Its been 5 years my xlh1 sat in mothballs. I got it out and the tape mechanism is not working properly it seems.
runs a second or two and stalls, runs ok then when I try to download it stalls every second or two
I tried it in SD and run it in my xl2 and it does the same thing, so it definitely is a tape/ recording issue.
Canon will not repair it I was told, to old Apparently.

is there a reasonable way to record from the camera bypassing the tape? I looked at b and h and todays digital recorders are all hdmi.

Any help appreciated.

I used to run my two HDV Canon cameras, an XH-A1 and an XH-A1S without tape all the time the last two or three years I was using them. The compact flash recorders I used on both were the DataVideo DN-60. It did become hard to find proper CF cards for the recorders at the end. Check the DataVideo website...

Dale does the XLH1 have an sdi output? There are some external recorders with sdi but I don't have any experience with them.

Gordon

In the past I used a Focus Firestore recorder, your camera needs a firewire out. You could pick one up for $200-$400 on ebay

+1 for the firestorm. I've still got one for an old JVC and it solves the problem quite nicely.

is there a reasonable way to record from the camera bypassing the tape? I looked at b and h and todays digital recorders are all hdmi.

Any help appreciated.

I have a FireStore, but when it started acting glitchy, I figured out a way to make my Atomos Shogun work with my XH-A1. You can run the HD component-out RGB cable that came with the camera into a Component-To-HDMI adapter. I bought one that was advertised as a way to hook your Playstation 2 up to an HDMI Tv. It was less than $20 and is powered by USB. (I have a power strip with USB ports). It's basically an HDMI-port on one end and R/G/B video, L/R audio on the other. If you feed it audio with your A/V cable, it will even embed the audio. Works like a charm.

I was able to eventually repair my FireStore by replacing the hard drive. (I actually found an IDE SSD that not only has higher capacity, but uses less juice and has almost zero chance of overheating). I still used the Shogun because my XHA1 has the tiny firewire port instead of the thicker one from the revised version.

i have focus fs-c and i can't sync with canon xl2, do you know how to do it ??? ..

Make sure that your 4pin to 8pin FireWire cable is plugged into the right port on the FS-C. (One is labeled Computer I/O and is for hooking to your PC, one is labeled DV and is for your camera).