I should be getting the XL-1S manual soon.

Will let ya'll know down dair.

I'm getting ready to send in my new XL1S to Canon for service. Seems the audio is no-longer recording. Just curious if there are any pros or cons with sending it to either the California or New Jersey service center. I'm a little closer to the NJ center, but is there a difference in turn around time or quality of work between the two that anyone is aware of?

Thanks,
G

Greg, you may want to do a search on this topic. I believe Chris Hurd felt the NJ was perhaps quicker than the CA. I don't want to say better because it implies the other does shoddy work. If you're in the Owners Club you might want to call and see if they have a preference.

Jeff

Does any one know where I can purchase a service manual for the XL1 or XL1s

Or even a photocopy, pdf file anything


James

Nothing that is serviceable by most users in the Canon MiniDV camcroders. Spcialized tools and test gear are required. Circuit boards use special service mounted components and ASICs, so part swapping on them is a bit of a trick too. Also, opening the unit can void the warranty.

With that warning, in the USA manuals can be ordered from the Canon national parts outlet, cost is on the order of $50 or so as I recall. You can get ther from the menus on Canon's support number.

At one time Canon has a gatekeeper on manual sales, you have to sign a waiver statement regarding possible loss of waranty if you used the manual to make home-repairs.

Also, the manuals do not include all circuits in the machine, just the major boards. And they appear to be somewhat comulative where for some products the manual depended in part on having the manual for an earlier version, or some having specific factory training.

An interesting addition to the library only if you are a highly skilled technician and interested in the internal mechanics of the XL1, but a waste of money for most people

hello all..
i am a proud owner of a Xl1... i love this thing..
its an older model that i bought from a guy.
well... little did i know that you were not suppose to use
different brand tapes.. (i was buying whatever i could get the cheapest). now im paying for it.. at least i think thats what the problem is.
evrything was fine until the other night i was using the camera for a playback vcr... i know.... i know..... but i dont have the money for a minidv player right now....took everything i had to
get the cam.

anyways... now i have a large black line and a bunch of squares
at the left side of the picture.. ive cleaned and cleaned and ran the head cleaner thru it 5-6 times.. still the same... : (

so.. im just gonna go ahead and send it in to canon and let them fix it.. since they fix many other things to.. like the focus...and such..
anybody ever had this problem.. with the squares at the side of the picture?
do i need to send it in?
also... how much am i looking at for a "service"

i need to have an idea how much this is gonna cost me...

Thanks a mil in advance !!

Have you tried cleaning the heads with a dry cleaning tape?

- don

yes , i have... now about 7-8 times.. just wont clear up...
any ideas on the cost of a service?

i use this cam every week and cant really go with out it.. but.. i have no choice...
i figure i may have to wait a couple weeks to get it back.. probably needs serviced anyways..

thanks.

also .. the head cleaner im using is a dry tape .. i think.. it looks like a "tape" actually..
do i need to use the "cloth "type tape?

help!

The best thing to do Rod is to send it in to Canon. As it's a used camera it would be a good idea for them to check over it and make any adjustments/mods that are required. They will also fix your problem and send your camera back as good as new. I can't really help with the cost as it's a used camera and it's impossible to know what it might need. Short of having to replace heads/drums etc it shouldn't be too pricey.

Do other tapes play back OK. If the problem is specific to this one tape, you probably have a bad recording on the tape.

I bought my XL-1 in '98.

After three years of light use I started experiencing banding and square pixel drop out.
I tried the cleaning tape, but it was probably too far gone for that - and I had never used the cleaning tape prior to that.

I sent my camera to Canon Repair (as recommended by the XL-1 club) and they did a bang up job. I swear the camera came back as good as new and the banding and drop-out was gone.

Maybe I'm just imagining it, but the focus seemed to respond better as well.

Total cost: $283.00. Cheaper than buying a new camera.

Yeah, its very good idea to send the camera in for yearly maintenance and alignments. Someone I knew never sent their home camcorder in and when it was serviced all their old tapes would play. Yearly maintenance helps prevent that from happening.

My friend sent his XL-1s into Canon service because all the footage he shot started exibiting digital artifacting and no amount of running the head cleaner seemed to help.

Well 2 weeks later he got it back and it's apparently fixed. He was charged $270 for whatever service they did on it.

