^
I've had that problem with older cameras, particularly Hi8. I have tapes shot on other peoples' cameras that won't play on mine, but when I FF, I see the image.
I used to work in video duplication, and I saw it all the time there as well. People would bring in Hi8 tapes that would not play on our Hi8 machine. I had to have them bring in their camera and it would usually work fine. The problem was that the heads would become misaligned and record the signal just slightly off. When the tape played pack on any other camera, the head pitch difference, though only slight, would cause it not to play.
I don't know if that's the reason you're experiencing what you are with your DV cam, but it sounds very similar. If you are having trouble playing tapes shot on the camera on which they were shot, I'm not sure what the problem could be, other than a misalignment that occurred after the fact that now causes the tape to be unviewable.
Best bet is to contact Sony tech support.
