Would you believe it? I have the same problem! When you watch an original tape, do you get poor quality, and when you record on the machine, do you get no sound at all? I emailed in to howtomendit and I got a reply from Sparky and it said 'I would try cleaning the heads and if that dosent work, replace the VCR due to current prices.' (Not much help really, but I thought you might want know)
Chad Bronson, May 2006