Firmware upgrade on Panasonic E55

[johnsees]

Has anyone done the firmware upgrade on their E55? I'm really reluctant, since a screw-up can mean having to send the unit to the shop. Has anyone asked the panasonic people what the different upgrades do?

John

[do9999]

I updated my E50. No issues. Can't see what it fixed, but it doesn't seem any worse off

[KTH]

I've done the upgrade on the E55 and it went smoothly. NO problems at all. One thing I should note is that if you read the instructions it says that on some models the unit will eject the disc then after about say a minute will load the disc back in to complete the upgrade. Well on my unit this re-loading took several minutes to happen, so I would suggest that you wait for at least three minutes before removing the disc just to be safe. As to what exactly this upgrade does, I have no idea. My guess is that it just adds more types of media that can be used on this unit.

[johnsees]

thanks, folks. Glad to know y'all haven't had any problems with it.

I'm not having any problems with media, so I guess I'll just hold off. I always have an inclination to upgrade to the latest "whatever" available, but right now I really can't afford to put the machine out of action, and since I'm not having any problems, I'll wait.

Thanks for the replies.

John

[HatchetMan]

where do you find the f/w?

[KTH]

The link to the firmware download site is listed below. Please note that anytime you do a firmware upgrade you do so at your own risk. Please be aware that there always is the possibility that a firmware upgrade may cause the device being upgraded not to function properly or at all. A good rule of thumb is "If it's not broke don't fix it."



http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vDownloads?storeId=15001&langId=-1...ge=DVDFirmware

[KeepItSimple]

Also, don't just burn the downloaded file to a CD like I did at first. Double-click on the .exe downloaded file to extract the firmware file and burn that one to the CD. Panasonic leaves that part out.[/i]

[HatchetMan]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it

[handyguy]

I decided not to do it, after all, if it works fine dont update

If anything, it probably just adds more media codes so you can use more media manf's.

[HatchetMan]

If anything, it probably just adds more media codes so you can use more media manf's.

That's what I was hoping for.

[dfgh11]

When was this update released?

[cowgoo]

from what i can tell nov.30/04

[dfgh11]

Damn, I hope they bring another out soon, as I think it needs one for DVD-r DL

[ann coates]

The link to the firmware download site is listed below. Please note that anytime you do a firmware upgrade you do so at your own risk. Please be aware that there always is the possibility that a firmware upgrade may cause the device being upgraded not to function properly or at all. A good rule of thumb is "If it's not broke don't fix it."

I would agree with that logic in most cases, but not for the Panasonic E85 model as the firmware upgrade is really needed on this machine. It seems to be a time bomb waiting to set off U99 errors otherwise.

[KeepItSimple]

Damn, I hope they bring another out soon, as I think it needs one for DVD-r DL

What what what? A firmware upgrade could make it a DL machine? That would be great!

[ofbarea]

I wonder if this firmware upgrade works in a Latin america version of the DMR-E55. 8)

The latest DMRE55 firmware is still dated 30-NOV-2004

[ofbarea]

Since here in Costa Rica we use the same TV standard as in US I decided that I would flash my DMR-E55 to the latest firmware in the link above.

The good:
- Now I can use some brands of DVD-R that did not worked before.
- Still supports multiregional. Originally I though I would end with a Region 1 player, but after some testing it still support several regions.
- Spanish menus have better translations.

The bad:
- Besides the new media support I still do not know what was improved.
- Still cannot play PAL DVD’s.

The ugly:
- Before the firmware upgrade I was able to change the recorder from NTSC to PAL and vice versa. Now with the US firmware this option is gone and I can no longer record PAL movies anymore.

I contacted local Panasonic support and after talking to a nice guy I found that there is a newer Latin America firmware for my unit that was released in February 2005. Probably it has the same “new” features as the latest US firmware, but I hope I can recover the option for recording PAL movies from PAL sources.

[Courage2000]

I live in Romania - Europe and now I own such a piece of recorder..
I cannot find DVD-RAM RW in Romania and I really need a FW update.

I found the JP site and as maybe you allready know, Japan and Europe are using the same Region code: 2

Latest firmware is dated April 5, 2005

What's new ?
It corresponds to recording to the DVD-R disk for eight-X speed recording.

http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/web/body/?wb_url=http%3A%2F%2Fpanasonic.jp%2Fsup...=JAEN&wb_dis=2

Regions
1: U.S., Canada, U.S. Territories
2: Japan, Europe, South Africa, and Middle East (including Egypt)
3: Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong)
4: Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean
5: Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia
6: China
7: Reserved
8: Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, etc.)

[/quote]

[ofbarea]

Remember that EU is PAL and Japan is NTSC.

I know that the hardware in the E55 supports both PAL and NTSC, but depending on the firmware only one could be enabled. In my experience my recorder used to have a Latin America firmware that supported PAL (like Brazil) and NTSC (like Costa Rica) countries. Before the firmware upgrade I was able to change my machine from a PAL only recorder to an NTSC only recorder.

After I flashed the E55 with US firmware I’m no longer able to use it as a PAL machine. Now it only supports NTSC. This is not a big problem for me as I live in an NTSC country.

I would not upgrade your PAL E55 with the Japanese firmware as it may transform your machine into an NTSC recorder. I cannot confirm this but it is possible.

*** Edited on 2-JAN-2006 ***

I found that Panasonic have updated its US support site. There are new firmwares available for several model. Check this link: https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1435646#1435646

I will update my DMR-E55 latinamerican version to the latest firmware.