 1

The DNG Converter is a stand-alone program for converting raw files to DNGs before opening with an older ACR version that doesn’t natively understand your camera.  To actually update Camera Raw to 8.1 you need to download the update to Camera Raw, not the DNG Converter, where the blog post I provided a link to, just above, has direct downloads for ACR 8.1 for both Mac and Windows.
The reason you want the update to ACR 8.1 is because there are new things in LR 5 that only ACR 8.1 knows how to render and to keep the LR-to-PS integration as tight as possible, you want LR and PS-ACR doing the same things. 
ACR 8.1 is the version of ACR used by PS-CC/PS-14, not CS6, but since Adobe is still selling PS-CS6 they are allowing PS-CS6 to use it, as well, with the PS-CC features disabled so it’s UI looks about the same as ACR 7.x, but it can actually render the newer LR5 settings for Upright and the new Radial Adjustments brush and other fixes and enhancements, whereas ACR 7.4 can only do what LR 4 can do.