Well, that budget Ulanzi stream controller was a bust.
I got it, and it powered up OK when I connected it by USB. Was showing a default button layout on the face, and everything. OpenDeck refused to recognize the thing, but it was showing up fine on my computer as a Rockchip device. The plugin page said that for best results, you should go into the official Ulanzi Studio under Windows and update the firmware to the latest.
Yeah, so that got the thing bootlooping, and totally unrecognizable to anything. 😫
Turns out this is a known issue. Ulanzi apparently put out a firmware update over a year ago that this particular chipset really doesn't like!
Contribute to CHADREX/ulanzi-d200-recovery development by creating an account on GitHub.
This has apparently been the company's only support response that I could tell. I opened the thing up and tried flashing both older versions of the firmware supplied by Ulanzi, and no dice! They did successfully flash. But one had it unrecognizable and doing absolutely nothing, while the other got it bootlooping (and unrecognizable) again. 🙃
Couldn't continue with the adb recovery step, and the button reset somebody mentioned in the link below didn't get it recognizable on either old firmware. I tried everything I could think of.
What people had to say on a couple of Reddit threads was not encouraging as far as further manufacturer support over their firmware fuckup.
I was extremely frustrated, and ended up just putting in a return for refund. The unit really was not working properly! It was not fit for purpose. Ulanzi's own (Windows/Mac only) control program wouldn't talk to it until I updated the firmware to the version that broke the thing.
If Scandinavian Photo even asks about it, all they need to know is that the forced firmware update got it bootlooping.
The Ulanzi D-200 is supposed to be a pretty sweet budget button panel controller, if you do get one that actually functions. But, I didn't want another of the same model, because it would be the same chipset crapshoot as to whether it works. Based on this, I can't really recommend the unit, and would honestly hesitate to buy other Ulanzi products.
