Instruction manual for sony slv se730 vcr

i could not find your specific model but you might try hear to find something close that will help you.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-find.pl?mdl=SLV-E200%20&PRODTYPE=32,33,127,63,71,118,7,102,26,80,119,72,125,44,55,27,74,84,57,61,108,115,109,103,89,113,35,78,48,77,106,29,123,50,39,64,114,12,41,58,52,81,60,45,66,73,101,76,86,62,54,67,70,68,2,17,1,88,116,100,82,110,25,128,28,120,83,59,69,112,49,24,104,124,53,122,79,121,42,46,13,105,126,6,85,3,36,9,51,111,47,38,4,34,37,43,117,5

Best regards Falco

You may view/download the manual at Owners Manual User Guide for Sony SLV SE730 VHS VCR

First of all scart leads are notorious for bad connections. The pins can get pushed flat and not make contact. Look carefully at the connections at both ends of video and TV. Sometimes moving the socket while in the back of the TV/video will spring it into life. You can get higher quality gold platted leads if your old one plays up like this. Most TV's will have a dedicated socket for the VCR, the other being for satellite etc. In most cases it will say just below the socket. Otherwise try AV1 first.

Try given the mechanism a good clean inside inparticular the video heads. All you need is take off the top cover and spray with Servisol Video 40 any bits the tape touches. You can wipe it with cotton buds. Allow to dry and try it out. By the way it will take longer to clean if it lives in a room where smoke is present.

Take cover off and turn the loading motor until it come out.

Try the Sony website they might have a free PDF of it.

Unplug the VCR.
Take the cover off by taking out the small screws on the sides and on the back that hold the cover on.
With the cover off you should be able to gently move the tape back out.
Things could be damaged......after the tape is out, you should try it first with a tape that could possibly be damaged during testing and do not touch anything inside while plugged in to power during testing with the cover off!
Now......if it is not a working VCR anymore......you are in luck.
There are garage sales every weekend...and almost every one has a VCR for almost nothing....some like new.....and boxes and boxes of tapes/movies for very little money too.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-find.pl?mdl=SLV-695HF&PRODTYPE=33,32,63,71,7,102,26,80,72,44,55,84,74,27,57,61,103,89,10,35,78,48,77,29,50,39,64,41,12,58,52,81,60,73,66,101,45,76,86,62,54,67,70,68,17,2,1,88,100,82,25,28,83,59,69,49,24,104,53,79,42,22,46,13,6,85,36,3,51,9,47,38,4,34,37,43,5

sounds like vcr has dumped its eprom settings,you will have to bring it to sony dealer to have it repaired or you can manually remove tape by useing the loading motor and turning it by hand