Hi,

The VCR quit playing tapes (all of them), but the sound still works.
When fast forwarding, the picture is crystal clear (except for the
normal static bar). When I switch from fast-forward to play, the
picture goes to 3/4 static (where I can still make out the picture,
which is no longer fast-forwarding), for a half-second (or less),
before going to full static, then just blue.

I tried cleaning the heads, which had no effect.

The VCR is as ESA. Any ideas?

A note on head cleaning: Did I do it right? I must have spent an hour
on Google trying to find a picture of VCR heads IN a VCR, before giving
up. I had some VCR cleaning fluid and chamois cleaning sticks someone
left behind long ago. So I just opened it up and guessed. There's a
cylinder that has horizontal lines on the top half, with none at the
bottom. At two points 180 deg. apart, in the middle of the cylinder,
there are small openings. I assume those are the video heads. I moved
the cleaning stick back and forth horizontally over these two areas, as
I had read about (no pictures...). I tried this three times, checking
with a tape in between. No effect. I still only get an image while
fast-forwarding. (So I apparently didn't do additional damage...) I
checked the manual, and this is supposed to be a 4-head VCR. Are the
heads paired up, with two in each of those two small holes?