A warning to Panasonic Lumix camera owners who update the firmware....

[dennishoy]

Folks,

I was going to update the firmware in my Panasonic Lumix digitial camera today. Normally, I would simply accept the firmware update from the manufacturer as gospel and not query it. For some reason, I carefully checked thorugh the small print and found that the only reason for this update was.....

To "prevent the unauthorised use of non-Panasonic batteries".

I already have two spare batteries purchased from ABC products for £7.99 each.
Genuine Panasonic batteries are thieving £19.99 + postage.

Panasonic are obviously overcharging for their batteries and realising that they are losing out, are trying to prevent the use of third party battereis 'for safety reasons'. What rubbish.

So DO NOT UPDATE your Lumix software as it makes the operation of your camera WORSE. Your second-sourced batteries will no longer work.
You have been warned !!

The same applies to HP Photosmart 5524 printers.... DO NOT update the printer firmware as you will no longer be able to use any third party supplied ink cartridges at £9.99 a set (which work better than the originals and contain more ink) but only the genuine HP versions at £29.99 a set will be recognised. Thieving B*stards.

Hope that helps.

Best wishes,
Dennis.

[Skywave]

The bit about the batteries is interesting; thanks for sending it in.

From what Panasonic have stated, it seems to suggest that there is a difference between Panasonic batteries and ones of an identical chemistry from other battery manufacturers. Does this camera require any type of battery other than what you and I would call an 'ordinary' battery? Is the Panasonic battery something strange - say its voltage, current capability, physical size or shape? Do you have any idea as to what the difference is between Panasonic and non-Panasonic batteries, so that the 'non-Panasonic battery detection' software works as Panasonic wishes it to behave?

I'm intrigued.

Al. / Aug. 26, 2013 //

[Refugee]

I just avoid brands that do things like that.
The best thing that could happen is that someone from the far east comes up with a third party firmware upgrade like they did for printer cartridges some time ago.

[Yorkie]

Crafty blighters!

I've had a Lumix DMC-FX9 for several years - I guess it's well obsolete by now.

It's served me well and I've never been aware of the need to update the firmware, how to go about it, or what advantages an update would confer (unlike for example, a Sat-Nav say). I only have the original battery, which still seems fine and for the limited use I put it to, I don’t have a spare battery. I recently spent a week in Normandy and took maybe 100 pics. I’d taken the charger but didn’t need to re-charge the battery. I don’t consider myself to be a photographer – I take what I consider to be ‘snapshots’, often to record work that I do on radios so I don’t lose track of how something is wired up. Other times, I take pics of people and places. As to replacement batteries, I notice that at this link, that what appears from the wording at first sight to be a genuine Panasonic battery, isn’t in fact. The wording states:

Quote:

‘This replacement Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9 battery is sourced directly from the manufacturer and thoroughly tested to ensure it is of the highest quality. It features the latest battery technology and uses A-grade components that meet or exceed the original manufacturers specifications, ensuring that you get to use your camera for longer. This battery is supplied with a two year warranty’.

Unquote.

‘Sourced directly from the Manufacturer’ infers that the ‘manufacturer’ in question is Panasonic, but then it does go on to say ‘meets or exceeds the original manufacturer’s specification’.

On looking closer at the spec it states: ‘Brand:Premiumdigital (non-OEM)’

At £9.99 post free with a two-yr warranty it would do for me:

http://www.digi-quick.co.uk/categories/d...a-battery/

A Duracell one (3 yr warranty) is £14.99 (Free P&P) from here:

http://www.duracelldirect.co.uk/digital-...s005e.html

I actually struggled to find a link to a genuine Panasonic battery.

[ed731pdh]

So much for free trade, can't see the authorities investigating any time soon.

[dennishoy]

Their reasoning is flawed. The battery is a standard 3.7V Lithium Ion battery all of which must have protection included to prevent overcharging and therefore overheating. The battery is charged in a separate charger so it's crap to suggest it could overheat in the camera when charging.

The bigger these companies get, the more arrogant they become. I called Sony to ask why there was no update to my Bravia TV bought new in 2011 to remove the now defunct analogue TV system from the menus and was told the set was obsolete and 'no further updates would be issued'. I told them that no updates had been issued anyway and the stupid bugs that were apparent when the set was new are still there. They couldn't care less. I can understand it had I bought a piece of Chinese crap from Tesco, but I paid £1300 for this set and expected at least one update to be issued to correct several very obvious errors in the menu system.
This was the set that blew up soon after it was new and it needed a new power supply and main board. They suggested my house wiring was not correct. Bloody cheek. Nothing else blew up that day, only their Bravia rubbish.
Later, my Sony Blu-Ray would no longer play You Tube videos as the format had been changed to stop folk watching them on the TV. The same happened to my TViX 6600 meida player at the same time. TViX brought out a firmware update to correct the problem whilst Sony brought out a new Blu-Ray player instead.

