PURPOSE: To decrease nosie that appears in the picture at a transient to slow/ still reproduction and when returning to normal operation by synchronizing a slow reproduction/still reproduction signal with a control signal or phase detecting signal and shifting to the slow or still picture reproduction after a fixed time is elapsed.

CONSTITUTION: When a slow button 1 or a still button 9 is operated, a timing circuit 11 synchronizes the slow signal or the still signal supplied through a microcomputer 8 with the control signal picked up by a control head 15, after a fixed time T is elapsed supplies a control signal to a capstan control circuit 5. Also, when shifting to the normal reproduction operation after releasing the slow reproduction, the said circuit 11, when the slow button 10 is released, synchronizing the signal with the phase detecting signal detected by a phase- detecting head 23, after a fixed time T2 is elapsed, supplies the control signal to the capstan control circuit 5. The said circuit 5 begins to supply a positive- direction voltage to a capstan motor in accordance with the said control signal, and the operation returns to the normal reproduction.