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Capture VHS and DVD videos

How can I capture home videos from a VHS tape to my MacBook Pro? In the future I would also like to convert my home made DVD videos to my laptop as well. These are all vhs, vhs-c tapes and dvds from home movies I've taken over the last 34 years. They run the full cycle from when you actually put a vhs tape into the camera up through recording to an sd-card and now using my phone. Actually they begin with 8 mm film home movies my dad took starting 62 years ago and I transferred to DVD several years ago. I have:

MacBook Pro

13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports

Processor: 2.3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5

Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 1536 MB

Memory: 8 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3

macOS: macOS Ventura Version 13.1

Storage: 250 GB

And connected via the USB-C port an Asus SDRW-O8U9M-U Mfg’d Dec 2021 MCD0GQ027611


iMovie showed 2 files on my DVD: VIDEO_RM and VIDEO_TS but said they were not importable.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.1

Posted on Dec 27, 2022 8:03 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 27, 2022 9:13 AM

you need something like this: Elgato Video Capture - Digitize Video for Mac, PC or iPad (USB 2.0)


and to connect that specific one to a TB3 (USB-C) port, you need an USB-C to USB Adapter

6 replies

Dec 27, 2022 9:24 AM in response to JJC22

Raw Video is a difficult problem because it has very timing-sensitive information. Jeffreythefrog provided good advice for older "raw video" formats.


Any device with a digital interface such as 4-pin FireWire or USB likely has already 'captured' and digitized the video, and can transfer FILES, not just Raw video. So do not try to re-capture video from more recent devices. Transfer the already-captured video FILES instead.

Dec 27, 2022 1:57 PM in response to JJC22

Just the vhs tapes, I think… for dvd’s you’d have to buy a dvd ripping program… just FYI, the best resolution you’d be able to get from vhs ( standard vhs) would be around 325-350 lines… s-vhs maybe 375… you should also make sure you’re using a decent/good/very good/ quality vhs deck/playback unit/vcr and that its heads( audio and video) have been cleaned and aligned… also, vhs tapes, like all tapes, will degrade over time… after that, iMovie..


good luck…

john B

Jan 22, 2023 11:07 AM in response to JJC22

I can recommend a converter from clearclick(dot)com. I have the 3.0 model which has both RCA and S-Video capture to an SD chip or a USB thumb drive. It features a 5" screen so you can monitor the video while recording. Capture is independent from a computer and it's got an internal battery that can likely self-power for 1-1/2 hours. (I haven't really tested it.) Once captured you can play back via HDMI or put the chip or thumb drive in most new TVs or into your Mac to edit in FCP or iMovie. An hour of video results in about a 2GB video file.


This model will NOT capture from HDMI but there is another model that can accept HDMI input from personal DVDs but not commercial (copy protected) DVDs. They are available from Amazon.

Capture VHS and DVD videos

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