Now judging by that price what do you think was done- a tape transport replacement, or just a professional head clean? If you don't think his tape transport was replaced- how much is that service?

Very interesting question. I own an XL1s and if that happened to me, I'd insist on knowing the cause. Think of this old adage: Know how to do something you'll always have a job. Know why you do something, you'll always be in charge. I'd like to know the "why" concerning the artifacting with this guy's XL1s. It can happen to us, ya know.

It's been happening to alot of owners- well, not alot but a signifigant amount. Just browse around the forum for a bit and you'll find other XL-1 owners that are having head/cylinder problems.

I first had this problem 2 years ago. Canon replaced the drum and all was well. It cost me ¥40 000, roughly US$350, but that included some mods that were required. Twelve months later the same thng happened again an Canon again replaced the drum, this time under warantee. It happened again this year but they just gave it a clean and adjust for ¥8000.

I need to get my Canon Camera shipped off for the yearly cleaning and maintenance service. How much does Canon Charge for this? Do I pay for shipping to and from Canon, or pay just to ship it to them?

Is it worth it to have my GL1 undergo the same service? I realize that Canon only offers the cleaning and maintenance to the XL1 and XL1s cameras. I would have the GL1 serviced locally, but should I have it done as well?

Thanks,

Chris R
Edit1Media

I know that others have asked this question before and an answer would probably come up with a Search.

But nobody here is a Canon service tech. It's best to just give Canon a call to get specific current answers to the basic maintenence service cost and logistics question.

Whether or not basic preventative maintenance service is worth the time and expense depends entirely on how much you use your cameras and whether or not you rely on them for contract work and/or to put food in your mouth. If you're a hobbyist or use the cameras infrequently it may not be worthwhile.

Cost is on the order of $100 (call Canon for the exact price) for members of the Canon XL1 users club. For others somewhat higher. Not sure what he cost is for the GL1/2. Value depends on how much you have used (and abused) the camcorder, and how citical your work is. You pay shipping both ways, althought the return shipping cost may be built into the rate.

Getting heads aligned and stuff is probably well worth the bother. I have some tapes from a much older Sony system. The cam was sent in for service and the heads were aligned. Now a number of the old vids are not viewable.

I wanted to title this "canon service blows" but I've refrained from it. I own a Canon PAL XL1 I bought it off ebay and After reading the watchdog here I decided to have it specked out for general maintainence, so I called Apple. I spoke to the general canon number then the irvine branch specifically. THEY WON"T TOUCH MY CAMERA! They said if I want it serviced I have to send it to freaking England! What the heck? So I ask about a service manual I'm pretty handy with electronics they tell me to call 1800 OKCANON I call and they tell me there is no way to get a service manual for an XL-1 What the heck? SO now I'm faced with shipping the camera to England going to any number of "suggested" people to take a look at my camera or just dealing with it. If someone has a service manual/has done service on an XL1 please let me know, also has anyone ever adjusted their IRE settings' or had them adjusted for american standards? Help me Please!

I'm faced with the same situation here in Japan, I have to send my camera back to Australia to have it serviced/repaired. This is nothing new and not just a Canon deal, it is also why we always advise against buying cameras from overseas.

I know this isn't very helpful to you Nick but finding a 3rd party repairer will probably be your only option.

Adrian,

Thanks, while I do understand that, Canon did sell the PAL version of the XL1 (not the XL1s) in the states, (you could get it from B and H, and a few other places to I believe) and I purchased it from someone in the US, so there was definitely no overseas to be gone, I'm still blown away but the lack of access to a service manual though. I guess a 3rd party is going to be my only option.

I totally hear you about the hassles, it's never ending for me here in Japan. Did Canon actually release PAL cameras through their authorized dealers or are they sorced from overseas by the dealers? That's where your problem lays. Is the dealer you bought it from an authorized Canon dealer, if so you should have some form of legal recource.

It doesn't surprise me about the service manuals though, I don't know of any camera manufacturer, or any electronics manufacturer for that matter, that releases their manuals to the general public.

Most electronic manufactures only sell the service manual to authorized service centers. Sony would only sell camera manuals after completing a Sony camera training class. PAL cameras needs different equipment to service them. The standard NTSC waveform monitor/vector scope won't work. Neither will standard oscilloscopes. The US Canon technicians are not trained to work on PAL equipment. This situation is not unique to Canon. None of the major manufactures will work on PAL equipment here in NTSC land.

