Video playback is distorted and has no sound

NEVER EVER CLEAN THE DRUM WITH A Q-TIP!

The heads are not encased in epoxy like they are on a cassette deck head. In a video drum, they have a small open space around them -and- they stick out slightly, so a Q-tip can and almost certainly will snag on it, either leaving fibers behind or snapping the fragile and brittle ferrite heads.

You want a special chamois VCR/MiniDV head cleaning stick. It is flat and has a piece of smooth chamois bonded to it. Do NOT just buy a car cleaning chamois, that's like buying a paper towel to clean a lens instead of buying a special lens cleaning cloth.

Those foam lint-free Q-tip type swabs are NOT good enough for the video drum, either. The foam can still snag on the heads.

Otherwise, good info. Cleaning tapes should never be rewound and re-used more than a few times. You should only be playing them 10 seconds at a time, so that's a lot of cleaning.

Here is a good link with more info than you probably can absorb:
http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_vcrfaq...

Usually head cleaner tapes do not do much more than wear the heads out and move the dirt around or in some cases if it is an old tape it may add dirt to the system!!! Someone needs to remove the cassette cover and clean the video drum, tape path, pinch roller and capstan with denatured alcohol. Do not use anything but 100% alcohol as anything else will have contaminates in it. The video head pole pieces are extremely small (we're talking microns) and can be plugged easily. Cleaning the tape guides, audio heads, erase head, capstan and pinch roller is pretty straight forward and the same as any audio deck. Using a lint free Q-tip (or special head cleaning sticks from electronic stores) dip in alcohol and remove any dirt etc from the pieces. Cleaning the video drum is a little trickier. Using the same kind of cleaning stick dipped in alcohol, gently wipe around the video drum assembly. Never, ever go up and down across the face of the head or you could break the video heads!! If you do not know the proper way to do this you should take it to a qualified tech or you could do more damage than good. If you clean your unit the way that I described it should be fine. On occasion I have had a unit with a clogged head that requires a different technique to clean but you would not be able to do this. If cleaning does not work you will need to take it to a repair shop for service. Good luck.

With my families Panasonic DV Model No. PV-GS9, when you are in playback mode, you have to hit the play button twice to get sound. Sorry, but I do not know about your picture quality problem.