VCR control button problems

[lnx64]

I am having some serious problems with the control panel buttons on my Sony SLV-795HF VCR.

For example, when I press the stop button, it sometimes stops.. Sometimes if I press hard enough, it goes into record mode.

I accidentally erased one of my fathers old concert tapes because of this VCR (and he not remembering many many MANY years ago, to pull the freakin tab off the tape). I pressed stop, it looked like it stopped, so I walked away.. Little did I know, it didn't stop, it went to record and started recording live TV (hence it looked like it stopped).

What could be causing this? From the remote it works just fine. It's only from the front panel button.. I thought bad solder joint, but it looks and appears fine, all soldering is ok.