Panasonic Q officially regionfree-version?

[MoFo2]

Some articles suggest there was an officially released version of the Panasonic Q that was regionfree (US/JP-games, all zones DVD), but I thought these had to be modded (by LikSang and such)?

http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg00-q.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panasonic_Q

http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/Panasonic_Q

Why wasn't I told about this back in 2003?

But how can you tell the 2 models apart, some model number?

[J0e Musashi]

I'm highly dubious that it was made officially region-free.

[speedlolita]

They need to be modded.

[Nu-Eclipse]

They need to be modded.

Is Correct.

Panasonic Q is/was normally sold region-locked (Region 2 DVD & JPN GC). Modding has to be done to make it region-free for both DVD playback and US/JPN GC Game playing.

[fuse]

Semi-related; anyone familiar with an issue on these where the drive scratches discs / how easy it is to fix? I am in the market for one of these right now but I am a little nervous about this issue and am generally terrified of taking anything apart and poking my sausage fingers about inside.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Semi-related; anyone familiar with an issue on these where the drive scratches discs / how easy it is to fix? I am in the market for one of these right now but I am a little nervous about this issue and am generally terrified of taking anything apart and poking my sausage fingers about inside.

Personally, I can't say that I've experienced such a problem with my Q, Adrian.

Tbh, I'm more concerned with how my Q now sounds like a jet engine taking off whenever I use it to play GC games - the thing is loud!

[Oldgamingfart]

Yes it has a tendency to resonate a little when the fan kicks in, although it might just be a worn-out fan. You can easily source an off-the-shelf replacement, going by the dimensions and how many wires to connect it. Not sure if it's the exact same type used in the standard Gamecube or not.

As for the region-free, I recall Lik-Sang and most likely Play-Asia used to sell the pre-modded consoles. There was some sort of firmware disc that had to be run, along with some extra RAM added to get it playing PAL DVD's. Not forgetting the region-mod for the console part as well.
The hardest part (for the end user) was figuring out the Japanese remote control, but there was a solution for that as well, in the form of a stick-on faceplate with all the English commands on it!

[MoFo2]

Yes, I have that faceplate, very handy. It was more of a guesswork before I got it haha.

Got my Q modded from LanKwei before they went tits-up, think it was run by a German in HK but then they got too many customers I think and couldn't handle all the orders.

Strange that those 3 articles suggest there was a regionfree version sold in Japanese stores.

[Goemon]

TBH the JPN/US mod was barely a mod from what I remember...Was something insane like connecting 2 points together.

[Nu-Eclipse]

TBH the JPN/US mod was barely a mod from what I remember...Was something insane like connecting 2 points together.

I heard the complete opposite - that it was a programming job, much like using the Qoob modchip & software to modify normal Gamecubes for region-switching...

[speedlolita]

On a regular Cube it's very easy, it's different on the Panny Q due to how the power switch works or something.

[J0e Musashi]

It's to do with the power switch on a Q. The R6 jumper isn't involved.

[acidbearboy]

Is it possible for a Q or normal GC to be modded so it's truely region free ie. it plays PAL/US/JP games?