Distorted playback Recently, rewinding and fast-forwarding during playback seem to cause the playback to become distorted, playing too fast or too slow. Can I fix whatever went wrong with the VCR?

It is possible that the heads in your JVC video camera need cleaning, especially if the playback picture looks distorted and similar to a VHS tape played on a player with dirty heads. Dirty or worn-out heads can cause playback issues, including poor picture quality, distorted images, and tracking problems.
To clean the heads in your JVC video camera, you can try the following steps:

1. Purchase a head cleaning cassette: You can find head cleaning cassettes online or in electronics stores. Make sure to get one that is compatible with your JVC video camera.
2. Insert the cleaning cassette: Open the tape compartment on your JVC video camera and insert the head cleaning cassette. Close the tape compartment.
3. Run the cleaning tape: Press the play button on your JVC video camera to run the cleaning tape. The cleaning tape will clean the video heads as it plays.
4. Eject the cleaning tape: Once the cleaning tape has finished playing, eject it from your JVC video camera.
5. Test your tapes: Try playing your tapes again to see if the picture quality has improved.

If cleaning the heads does not solve the problem, it is possible that there is a more serious issue with your JVC video camera.

There is a gear that wears causing the grinding noise. This can cause the take up reel to stop causing distortion. You need to send it in for repair.

the roller inside your camcorder might have dust dirt. try to use camcorder's tape cleaner to clean it.

Try a DV tape cleaner first. If that doesn't work, see what it would take to get the audio heads realigned. Any camera store can do that for you.

when I plug in the RPU DC cord from my camera to the input on my tv I get nothing. Is my input jack bad or what. Also, if I tried the s video jack from the camera to the tv, would that work??? I don't know what the AV out jack is for I don't have a cord for that

In playback mode the lCD displays the battery time, hi8 symbol and the tape counter. all the functions work the tape will play, rewind, fast forward. The screen stays blank on playback and the tape counter stays at 0:00:00 eventhough I can see the tape turning. I also hooke the camera to my tv and I got no picture.

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.

Sounds like maybe the head jack is loose.

http://www.creative.com/products/mp3/MP3PlayerRecoveryTool/

please check what is your firmware version, the latest one is 1.6.23. If it is lower please upodate it by downloading the file from archos website. Maybe it would help