panasonic q size.

[JB@XL]

Presently got a wanted thread for a jpn or switched cube but may consider a q depending if it will fit on my unit and obviously the price.

Anybody give me the height of the q to see if it will fit on my unit.It will be sitting beside a pal wii which is in its stand and only just fits in the space.

thanks John

[briareos_kerensky]

180mm (W) X 198mm (H) X 217mm (D)

[JP]

Ok...I know this isn't the question that was asked but it seems a bit pointless starting a new thread for it.

I'm thinking of a Panasonic Q sometime, I've seen them advertised as US/Jap which I'm guessing means it's been modded? Would this be for games and DVds also.

Is it also possible to get them modded to play UK stuff?

[Pavey]

No for Uk games, only with a freeloader. You can get them modded to run US/Jpn games, usually selectable by pressing or holding down the power button.

There is an easy option to get it to run all regions of NTSC dvd, which is the Panasonic service disk. To run pal dvd's it needs an internal mod, which is hard and expensive to do, and finding someone to do it is even harder.

It is basically a GC and a dvd player in the same case, but two separate machines sharing the same drive tray.

[JP]

That's a shame really! I'm surprised there isn't a 1 chip solution to play everything.

Mind you, it wasn't really a "normal" console. I'm sure I'll end up getting one anyway though.

Thanks for your help!!

[JB@XL]

180mm (W) X 198mm (H) X 217mm (D)

thanks for the info.198mm high means its touch and go whether it would fit without a bit of a push.

[Strolls]

I'm thinking of a Panasonic Q sometime, I've seen them advertised as US/Jap which I'm guessing means it's been modded? Would this be for games and DVds also.

Is it also possible to get them modded to play UK stuff?

Yes. Essentially the Q is a Gamecube and a Panasonic RV31 DVD-player in a single box. Consequently the Gamecube circuit-board will accept any regular Gamecube mods, including the Qoob / Qoob Pro.

Panasonic only sold the Q to the Japanese market and consequently it only plays NTSC region 2 DVDs and NTSC[J] games as standard.

The DVD player can be de-regionalised by using a Panasonic service disk and entering a four-figure number via a service menu. In order to play PAL DVDs it needs an additional memory chip soldered to the player's board - I believe this is to accommodate the extra lines of a non-interlaced signal. (??). This was not necessary for US grey-importers, who only had to change the region to R1.

The Q was widely sold by UK importers already fitted with the above memory chip and with an extra mod-chip (for the Gamecube circuit-board) which switched between US & Japanese games. I believe that you can switch an NTSC Cube between US & Japanese games simply by jumpering between two tracks on the Gamecube's circuit-board, and I guess that this mod-chip does simply that. US mode is activated by holding down one of the Q's buttons at start-up, and I'd imagine it'd be fairly easy to program a simple EPROM to behave this way.

I think it's this mod-chip that also adds the ability to play MP3s, however I'm not sure.

This mod-chip is still available - along with the extra memory chip for the DVD player - for £10 from DVDchips.co.uk. He has for some months advertised less than 10 of these still available in stock. As far as I can tell none of the grey-importers pre-modded the Q with any other mod-chip aside from this one, but I know that Q owners have fitted the Qoob &c themselves - there are a couple of guides on the net about this and I've also discussed this by email with the DVDchips.co.uk guy himself.

Basically, if you have a stock-standard Q there's no reason why you shouldn't de-regionalise the DVD player, fit the memory chip for playing back PAL movies and then fit a Qoob or some other mod-chip which allows play of UK games.

Modding the Q is reportedly a bit of a pig. The memory chip is surface mount, as are some associated capacitors which need to be fitted alongside it - the latter are about 1mm wide by 2mm long, and need to be soldered at each end. Finally there are two ribbon cables that are very delicate - one of these goes to the PSU or cooling fan and damage to this will cause an often-reported error message which prevents the Q from booting. I believe the recommended way to undertake modding of the Q's Gamecube board (which is beneath the DVD board & is accessed by the removal of that) is by leaving these cables connected as you work on it - they are quite short, the Gamecube board needs to rest flat and is "in the middle" so the boards that these cables join need to be rested at an angle (ie: use a couple of phonebooks to prop them near-upright) in order to avoid stressing the ribbon cables. Needless to say, this procedure is best undertaken by a professional.

I did think the Panasonic Q was dead cool at the time it was released, and bought one last year out of nostalgia - there was an eBayer in Japan at that time who was selling some old stock still boxed & sealed - but they are slightly impractical for real use. As you can see from these notes, modding them to play UK games is a chore, and it's probably cheaper just to buy a UK Gamecube. The 110v power-supply is internal so there is no power-brick which can be replaced with a UK equivalent so you absolutely need a step-down in order to use it. Finally, the DVD player's output is only available by composite - I read one review which indicated it to give quite a good image by the standards of composite, perhaps nearly as good as some of the RGB DVD players of the time, but nevertheless you would probably not wish to use the Q to play DVDs on your 50" hi-def LCD.

