How to Insert a Tape in a Canon XH A1

"Alright, so you've made it this far and we haven't even put a tape into the camcorder yet. But that's alright. I'm basically trying to show you everything you can do in getting your shot setup before we get to these actual recordings. I want to talk for a minute about tapes. First off, the XH A1 takes the mini DV tape. I just want to say that definitely do not just buy a bunch of cheap tapes and then throw them in your $3,500 camcorder. You want to buy good quality tapes so you don't have any kind of problems with the tape messing up your camcorder. Don't just pick up the cheapest tapes you can find, buy good quality ones. You can see, these ones I have here are actually for, specifically, meant to work with HD camcorders so, that's why I have them and that's why they're great for this Canon XH A1. Let's actually insert a tape. If you didn't notice already, I'm going to show you how to do it. It's right here next to our variable zoom right here. We just slide this little button and pull out our little thing right here, and the little tape insert will pop out automatically. Gently push your tape in, gently close it and wait for it to automatically go back down, and then close your tape door and you're done. That's how you insert a tape. Hopefully, you already knew how to do that. But, I really just wanted to emphasize that don't use the cheapest tapes you can find on your great camcorder. Spend a little extra money to get good quality tapes. They're going to give you a better picture and they're going to work better with recording the HD."