Lanc controls to external device oddities?
 

Is it normal that a camera will not send a record command to an external device if there is not tape in the camera? If so, does everyone with a "tape based" camera always run tape when recording to an external recorder? I have the original XL1 and it is working great with my Samurai but it has to be rolling tape. If the tape ends and I am recording I cannot stop the Samurai from the camera. I have to use the touch screen. Also, if I stop the samurai with the touch screen during a session, and the tape keeps rolling, the next time I press record on the camera, the tape stops and the samurai starts, and thus everything is out of phase with the camera starting when the Samurai stops and so on.

Is this just the way the Control L protocol works?