If I haven't discouraged you from the purchase of a Q I do have some more detailed notes on the modding procedures and photos. The Panasonic service DVD used for removing the DVD-playing region lock needs to be genuine, as it cannot be copied with a regular DVD-burner, and this in itself is an inconvenience.

Stroller.

[sadat]

I've got a Q that boots up to play US games by default, but all my games are Japanese! I have to hold down the power button for an extra second or two - no big deal - but is there a way to switch the default format easily? It plays all [including PAL] DVDs / MP3s / VCDs, so I guess it's had the extra mod chip for that as well as the Gamecube mod.

Lovely machine, though I'm sure I paid over the odds for it...Thanks!

[Pavey]

Yes. Essentially the Q is a Gamecube and a Panasonic RV31 DVD-player in a single box. Consequently the Gamecube circuit-board will accept any regular Gamecube mods, including the Qoob / Qoob Pro.

Panasonic only sold the Q to the Japanese market and consequently it only plays NTSC region 2 DVDs and NTSC[J] games as standard.

The DVD player can be de-regionalised by using a Panasonic service disk and entering a four-figure number via a service menu. In order to play PAL DVDs it needs an additional memory chip soldered to the player's board - I believe this is to accommodate the extra lines of a non-interlaced signal. (??). This was not necessary for US grey-importers, who only had to change the region to R1.

The Q was widely sold by UK importers already fitted with the above memory chip and with an extra mod-chip (for the Gamecube circuit-board) which switched between US & Japanese games. I believe that you can switch an NTSC Cube between US & Japanese games simply by jumpering between two tracks on the Gamecube's circuit-board, and I guess that this mod-chip does simply that. US mode is activated by holding down one of the Q's buttons at start-up, and I'd imagine it'd be fairly easy to program a simple EPROM to behave this way.

I think it's this mod-chip that also adds the ability to play MP3s, however I'm not sure.

This mod-chip is still available - along with the extra memory chip for the DVD player - for ?10 from DVDchips.co.uk. He has for some months advertised less than 10 of these still available in stock. As far as I can tell none of the grey-importers pre-modded the Q with any other mod-chip aside from this one, but I know that Q owners have fitted the Qoob &c themselves - there are a couple of guides on the net about this and I've also discussed this by email with the DVDchips.co.uk guy himself.

Basically, if you have a stock-standard Q there's no reason why you shouldn't de-regionalise the DVD player, fit the memory chip for playing back PAL movies and then fit a Qoob or some other mod-chip which allows play of UK games.

Modding the Q is reportedly a bit of a pig. The memory chip is surface mount, as are some associated capacitors which need to be fitted alongside it - the latter are about 1mm wide by 2mm long, and need to be soldered at each end. Finally there are two ribbon cables that are very delicate - one of these goes to the PSU or cooling fan and damage to this will cause an often-reported error message which prevents the Q from booting. I believe the recommended way to undertake modding of the Q's Gamecube board (which is beneath the DVD board & is accessed by the removal of that) is by leaving these cables connected as you work on it - they are quite short, the Gamecube board needs to rest flat and is "in the middle" so the boards that these cables join need to be rested at an angle (ie: use a couple of phonebooks to prop them near-upright) in order to avoid stressing the ribbon cables. Needless to say, this procedure is best undertaken by a professional.

I did think the Panasonic Q was dead cool at the time it was released, and bought one last year out of nostalgia - there was an eBayer in Japan at that time who was selling some old stock still boxed & sealed - but they are slightly impractical for real use. As you can see from these notes, modding them to play UK games is a chore, and it's probably cheaper just to buy a UK Gamecube. The 110v power-supply is internal so there is no power-brick which can be replaced with a UK equivalent so you absolutely need a step-down in order to use it. Finally, the DVD player's output is only available by composite - I read one review which indicated it to give quite a good image by the standards of composite, perhaps nearly as good as some of the RGB DVD players of the time, but nevertheless you would probably not wish to use the Q to play DVDs on your 50" hi-def LCD.

If I haven't discouraged you from the purchase of a Q I do have some more detailed notes on the modding procedures and photos. The Panasonic service DVD used for removing the DVD-playing region lock needs to be genuine, as it cannot be copied with a regular DVD-burner, and this in itself is an inconvenience.

Stroller.

After that marathon post all i can add is that s-video is the best connection you will get from the dvd player.

[Shinebi]

I've got a Q that boots up to play US games by default, but all my games are Japanese! I have to hold down the power button for an extra second or two - no big deal - but is there a way to switch the default format easily?

I think you just have to route the wire that comes from the chip on the power button to the other side of the jumper set on the GC mother board. Someone here helped me with that (I think it was Nick, I'm not sure, couldn't find the post via the search function), I just removed the chip, set the jumper as default to US and installed a Viper.

Hope this helps .

[sadat]

I think you just have to route the wire that comes from the chip on the power button to the other side of the jumper set on the GC mother board. Someone here helped me with that (I think it was Nick, I'm not sure, couldn't find the post via the search function), I just removed the chip, set the jumper as default to US and installed a Viper.

