I've got a Panasonic Q that was fully modded. So it played Jap/US GC games as well as NTSC and PAL DVDs. Many years ago i switched the plug off on it after watching a pal dvd before it had fully powered down and since that time i've not been able to play pal dvds since. So does anyone have any idea what the issue could be? At first i thought it might be that i need to use the service disc again to re-enable all regions as my panasonic amp loses all its settings if there is a power cut whilst its on. But after a bit of reading it seems that only enables other regions, not pal dvds and American DVDs still work fine. Any ideas what it could be and how to fix it?
Wasn't the modified Q equipped with an extra onboard-chip for the region free thingy? I'm pretty sure that the front-plate soldered chip was only for selecting the region of the GameCube mobo... So if I'm correct, it could be fried? EDIT: However, I find it strange that you mention it still manages to read US region 1 DVDs..., you sure they arent region 0 (free)? Japan has region 2, same as Europe, so actually, the PAL DVDs 'should' read fine, although in a NOT-CONVERTED PAL-signal.
It needed an extra ram chip to run pal DVDs. So its possible something happened to that but if my memory is correct when putting in a pal DVD it'd just say 'disc unreadable' rather than doing anything. Yet American region 1s work fine. Last disc i tried was a simpsons dvd so was for certain region 1. I should connect it all up again and have a proper play as its been years since i 'broke' it.
I think some DVD players will not play 50hz encoded DVDs, regardless of region. I've heard the PS3 is that way.
it' miss ram chip for the pal dvd mode. there was a kit sold by liksang for it http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?13308-Panasonic-Q-modification