Service manual policy changes from time to time. They often are available, but are not cheap, you may have to convince someone to sell one to you, and you may have to waive warranty in the process.

There are NO USER SERVICEABLE parts in a camcorder. And well qualified technicians usually know how to obtain a manual.

The PAL XL1 was a little before my time here at ZGC but in talking to my partner Chris, any of the PAL XL1 units that were licensed for purchase in the US should have a US warranty card and be servicable here in the states.

She did mention that there were delays sometimes because parts had to be ordered from Europe but that the service was done here.

That being said, if they can service the ones that were under warranty, they should be able to service any of the PAL units. You might have to pay for the service, but better then paying for it to go to Europe, especially if your warranty is up anyway.

Seems like Canon's cages need to be rattled a little more to get to the bottom of this.

Nick, if you have the original warranty card and it states it's a US warranty I would raise a whole lotta hell.

mizell

So it turned out that my Firewire on the cam was broken. I don't know how, but I would like to know..

But now when I'm sending the camera to service at Canon. Are there any other things they should correct? I know XL1s sometimes have som factory problems, Are there any corrections I should be aware of and tell the service center to correct on the warrenty?

Thanks!
/Andreas

Andreas, I don't know how it is at Canon Europa, but at Canon USA the camcorders automatically receive whatever software / firmware updates they need, and the service center tells you what other chargeable repairs they think should be done. Please let us know what you find out,

Has any one had this problem: I contacted Canon a couple of weeks ago to inform them of my problems with mosiac noise on my xl1, of which they promptly sent me a box to mail the camera in. was told I would get a call or an email on the diagnosis and estimate on the problem, this would come the Monday following the Thursday receipt of the product.

After about 3 business days with my camera, they sent me an estimate. The "estimate" for repairs was $400. This was basically a ballpark pitch at the problem, as they never itemized what $400 would buy me. It was a struggle being bounced around to service folks at their 800 number, finally I was given the local number to Irving to discuss the status.

I talked with Pete in Irving, who basically couldn't tell me nothing, then he told me he had a tech buddy who worked in service who would take a look at my camera and he (Pete) would get back to me.

Long story short, I never got a call back, when I called today I talked to someone else who threw some stuff at me and told me it would, again, take $400 to service the camera. The $400 would possibly cover it, but there would be a possibility that it could be more. On top of that, I got a revised email with the "quote" and an ADDED sales tax, what's that all about?

Any way, I really need some help. I need my camera repaired, I'm not sure why they can't itemize the repair estimate. Nor do I particularly understand why there are various rates for these adjustments floating around and I seem to be getting the boo boo end of the stick. Let me know what you think. Thanks

It wasn't dirty heads?problems with mosiac noise

Sounds like a bit of a frustrating, but unfortunately typical, camera service episode. I doubt that anyone here will be able to offer you any help, per se. At best, emotional support. At this point it will likely be a take-it-or-leave-it situation. And, of course, if you "leave-it" you'll still be stuck with shipping charges.

The "mosaic" problem sounds characteristic of a dirty head. I assume you tried to use a cleaning tape to remedy the problem before you sent it to service? Did you also send a tape exhibiting the problem with the camera? (Always a good idea.)

I would imagine that Canon looked at your general problem description and simply categorized it for their gross estimate (ex: "Not Too Bad=$200", "Kinda Bad=$400", "Really Bad=$650", "Devastating=(market price of new XL1S)"). As such, they probably don't have a detailed estimate..."Hey, we ain't Mr. Goodwrench, buddy!". Based on others' reports $400 generally buys a good cleaning, head realignment if needed, and a general reset to factory specs. But that's just my speculation.

Good luck, Henry.

I appreciate the responses; to the questions, yes I did run a head cleaner several times, to no avail. It never dawned on me to send a copy of a tape exhibiting the problem to Canon. I guess I need to do what I have to do and pony up with the dough. Thanks for the insights.

Been there, done that. Got an XL1 on a stand now that has cost me $900 in repairs over a year period. Went out two weeks ago and decided to put it on a stand and use for studio drop only(firewire feed, no tape needed).

I talked to a guy named Mark Drury that does an outdoor show and has used the XL1 since it was fresh. He said that their problems with sticking heads seemed to be healed when they went away from Panasonic PQ-63 tapes. His words, not mine. Different lubricant seemed to be the difference.

