Probably better on the Digital Video forum, but based on the dearth of product reviews at retail sites, probably few users on forum. Years ago had Roxio package of software and converter but it is, and still is Windows only (edit - see below. They hide the MAC version on their website, not on menu but embedded link on PC version details). The good news, a quick search on Newegg "vhs to computer" returned quite a few devices providing composite connection to either USB or HDMI. From the two that were reviewed, appears doesn't go straight to your video processing program but has the embedded software as part of the driver which creates a video file usable by other programs, such as iMovie for playback, editing, etc. The other good news, they are relatively inexpensive. Many appear to be "twins" suggesting come off the same production line with (obscure) company names stamped on them - i.e. cheap electronics. One in particular that I did notice was $28 Item#:
9SIAJGYAPS8564" mainly because it had a MacBook in the photo but then note not compatible with Mohave, with Catalina too new to have been mentioned. I didn't check Amazon, but you may find products with more reviews.
EDIT NOTE: Checked Amazon and their #1 best seller was the Roxio VHS Converter for Mac. Link is to the Roxio site for more detail but cheaper on Amazon. Does confirm in system in system requirement, OSX 10.11 and higher. While designed for conversion to DVD, appears and based on reviews on Amazon, is direct file capture which later can be burned to DVD but is not required to be functional as can use that file directly in iMovie.
https://www.roxio.com/en/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/mac/#overview
Hello,
I want to share my recent experience with Roxio VHS Converter for Mac
I purchased it one week ago to use it on my MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017) running under macOS Big Sur after contacting the support to be sure their product would work with my configuration.
After connecting my VCR (an old LG model) to the Roxio Video Capture USB device and the USB device to one of my USB-C port using a USB-C / USB 2 adapter (since I have only USB-C ports), I found that the audio part seemed OK (from what I could hear) but the video part did not work correctly since I got an image which remained lfrozen.
Since the documentation indicated that the Roxio Video Capture USB device should be directly connected to the USB port, I asked the support if this could be the reason and they replied : ... it is only supported with USB ports, all Type C adapters may not support the device and we would not recommend the adapters, connection should be through USB ports => this means that it cannot work on my Macbook.
Since I had looked also at the elgato product, I searched on their site to see if they mention problems with the USB connection because both hardware seemed similar and I found somewhere a mention of problems when connecting USB 2 not directly to Mac in
https://help.elgato.com/hc/en-us/ar...have-problems-connecting-to-Mac-USB-3-0-ports and from this
I found in Apple (
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5172?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US#8) the following recommandation
"Right now, if you see a problem with the connection to an
USB 3.0 port, the best solution we recommend would be to use your device with a powered
USB 2.0 hub, which is connected to a
USBport of a Mac that supports
USB 3.0.
Do you think this could help ? I am afraid that if I buy the elgato product (
https://www.elgato.com/en/video-capture) I would probably have the same problem.
I just saw another product (
https://www.video-2-mac.co.uk) and all users on Amazon say it is working well including on Big Sur but it looks like the hardware is similar. So why would this one work when my Roxio does not work ?
Is my problem coming from the Roxio, my Mac, the way I connected the Roxio ? Since there are so many products and so many YouTube (some being very technical explaining things I cannot understand) on this issue, I hope somebody can help me to choose a good solution to convert my VHS files.
Thanks