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Panasonic Q

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Panasonic Q
Panasonic Q (SL-GC10) with its Panasonic-branded controller
Specifications
ManufacturerMatsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic)
TypeDVD player with built-in Nintendo GameCube
Released14 December 2001 (Japan)[1]
Discontinued2003[2]
Intro priceOpen price; ¥39,800 on Panasonic's direct-sale site[1]
CPUNintendo GameCube mainboard DOL-CPU-10 or DOL-CPU-11[3]
Memory—
Storage—
DisplayComposite, S-Video and GameCube digital AV out (games only)[4]
Sound—
MediaDVD-Video, DVD-R, GameCube discs, CD-DA, Video CD, CD-R/RW[4]
PowerInternal, AC 100 V 50/60 Hz, 30 W; about 0.4 W on standby[4]
Dimensions180 × 217 × 198 mm (W × D × H)[4]
WeightAbout 3 kg[4]
OS / Firmware—
CodenameMermaid[5]
Model no.SL-GC10

The Panasonic Q (model SL-GC10) is a DVD player with the hardware of a Nintendo GameCube built in. Matsushita Electric Industrial made it under the Panasonic brand and sold it only in Japan, from 14 December 2001.[1] Panasonic's name for it was the DVD/GAME Player Q; during development it was codenamed Mermaid.[5] It plays GameCube discs, DVD-Video and CDs from a front-loading tray, has its own mains power supply, and carries an LCD panel in the top of the case.[4][6]

The game side is a GameCube mainboard and behaves as a GameCube, so the Nintendo GameCube Maintenance Guide, the Nintendo GameCube Troubleshooting Guide and the Nintendo GameCube Capacitor Replacement Guide apply to it. The parts the Q adds are the DVD drive and its boards, the power supply, the display and the case.

History

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Matsushita announced the Q on 19 October 2001 and released it on 14 December 2001. It was sold at open price; Panasonic's direct-sale site charged ¥39,800, and the only colour was silver.[1][2] Panasonic announced the end of the Q on 18 December 2003.[2]

Specifications

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Panasonic's specifications (operating instructions, p. 50)
Item Specification
Power AC 100 V, 50/60 Hz
Power consumption 30 W; about 0.4 W on standby
Dimensions 180 × 217 × 198 mm (W × D × H), excluding projections
Mass About 3 kg
Discs DVD-Video; DVD-R in DVD-Video format; GameCube discs; audio CD; Video CD; CD-R and CD-RW in audio CD or Video CD format
Signal system NTSC
Video output 1 Vp-p (75 Ω), one RCA socket
S-Video output Y 1 Vp-p, C 0.286 Vp-p (75 Ω), one socket
Digital AV output One GameCube connector, for games only
Audio output 2 Vrms (1 kHz, 0 dB, 10 kΩ); two stereo pairs, one subwoofer socket
Digital audio output One optical socket, DVD and CD playback only

[4] The operating instructions state that the Q is for use in Japan only.[4] The rating plate on the back gives 100 V, 30 W, 50/60 Hz.[7]

Hardware

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GameCube side

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GC-Forever records two mainboards in the Q, DOL-CPU-10 and DOL-CPU-11, and gives the NTSC revision 1.0 boot ROM for the DOL-CPU-10.[3] The game side has the same ports as a GameCube: four controller ports and two memory card slots on the front, and the high-speed port and serial ports 1 and 2 underneath.[1][4] The GameCube's Game Boy Player does not fit the Q's differently sized underside; the Q takes its own version, the SH-GB10.[8]

The two halves of the machine are separate. The GAME button starts the GameCube side and the DVD/CD button the DVD player, and either button works only when the tray is empty. The GameCube's settings menu is unchanged, the DVD side uses the settings menu of Panasonic's DVD players, the supplied remote control does not work the games and the controller does not work the DVD player.[6][1] The front-panel GAME RESET button restarts the GameCube side.[4]

Disc drive

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The tray has two recesses: the inner one takes GameCube discs and 8 cm CDs, the outer one DVDs and 12 cm CDs.[6] A community drawing of the drive names the mechanism RAJ4601-M (K) and the optical pickup RAF3011A. It shows the pickup, the spindle motor and the pickup position motor (MDN2BL3CRQ) with its limit switch S1 wired to board RJB2452AA, and the tray motor (MDN3BL3CRA) with the tray-open and tray-closed switches S3 and S2 wired to CN504 on the indication and control board.[9] An owner who rebuilt a Q with a donor drive found the whole drive assembly to be the one in Panasonic's DVD-XV10 (Europe) and DVD-XP30 and DVD-XP50 (Japan).[10] RetroSix describes the drive as derived from the DVD-RV31.[11]