Someone that is better versed in the details of the tape business may be able to help with that.

I started to wonder about that, I when I switched over to the AY-DVM brand made by Panasonic, the professional brand, I started to notice the mosiac stuff. Now, Butch, as far as your experience, did they start by saying it would cost $400 then hike the price up or what?

As Ken points out, the prices are typical. Usually it starts at $250 just to open up the camera. Another $150 for repair, total $400, sounds about right. What you're paying for is labor, primarily, plus a high premium on very rare parts... tiny springs, certain capacitors and the like. I have never heard of a detailed estimate. Once the camera comes back they will list what was done to it... replaced heads, braking mechanism, etc. You pretty much have to grin and bear it; after all it's the only way to get the thing fixed.

=(

I guess I saw it coming. One more thing, did anyone get charged sales tax for the repair? How does that work that they can tax me when they are in CA and I am in TX?

Don't blame Canon; it's the law. Companies that have business operations in a state that imposes a service tax must collect that tax from customers in that state, regardless of where the service was performed.

If the company has operations (offices, warehouses etc.) in your state, htey are required by law, as Ken states, to collect sales tax on services. In some states, repairs are tax exempt, so it will vary from state to state.

Henry,
What are you using to capture your footage? This problem has cropped up before in other threads and at that time, (me included in this), it was discovered that most of of were using a JVC deck to capture our footage. ...just curious.....
Mark

I was primarily using my XL1 as a deck, but no longer. I have a Dvc-pro deck I usually borrow from a friend that I use with an adapter. I am on my way to the electronics dealer to buy a MiniDV cam so that I can have a dedicated deck (at a reasonable price) going forward.

I would also like to let everyone know that I got my camera back today, they had it done for me on the next day it seems (Isn't that something). I got it back today.

I have a question...DV tapes. I switched to the professional panasonic DVm83pq's, I will exclusively use this brand unless I hear different from you guys. What do you think?

Henry,
If you cruise through similiar threads you will find the overall theme is stay with one type of tape....myself started using PQ's after I got my cameras cleaned/serviced @Canon.

I very very very ..... disappointed with canon service in my country ( Indonesia ).
I have been sent my camera ( XL1S ) to canon service center for 4 months. But until now, I don't know my camera will come back to me.
They said, because the spare part not yet ready, waiting for delivery. ( 4 months, that isn't sensible ).
Can somebody help me ?

Thanks

I doubt anyone can help you. The only thing you can do is call
and perhaps write a letter to the people in charge of the company
(in Indonesia).

Perhaps you can write a letter to Canon HQ as well to complain
about Canon Indonesia. Here in Holland we have a couple of
organisations that look after interest of consumers and I could
contact them to see if they can help. I'm not sure if Indonesia
has something similar.

Four months is way too long. You should contact Canon customer service in your area and file a complaint.

Thanks to support to me.
I have been called the canon service center, but they said waiting for delivery ( I have been called almost 15 times ).
The answer is the same ( Waiting for delivery ).
the people in charge of the company will come back to Indonesia on June, 28th.
I will call again on that date. But I hopeless will get good news.
Anyway, thanks again.
Sorry, my english isn't quiet good. Because english isn't first language in my country.

Sunarto

Sent my XL1s to Calgary for service over two weeks ago (problems with tape transport). I phoned them three times, last week, just to get info on the status of the camcorder and an estimated time line. Each time I phoned (long distance) I got a different person. None of them could give me any info at all or even tell me for sure that they even had my camcorder and each promised to call me back. I have yet to get a call. All I want is some news, good or bad, and confirmation that Canon even has my XL. Not real happy with Canon service. If I have to phone again, I'm not going to be near as pleasant as the previous times.

How did you send the camcorder to Canon - most shippers (at least in the USA - do they in Canada?) offer tracking that will allow you to confirn delivery. Also, did you have an RMA from Canon or just send it in? Was it specifically marked for XL1s camcorder service?

Hi Don. The camcorder is warranteed through a third party. That is beside the point really. I'm sure I can track it through the shipper ( I have the waybill) and it is insured. When three different service reps tell you that they will call you back with some info and they don't call at all, that's what gets me. I work in the service industry and if you promise to do something you better follow through. If there is a problem I need to know and I can start tracking the shipment from my end. One of them thought it was there but didn't know for sure.