Is there a setting on the XH-A1 to not power down when running on battery and not rolling tape?

The standby lock switch on the record button accomplishes exactly that. it goes into standby without loosing any settings and saves battery life.

Now if you're saying, to not go into standby, I think (you'll have to double check the manual) that you can go into the custom settings and disable the standby function.

It's Custom function 16 - Power save - OFF.

Yep, first thing I did was turn off that power save thing. It shuts the camera down automatically when it's in standby mode, not something you would normally want to happen. This is the first camera I've had that did that, and it freaked me out till I found the setting.

Set one of the two programmable buttons on the side of the camera to control the on-off of this function.

No real need to do that because once you've change the setting, it stays that way and you don't have to worry about it any longer.

Good tip! The camera shutting down was so frustrating...

Is it a good idea to turn off that function?

When you're in record mode and the camera is in pause (i.e., not recording), isn't the head is spinning against the same spot of the tape until you press record or go into standby? If it is, then it will cause unnecessary wear to the head and that spot of the tape causing debris to potentially clog the head as well.

I'm asking because I sometime do time lapse with the camera attached to a laptop running On Location. The laptop does the recording, and if I'm in the field with no power, I didn't want the Canon shutting down.

There's no tape in the camera when I do this.

Is it a good idea to turn off that function?

When you're in record mode and the camera is in pause (i.e., not recording), isn't the head is spinning against the same spot of the tape until you press record or go into standby? If it is, then it will cause unnecessary wear to the head and that spot of the tape causing debris to potentially clog the head as well.

Marcel, disabling the auto shut off/power save "feature" still allows the camera to go into a "stand by" in the sense that after five mins or whatever it is, the tape is released from the heads. You'll notice this where there's a "stop" icon on the lcd or viewfinder instead of a "pause".

ah...okay. That's good info. Thanks!