Heads ... awful HEADS!!!!
 

Hey guys,

I just got this GL1 for really cheap. The guy that sold it to me said there is something wrong with it, but didn't know what it was... that's why it was so cheap.

I can record, play back, capture etc. perfectly. But when I play tapes that my friend recorded on his GL1 it looks like this:

http://members.cox.net/driftmaster/ff-ups.jpg

And when I play my tapes on my friends GL1 (the tapes that play perfectly in mine) it does the same thing on his.

So basically,

tapes that were recorded on camera A, don't play on camera B and...
tapes that were recroded on camera B, don't play on camera A.

Anyone have any ideas?

Chris,
There are few true good deals in the world. Yours is an example.

You haven't provided any details of the specific problems that you're observing. Nevertheless, off-hand I would speculate that your GL1's heads probably need to be cleaned and realigned. You should contact a Canon service center (see the canondv.com site) and arrange to have them give the camera a once-over. It will not be cheap but I doubt that there is any other remedy.

Of course if the camera is operating corrrectly for your own work, and you do not really need to interchange tapes with someone else, you may be able to postpone the maintenance.

Sounds like a head alignment issue, can happen over time due to wear, and especially if the machine has been dropped or subject to similar physical abuse. Once repaired, tapes recored on it while in the 'out-of-alignment mode' state probably will not play back on it. So, if you have the camcorder fixed, be sure to dub the important to keep tapes to another machine first.

Don and Ken,

Thanks for your input!!!

I got this GL1 for about $450 from eBay at the same time I got a good working GL1 for $1100. But I only want to keep one of them.

Should I sell the good working one back on eBay and have the cheaper one fixed? (I hear Canon would charge nearly $400) or...

Keep the good working one and sell the cheaper one 'as-is' to someone else and not even worry about fixing it.

If I keep the good one, I'm afraid that eventually, it one will need an alignment also. At least if I fix up the cheap one, I'll stilll end up with a good deal on the camera.

Does Canon have like a one year guarantee on the work they do to your camera? Will it be 'just like new' when I get it back?

canon offers a 90 day warranty on the work they perform.

you got a great price on it. you can record & play it back no problem ...

is it worth 400 to to play others tape ???

NOTE: that canon may adjust it and it still might not playback other tapes or it's tape may not play back on other camera's perfect!!! my elura records /plays back however when the tape is put into my GL or deck the audio drops out. under warranty canon states the head alignment are within spec. i sent in GL and it is within spec. i sent in the panasonic deck with the elura tape and panasonic says deck is perfect and the elura tape is out ????
so i just play back the elura tapes on the elura if i need the audio.

Wow! I wonder why these cameras do that? Can any techie gurus answer that?

I guess I lucked out then and got a good camera for really cheap. Now I feel bad for the guy that I bought it from.

Im pretty new to this board and 've been doing research. It seems that GL1s/GL2s are pretty 'glitch' prone. I've had many cheaper Hi/Digital 8's before this one and they seem to take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. Never had a problem with them.

Anyone know why that is??