I have a RCA Solid State VHS Camcorder that was made about 1988, I think, with a model number of 934.53742850. Whenever I put a tape in, it has trouble winding the tape around the head so it can record or playback. All it does is attempt to do so for a few seconds, with no success, while whining the whole time until it aborts the operation or turns itself off.

SOURCE: Problems with playback of HI8 tapes...

What's happening is that the tape in the cassette is being chewed on one side by the camera's tape transporting mechanism during playback, hence the distorted image and sound. The mechanism might be damaged (misalignment) or just dirty. Try not to play other tapes on this unit because they will become permanently damaged. The best way is to find another camcorder (if cleaning does not help). Note that some old cassettes of long recording time will exhibit this behavior more often because of thinner tape used.

SOURCE: Playback

Recording and playing a new tape worked for me too. Thanks!

SOURCE: Grey horizontal lines during playback on camcorder

yes change the tape and also use a head cleaning cassette to clean the cam. chaminda from Sri Lanka

SOURCE: I have a sears solid state VHS camcorder LXI

The CRT is most likely bad. Unfortunately, i have the same problem and there are no longer any parts available for it. Just in case you do not know what a CRT is, its basically a tiny T.V. screen in the viewfinder. You could use it by hooking it up to a television so you can see what you are recording,but other than that its ready for the electronics graveyard.