Canon XHA1 Camcorder Repair Rant

[steve30]

I just wanted to rant about my Canon XHA1 camcorder. It is an HDV camera, so prone to issues with tape dropouts, but it is far more prone to tape dropouts than my Sony HDV cameras. I replaced the tape drive in it with a different one as the one it had had a mechanical fault, but I don't know how good my replacement tape drive is.

I would like to look at the output from the head amplifier but I can't find where this signal is brought out. There are some connectors on the PCB which are just about accessible when the camera is assembled, but I've had a prod around with the oscilloscope and can't find the head RF signal anywhere. I could probe the amplifier chip itself but it is not accessible when the camera is assembled.

Unfortunately I don't have the service manual for the XHA1 and can't find one anywhere. I do have the service manual for the XLH1, which is very similar electronics wise, and that does have the head RF brought out to a test connector, but the XLH1 is a very different form factor to the XHA1.

If you are interested, here is a video of me poking around inside it:

https://odysee.com/@steve30:3/canon_xha1_repair_rant:0

If anyone has any useful service information they could provide, I'd be interested to hear it, but I thought I'd just post this here to rant .