The tray rails and the drive mounting are plastic and are the Q's most common mechanical fault; see Panasonic Q General Maintenance.[12][13]

Power supply

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The power supply is inside the case, where a GameCube uses an external adapter.[8] RetroSix's notes describe it in stages. A standby supply on the AC power board lights a red standby light on the front board. Pressing POWER closes a relay on the AC board, which passes the mains to the DC power board. The DC power board produces 12 V, −12 V, 5 V and 2.5 V on connector N, and 12 V DC on connector M for the GameCube power board. Over-current protection opens the relay again if a rail is overloaded.[14] Console5 lists the mains supply board as LSJB1090-4, with a 150 µF 200 V primary reservoir (C903), and a secondary power supply board RJB2506AA.[15]

A fan on the left side of the case runs only in GameCube mode. GAME Watch found it noticeably louder than a GameCube's fan on a demonstration unit.[6]

Display and controls

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The LCD sits in the top of the case in front of the carrying handle. It shows track and time for DVDs and CDs and the word GAMECUBE in game mode,[6] and Panasonic's diagram gives its indicators: DVD, play, pause, repeat, resume, angle, GAME, SURROUND, CINEMA, RANDOM, PGM, dts, sampling rate and bit depth.[4] At power-on it shows HELLO and then the last mode used.[16] The front panel lights blue when the Q is on.[1] The DVD transport buttons are on the top; POWER, OPEN/CLOSE, SURROUND, BASS PLUS, DIALOGUE ENHANCER, CINEMA, GAME and GAME RESET are on the front.[4] A game timer, set from the remote control in 30-minute steps up to 120 minutes, sounds an alarm when time is up; it does not stop the game.[6][4]

Boards

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Boards named by Console5 and RetroSix
Board Function as given by the source
RJB2312C DVD decoder and controller board (Console5, marked as uncertain)
RJB2452AA DVD control and interface board (Console5, marked as uncertain); the drive's pickup, spindle and sled motor connect to it
RJB2503AA AV board
RJB2504AA LCD board
RJB2506AA Secondary power supply
RJB2506AB Small board with one electrolytic, C701
LSJB1090-4 Main power supply
GameCube mainboard and power board As in the retail GameCube

[15][9] RetroSix labels the same parts by function: AC power board, DC power board, GameCube power board, top lid, front board, side board, AV decoder board and optical decoder board, joined by connectors it letters A to V.[17] Its connector map is on the Panasonic Q General Maintenance page.

Connections

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Rear panel: audio, subwoofer, S-Video, composite, optical and GameCube digital AV outputs
  • Front: four GameCube controller ports, memory card slots A and B.[4]
  • Rear: two pairs of analogue audio outputs, a subwoofer output, S-Video and composite video, an optical digital audio output and the GameCube digital AV output.[4] There is no GameCube analogue AV (multi-out) socket; composite and S-Video carry both the games and the DVD player.[6][8]
  • Underneath: the high-speed port and serial ports 1 and 2.[4]

The Q came with a remote control, an audio and video lead, a Panasonic-branded GameCube controller (SH-TGC10SY-H) and a detachable mains lead (VJA0536), which Panasonic says is for the Q only.[18]

The digital AV output carries the GameCube picture only, for Nintendo's component or D-terminal cables, and DVD video comes from the composite and S-Video sockets only.[4][6] AV Watch's announcement report said the digital output also served the DVD player, interlaced; Panasonic's own specification and GAME Watch's hands-on test say it carries games only.[1] The optical output works for DVD and CD playback and is silent in game mode.[4][1]

