Sarah wrote:
snipped:
Tried lots of films on it, cleaned heads, same thing happens. It is
consistent tho.


Sarah:
Video Tape, NOT films.
Have you extra-vigorously cleaned the A/C head?
Have you checked the tape(s) for edge damage?
Have you tried recording and playing back on a NEW tape.
Have you looked at how the tape runs past the A/C head while playing?
i.e. does it ride up or down on the head?
Have your read the 03-25-2005 reply posting by Sofie? copied below
for your convenience:

"FIRST.... clean the VCR heads and tape path including guides and
rollers
with special attention paid to the AC head, capstan and pinch roller.
Try a different or a new tape..... the tape is possibly edge damaged
which
would cause problems for the VCR reading the control track signal.
If this happens with ALL tapes, then look for a worn pinch roller. worn

capstan bearing or bent loading arm that could cause the tape to ride
up or
down on the A/C head while playing."

When you find something at thrift store going for much less than retail
you can almost be assured that it is not new and more than likely the
previous owner had some kind of problems with it... but the likely
fault for the symptoms you posted are probably not hard to fix.... and
by the way the problem is most likely NOT a back-tension problem.
Check the things mentioned above and you can probably get this machine
working fairly inexpensively unless the fault turns out to be a bad
servo chip or bad capstan motor.
electricitym
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..