No more 'Sony' for me.

Dennis.

[Skywave]

I understand exactly where you're coming from, as regards Sony equipment, Dennis. Having spent a lot of my working life repairing all manner of domestic electronic products (and quite a fair number of professional products, too), I long ago came to the conclusion that Sony seem to spend a substantially disproportionate part of the manufacturing cost of a product on those parts of that product that are literally seen by the user. And this is usually a non-technical user, too. It isn't until you (eventually) manage to prise the covers off and start delving around inside that you start to realise how poorly-engineered most of their products actually are. Yes, I will readily concede that when Sony kit is working, it usually works well, but it is very clearly designed to be anti-maintenance. After all, Sony aren't going to make any money by people having their Sony kit repaired by a third party, are they? But they will make money from that customer if he goes and buys the 'all new and shiny' latest Sony model.
I made my home a 'Sony-free' household a long time ago.

Al. / Aug. 28, 2013 //

[pwdrive]

I can't speak for Sony these days as I am long out of the trade but in their hey day there stuff was some of the best.
I worked for Sony as a tech and actually met the man himself.
Their televisions were first rate as were most of the Japanese mainstream TV manufacturers such as Hitachi etc back then.
Their tape recorders were good, that's why they sold lots of them.
They invested heavily in R & D back then, they had a whole department that just researched and developed plastics technology for their products.
I remember when they launched the Trinitron CRT, it was a game changer in my opinion, their sets were solid and well made and I never found servicing them to be a problem, I think the biggest problem was that a lot of British TV techs couldn't get there heads round the fact that the Japs beat us to it.

Our first colour tv was a second hand Sony KV1800, I never had the back off it in all the years we had it.

Times change I guess.

Lawrence.

[boiss]

I've got a Lumix FX 180 and it has been fine, the battery seemed a bit dodgy after a year but now after 3 yrs it appears perfectly OK.
As For Sony I have an ICF7600 (Electrolytic caps all changed) An 8mm cassette recorder EV-C3E, an ICF2001 bought S/H and repaired, TRV8E camcorder, and an MZ-R55 Minidisc recorder (It's batteries are sh£$ and go up the Swanee whether or not they are used). Because I liked it, when it did pack-up, I bought one with a duff screen on the bay and swapped the rest.). My wife has a Sanyo one, the battery lasted longer but there is no way to use external batteries. Also the replacements costs 3x the Sony ones. She also has a Sony walkman headphone W202, Ok up untill now.
My first Sony experience in the 70s was with TV KV1300 the model originally made for the states, with the continuously broken PSU. I eventually built a PSU for it and the whole thing was OK for about 20yrs and was still working when it was binned.

[ed731pdh]

Our first Sony television was a 22" KV2204UB Trinitron set, and incidentally our first colour television. I was impressed by the quality of the picture and the set was built on a bomb proof (if live) metal chassis. Just out of warranty the set threw a wobbley and investigation revealed that the LOPT unit had gone futt, it being a UK sourced part. Fitted one made in Japan and the set performed right up until the day it went to the scrapyard as we had just worn it out.

My bedside clock radio is a 40+ year old Sony Blacklight unit with motor driven rotating numbers.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Sony kit, always had a soft spot for it because it just worked how I wanted it to, but recently even I have been somewhat despairing of the quality of build in the sets. The malaise started for me with my first DVD/HDD recorder unit, a RDR-HDX900 unit that performed for three years with no issues before spending three months at Sony whilst they tried to obtain and program a replacement hard drive that incidentally I could source off the shelf with no issues at PC World. The latest DVD/HDD unit, a Sony RDR-HDX970HD unit, has just had it's power supply unit rebuilt because of some key capacitors "doming off" (mind you, I just repaired the PSU on the Technomate sat box for the same reason so I can't really shout that loudly over it) whilst the 40" TV that is four years old is starting to show the same symptoms. Of more frustration, the display screen on the front of the HDD/DVD unit, a gas discharge unit, is dimming but is younger that the one fitted in the 900 which shows no sign of degradation so you have to be of the opinion that Sony have somehow cheapened the spec of the gas tubes over the years. Firmware updates are a bone of contention with me, at least one update that was supposed to correct issues cured them but introduced a totally unrelated issue in the process, don't they test stuff these days before they issue it?

But what has now really turned me away from Sony is that their current range no longer has a DVD/HDD model available. I can have a DVD player, I can have a HDD TiVo style recorder, but I can't have both. With the recent EPG debacle when I nearly went out and obtained a new unit no thanks to the lack of support from Sony UK, I discovered that Panasonic now produce, get this, a combination BD/DVD/CD/HDD recorder (yes, you can now record onto blue ray) for under £500 whilst having twin tuners and all the bells and whistles I used to get from Sony.

There's corporate suicide for you, and Sony are the world leaders.