Just Bought a XL1s Will pick it tomorrow, Advice
 

Just Bought a XL1s Will pick it tomorrow, I need some advice in what should I check to make sure is fully working. I think there is no way to check the drum life in this model but maybe there is a simple routine to do

Thanks

The best thing to do with a camera that old is to have it looked at by an authorized repair facility (it is no longer serviceable directly by Canon). Hopefully whoever you take it to will be able to perform a clean & check. Good luck,

As Chris says, for an authoritative check you should to go to a competent service facility that knows the XL1 series, and that can cost. Don't know what you are paying for the camcorder, but that may factor into you decisions. Another factor in deciding how deep to test is your intended use of the camcorder. The more serious your intended use, the deeper you should test.

An alternative is to search the XL1 series threads. There are several posts that address checks that you, as an end user, can make. A few ideas are posted below for your consideration. A thorough end-user test can take a while, especially if you are new to the XL1 series camcorder.

You are right, no way for an end-user to assess the head usage (no hour meter). You may be able to judge hi or low use by what the previous owners(s) did with it (there could have been more than one). A working pro could have put a lot of miles on it. Are any service records available? What is the condition of the exterior? Any signs of wear?

First spend some time with the user manual so you can learn how to use the functions you are about to test.

Check record and playback functions. Start with a blank tape. And use a good monitor in your tests. A small screen can hid faults, and the viewfinder is not really useful for more than general composition.
Record some random footage, the play it back on yor monitor.
If that works, try play tapes recorded on other camcorder (that checks gross head alignment issues). IF this fails
Check that manual and auto focus and zoom work.
Do you get decent focus at zoom and distance extremes.
Check that manual and auto iris works
Check that the manual and auto shutter speed works.
Is the auto exposure tracking to provid e decent image of average scenes.
Does zebra work? Other menu selected items?
Does auto and manual white balance work?
check that manual and auto gain work.
Put that camcorder in green box mode and shoot the inside of the lens cap in a dark room, look for hot pixels in the recorded image.
Try all the various program modes.
Check the video output jacks for output.
Check the IEEE1399 (aka: firewire) connections to be sure it works.
Check the audio functions and modes and jacks for input and output.
Do you have working accessories, especially the remote control and charger?

As you no doubt have already considered, before you spend a lot of money on this old camcorder, note that you can find very good new HD camcorders these days for not much more that an out-of-warranty trip to a service center for anything more than a simple cleaning.

thanks for the replies, Looks in very good condition outside had try a few things look like works fine, but now need some minidv tapes :)