Hope this helps .

Thanks, sounds very invasive and complicated, think I'll just stick to pressing the power button a second longer!

[JP]

First of all let me apologise to johnboy1967 for completely hijacking his thread here!! I was expecting a yes or no answer really.

Strolls, you've not put me off at all!! It would be nice to just be able to stick any region DVD/Cube game in it but to be honest I don't really care about the DVDs as, like most pople here, I seem to have an almost unlimited amount of DVD capable machines connected to my TV at the moment.

Having bought a PS3 & HDTV in the past month and I've also convinced myself that I NEED to get hold of a GP2X (anybody have one?) sometime it will probably be a couple of months or so before I do start looking for one seriously but it's good to know there are people here who have experience with them.

There seems to be a ridiculous variation in the cost of used machines. I've seen between ?150 and ?250 for used machines in what seems like the same condition!!! What should I be paying for a good condition used machine which is region free for US/UK/Jap games? Where is the best place to get them as the prices on here always seem closer to the top end of what I've seen them going for?

[chaoticjelly]

Wow stroller, that is the most comprehensive and well-laid out technical post ever surface mount sounds like fun.. its the future man!

[JB@XL]

First of all let me apologise to johnboy1967 for completely hijacking his thread here!! I was expecting a yes or no answer really.

Evo-one no need for an apology as any gaming info is worth a read.

Good luck in your pana q search.I would love to get one but dont want to spend around ?150+ and then find that it wont squeeze into the gap on my unit .

[Strolls]

Wow stroller, that is the most comprehensive and well-laid out technical post ever

Thanks.
I have a tendency to waste... um.. spend hours writing posts when I think I know about something, so your thanks are very much appreciated.

It would be nice to just be able to stick any region DVD/Cube game in it.

You can do that with a modded cube, of course. It's the DVD mods and the ribbon cables that add the complexity to modding the Q.

For me, the Q just became impractical when I bought a US Wii - I honestly can't think of any UK/PAL games that I'd want to play and would be unable to find secondhand for a few quid as NTSC(U). I'm not interested in learning Japanese.

But, nevertheless, I will probably end up modding the Q, just for completeness sake. I have the DVDchips kit here & Ghostfitter quoted me a price for fitting the DVD-playing mod of that and adding a Qoob. I decided on the regular Qoob, rather than the Pro, because I don't need the Pro's extra features. I can't see myself ever selling the Q because I'd take such a hit against what I paid for it.

There seems to be a ridiculous variation in the cost of used machines. I've seen between ?150 and ?250 for used machines in what seems like the same condition!!! What should I be paying for a good condition used machine which is region free for US/UK/Jap games? Where is the best place to get them as the prices on here always seem closer to the top end of what I've seen them going for?

Well, you should be paying whatever you're prepared to pay.
I think some people still have really high asking prices on these machines because they're aware of how much they paid for them 2 or 3 years ago - I'm guessing UK buyers were paying c ?300 new. Even when the Q was first released, I'm not sure that it was a good-value purchase compared with a Cube and a separate DVD-player. I'd imagine there might have also been a tendency to consider the Q as "collectable" back then - I certainly saw it as a "prestige" machine, but once I saw it in the flesh I realised it was much uglier than I'd thought!! I think one tends to buy a Q out of irrational lust!!

Prices have certainly dropped in the 6 months or so, since Nintendo enthusiasts started selling them to fund Wiis, basically, and I'm surprised to hear you say Qs are still listed at ?250 (unless those have a lot of accessories?). Even late last year, many listed on eBay with a Buy-It-Now price around that mark weren't selling. A couple of surface scuffs seem to be common - I guess maybe the perspex front & the silver paint on the case tend to show them up - but I'd have thought you should be able to get a Q in decent condition for c ?150 - ?170. For me it was nice to get the box with mine, and secondhand examples are regularly offered with good-condition packaging.

I think you'd be quite lucky to find a Q that was already modded for UK games. As I said, the majority were sold by grey-importers pre-modded for US/Jap games (I think Lik-Sang sold them in this configuration); I'd imagine a factory-standard, un-modded Q might be easy to to find, but I got the impression that there were very few owners installing a Qoob or Viper mod-chip.

I guess modding an original Jap-only Q to play UK games & DVDs would cost c ?100. The best thing to do is watch eBay prices & keep an eye on the forums here. I like to set a search on eBay which emails me when new items are listed, then I estimate a close-price for them, put them on my watch list & see how close I was when they sell. That's a really good way of learning to estimate the value of things. I find it more difficult to judge the value of consoles which include a number of games or accessories - there used to be a bloke who made his living buying N64 bundles and splitting them to sell off the games & controllers separately - but remember that Gamecube component leads aren't cheap, and are practically an essential for the Q. I don't know anything about using RGB SCART with the Q - Saurion (??) on here used to make these leads, but I don't know whether these work with all regions of games.

Stroller.