i bought the xl1 to use in a multi camera shoot for my business. I shoot City council meeting and use a 4 input mixer into a svhs vcr to do my recording. My problem is the camera powers down every five minutes. I tried th tick of leaving the door open. But the camera flashes a red no tape sign which shows up on the recording. This is very troublesome for me and I could use some help. I bought this camera on ebay my 2nd question is when you go to the menue and turn the zebra pattern on should color bars appear in my viewfinder. Mine doesn't do anything on or off. Im new to my xl1 and am looking forward to finding out everything about it

It's normal for a cam or VCR to shut down after 2 minutes or so. That's a safety feature so that the heads don't overheat.

Zebra pattern is not the same as color bars... refer to the user's manual, if you don't have one, you can download it from The Canon DV Download Library (http://www.canondv.com/downloads/product_manuals.html) -- hope this helps,

as far as shutting down it sounds like you're tryign to use the camera as just a lens and the VCR as the deck. Personally I don't knwo of anyway to keep the camera from powering down, I know you can do it with an XL1-s but I don't know with a canon, maybe something with a firewire cable... or you can just pick up a couple of mini dvtapes stick 'em in and hit record on those and also on your VCR that might alievate some of your problems but it will put hours on the heads.

Camera should stay powered if you do not insert a tape, even if the door is closed. Actually, best to leave the door closed, that keep dirt/dust from entering.

Press the 'On Screen' button on the remote controller to turn off the display in the analog output when in camera mode, or to turn it on when in VCR mode. It is a toggle.

The ~2 to 5 minute auto shutdown is to reduce unintended head and tape wear.

The color bars produced in the XL1 are an undocumented (for end users) feature, and are not industry standard levels. They can be used as a play-pretty for show if you like. Zebra is used to identify which highlights/bright objects in the image are overexposed. I believe that the XL1s model does produce industry standard level bars.

You may find that the shiny bald head of the chubby councilman on the left (or right) is often in zebra when the image is otherwise OK.

thankyou for your advise Don Palomaki and thanks to everyone who responded. The on screen button on the remote took care of the flashing no tape sign. Now my power always stays on with no tape in it