I am a (very) low budget indie doc. producer (and all else) and I have a large problem. I was in the middle of shooting a time sensitive doc. when my onboard VTR has gone out. Previous to complete failure I recieved the flashing red cassette icon. After removing the tape it would act appropriatly. I need this fixed more than I can express. Sending it somewhere is proving to be too lengthy and expensive at this moment. Any help appreciated. Thanks, John

YOu sound pretty frustrated John. I can imagine how difficult it must be at this point to move forward. I had my XL2 die just as I FINISHED the last shot of my doc.

Blew out the main circuit board fuse.

It can only be replaced by a service center. Obviously anyone NOT authorized by Canon is going to void your warranty, if it's still active.

You could help by being a bit more descriptive of your problem.

"After removing the tape it would act appropriatly" - sounds as if the problem was solved by removing a bad tape.

Does the camera power up? If no, my first guess would be main circuit (MoBo) fuse. Again, only a service center can replace it.

If the camer powers up, can it PLAY a tape?

Can it Record a tape?

Have you cleaned the heads?

Does the image appear in the viewfinder?

Is the image in the viewfinder stable?

Is the problem intermittent or constant?


There aren't any "Canon Techs" that frequent the board. What you can tap into is a vast and unpaid research department, that will listen to your problems and make an educated guess based on their own experience.

The better you describe it, the more chance of a 'fair' guess.

The order of problems goes something like this:
red remove tape warning resulting in good working order after eject and re-insert.
Then a remove tape warning with a ! behind it. This went to worse very quickly. Small metal part is heard rattling and fell out easily. All lens function works fine. One can turn it to any record setting and see a picture as before. John