PURPOSE: To prevent a reproduced output from being erroneously discriminated as defective by discriminating the reproduced output defect after confirming the coincidence between phases of a reference signal and a comparison signal.

CONSTITUTION: When receiving a joint recording start signal from a switch 17, a system control microcomputer 2 sets the capstan servo mode to the phase matching mode and starts reproducing. A capstan motor driver 3 supplies a driving current to a capstan motor 7 based on the DC level obtained by integrating PWM outputs outputted from a capstan AFC part 13 and a capstan APC part 12, and a capstan 6 approaches a prescribed rotation speed in a short time. When the phase difference between a vertical synchronizing signal and a reproduced control pulse is reduced and enters to a prescribed range, the duty cycle is changed for the purpose of more precisely matching phases to perform the automatic phase control. The reproduced output defect is discriminated after confirmation of the coincidence between phases of the reference signal and the comparison signal, and the reproduced output defect based on a regular reproduced signal amplitude is discriminated. Thus, accurate discrimination is made possible.