UPDATE: I used another VCR I had laying around that was known working and did show the tape speed, and the tapes I tried using to test the VCR with were all SP mode tapes, and the VCR does play SP mode tapes but doesn't seem to be able to detect them properly. I found a tape that was recorded in EP mode and I'll see if it can handle one of those, if it can, perhaps maybe the switch inside the VCR that detects the playback mode of the VCR got "stuck" and so it just needs another tape that can "free-up" the switch.
