Would like to add this to my previous / For information purposes, if what you play back sounds to have a slow and erratic "drawling" effect, that would indicate that the tape pinch roller has for some reason NOT been holding the tape tight enough against the tape drive spindle during recording, and allowing the tape to be pulled by the take up spool in an erratic, faster than normal fashion past the recording head, so naturally when its played back at normal speed the result will be as described. (tape although normal, going slower past the head than when recorded.) If on the other hand the tape drum had condensation on it, the tape would either completely stop running past the drum, or intermittently drag, then the subsequent playback at normal speed would result in high pitched bursts of "chirpy" sound, as obviously the tape would be going faster past the sound head than what it did on recording. I should say that in both cases there would "not" be a rock steady picture, although depending on how severe the recording fault was, the picture may just be seen to shake. More modern camcorders have electronic circuitry to stop the machine working if condensation occurs, although I think in your case it was a pinch roller problem, but camcorders hate cold conditions, so this should always be borne in mind where ever a camcorder is going to being stored. The possible pinch roller problem could be a "one of", maybe the cassette did not load properly and partially jam it, only time will tell if a fault still actually exists.

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