Known faults

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Documentation

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 松下、「ゲームキューブ」互換のDVD/ゲームプレーヤー「Q」, Impress, 19 October 2001—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Announcement report: release on 14 December 2001, open price with ¥39,800 on Panasonic's direct-sale site, silver only, GameCube ports, outputs, CD-R/RW playback, size and weight.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 GameCube: Panasonic Q, Wikipedia—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Used for the announcement, release and discontinuation dates only; the discontinuation is sourced there to Nintendo World Report, 17 December 2003.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 GC-Forever Wiki, "GameCube versions". Community source. Lists the SL-GC10 with mainboards DOL-CPU-10 and DOL-CPU-11, IPL NTSC revision 1.0 and drive identifier 0000 0000 20010831 61 4D.
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., DVD/ゲームプレーヤー 取扱説明書 品番 SL-GC10 (operating instructions, RQT6164-S, October 2001), 60 pages, in Japanese. Specifications p. 50; Q&A p. 50; troubleshooting table pp. 51–53; names of parts pp. 54–57; care, warranty and parts retention p. 58; game error messages p. 34. Hosted here as File:Panasonic Q SL-GC10 Operating Instructions RQT6164.pdf (PDF page = printed page + 1); see Panasonic Q Documentation.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 パナソニック製ゲームキューブ互換機「Q」、11月下旬に4万円以下で発売か, Impress, 11 October 2001—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Source for the codename Mermaid, the product name DVD/GAME Player Q and the Panasonic-branded controller.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 DVDプレーヤーとゲームキューブが合体 ゲームもできるDVDプレーヤー「Q」ファーストインプレッション, Impress, 30 November 2001—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Hands-on with a demonstration unit: tray recesses, front and rear panels, the fan, mode switching, LCD and game timer.
  7. ↑ Rating plate on the rear panel, photographed by Evan-Amos: File:Panasonic Q SL-GC10 rear.jpg.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 ニンテンドー ゲームキューブ: Q（SL-GC10）, Wikipedia (Japanese)—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Used for the built-in power supply, the absence of the analogue multi-out and the Q's own Game Boy Player, SH-GB10.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Panasonic SL-GC10 (Panasonic Q) CD/DVD Mechanism Schematic Diagram RAJ4601-M (K), one sheet, 2010. A community drawing, not a Panasonic document. Hosted here as File:Panasonic Q SL-GC10 CD-DVD Mechanism Schematic RAJ4601.pdf.
  10. ↑ Panasonic Q Complete DVD Drive SWAP (and hopefully modding?), GC-Forever forums, 26 May – 31 August 2020—link(accessed 2026-10-01) First post (Gaijinsan, 26 May 2020): drive shared with the Panasonic DVD-XV10, DVD-XP30 and DVD-XP50; printed rails needing filing; tray switch assembly moved across; laser pots adjusted. Replies on modchips and softmods.
  11. ↑ Capacitors (Panasonic Q), RetroSix Wiki, 16 August 2026—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Capacitor tables grouped by value; repeats Console5's values and names Console5 among its sources.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Panasonic Q (SL-GC10) GameCube: Drive Rails & FlippyDrive, Hitman's Museum, June 2022 – September 2025—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Restoration log: shattered left drive rail and deformed belt, 3D-printed rails, FlippyDrive with the flex cable reversed, and a recap of the GameCube board.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 【修理依頼】パナソニックDVD/ゲームプレーヤーQのディスク開閉不良を修理しました, BEEP, 7 February 2020—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Shop repair report: tray fault from a perished belt, gears removed to fit the new belt, old grease cleaned off, broken drive mounting plastic repaired.
  14. ↑ Systematic Bring Up (Panasonic Q), RetroSix Wiki—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Community account of the power-up stages: standby supply, relay, DC power board rails and the over-current trip.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Panasonic Q, Console5 TechWiki, 7 March 2025—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Capacitor lists by board number for the DVD, AV, LCD and power boards; the GameCube boards are referred to Console5's GameCube page. Secondary source, compiled from boards.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Power Up Basics (Panasonic Q), RetroSix Wiki—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Community notes on the standby light, the relay, the LCD start-up messages and the front-panel buttons in each mode.
  17. ↑ Ribbon Connections (Panasonic Q), RetroSix Wiki—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Community labelling of the boards and their connectors A to V.
  18. ↑ Matsushita, SL-GC10 operating instructions (RQT6164), "付属品を確かめよう" (accessories), p. 7 (PDF page 8), File:Panasonic Q SL-GC10 Operating Instructions RQT6164.pdf. Replacement part numbers: remote control N2QAJB000034, audio/video lead VJA0788-D, GameCube controller SH-TGC10SY-H, mains lead VJA0536.
  19. ↑ F76 Error (Panasonic Q), RetroSix Wiki—link(accessed 2026-10-01) Community notes on causes of the F76 shutdown.


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