I have a GL-2 that is less than 1 year old. I have done 6 weddings and 6 football games with it and now I cannot get it to close. I put a tape in and close it and then opens back up. I can't even close the outside door. It is very frustrating . . . . has anyone esle had this happen?

Hi Chris, the remedy for this problem is to send the camcorder to Canon Factory Service. There's one in Irvine, CA and another one in Jamesburg, NJ.

That is the only solution?

May not be the only solution, but if the camcorder is under warranty it is likely the best solution because the repair should be covered by warranty, and you may get some additional service benefit as well.

But this assumes there is no obvious issue preventing operation like some foreign material in the mechanism that would be easy for you to remove, or a defective cassette. There is very little that is end user repairable in a camcorder these days. Tape transport mechanism repairs usually require special tools to set tensions and tape path alignment.

Is it giving any message in the side monitor window?! I believe it might do that when it says the tapes record lock feature is on. There could be another reason (moisture in camera message) a few others possibly. I've noticed be sure to take your time when loading & unloading tapes, and close it by pressing not towards the top, but more towards the middle of the tapes load frame.

Otherwise, yes you may want to look into returning.