very newbie question
 

upon inspection a canon xl 1s im buying, i get a icon flashing, i believe telling me a tape is not inserted, even tried several differnt tapes, same thing, canon suggest mailing the camera in, any ideas, ?? thanks nh

What does the icon look like?

Maybe it's the backup battery icon?

Have you closed the inner door (with the tape in it) before closing
the outer door?

Download the XL1s manual from the canondv.com website. It includes a summary of the various iocons and their meanings.

And Rob's note about manually closing the inner tape drawer first (note the words PUSH on it) is a common issue for first time XL1 users.

Similar problem
 

Our football coach using JVC camera reported a similar problem. It was indeed an icon for the backup (date&time) battery.

whent his happened to me i felt stupid: i got a message with a dv tape and an arrow. the tape was on save instead of record :O

tape icon
 

ok thanks for the info, i believe i had put the tape in properly, but i dont recall and inner door, and its not the icon for date time batter, ill have a look again, and get the manual, thanks, nh

The inner door is the part where you put the tape in. After you
stick the tape in there you need to click the tape holder back into
the camera. After you did that you'll here some noise as the tape
(visibly) moves down into the camera. You can then close the
outer (white, plastic) door. It is pretty clearly in the manual.

tape icon
 

yes, well i also have a sharp , consumer mini dv, nice little camera, so, i think the tape fits in the same way, i will order the manual as i would like to have one, and maybe the xl1 will have to go in for , " oil and lube" thanks guys. nh