Video tape fast-forwarding by itself?

Question

I left my video in the TV for one day, and when I played it today, it would fast-forward by itself every 3 seconds. I took it out and stuck it back in, same problem persisted. What is wrong with it?

Answer 1

i can't know exactly but i have a theory.

this is a VHS tape that you recorded in the EP or SLP 6 hour mode.  on the edge of the tape is recorded a control pulse which is sycronized with the picture. normally the VCR on play back uses this pulse to set the speed of the capstan, this is why a VHS player can automatically playback at the correct speed.  this tape has edge damage and when the control track head has no playback, the capstan speed defaults to SP which is 3x faster than the tape was originally recorded. where the control track is good, the speed returns to normal.  Try a new tape.