Question / Help Mac Catalina video capture advice?

[tmike]

I have an old Sony HDD/DVD player onto which we transferred loads of family VHS videos around 12 years ago. The HDD/DVD has composite video outputs, SVHS, and the usual yellow/red/white video and audio outputs.
Not trusting the HDD much longer, I bought a cheap video capture device, hooked it to my Mac Air, and it worked! Quality? Well I was still experimenting, and in the midst of this upgraded to Catalina since which the video capture no longer works. I contact the supplier but no sensible replies forthcoming around updating their drivers. I plan to send the device back for refund.
But, I was really taken by how easy it could be to capture all the family video off the Sony HDD/DVD. I don't mind spending on a decent capture device but struggling to find anything at all that works with Catalina.
Any advice or ideas around a suitable capture device really appreciated. I plan to purchase something like OSMC Vero 4K+ to provide for easy playback.

Mike

 

[Narcogen]

Are you using the capture device to capture more VHS recordings, or just to re-encode the already captured videos again from the HDD player?

What model is it-- surely there must be a way to get those recordings off the device and onto your Mac without re-encoding them?

 

[tmike]

Thanks for your reply and help.

We recorded from our old VHS all out tapes to the Sony DVD/HDD combo. So all the recordings are on the HDD, which is already old. So via the SVHS output and with a cheap capture device I managed to test transfer some old recordings to my Mac/usb stick - and results on the TV pretty good. Upgrading to Catalina was the big mistake!
I played with a Sony MP3 player years ago, and found all the files to be a peculiar Sony only format - I'm afraid the same will be true of the video files on the DVD/HDD.
The cheap little capture device worked well and straight out of the box (before Catalina!) so was thinking there must be other capture devices that will work with Catalina, but thus far have not found any! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B078H54QDR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The Sony DVD/HDD model is RDR-HX900 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-RDRHX900-Recorder-discontinued-manufacturer/dp/B0006BC41G

 

[Narcogen]

It does appear as if that device records in a format that is both proprietary and encrypted, and if you've used its editing features, it's possible that these videos on the HD are non-contiguous. You're probably attempting recovery the only way possible.

I have not upgraded past Mojave (I stay about 1 year behind for various reasons) and I can generally supports HDMI capture devices from AJA, BlackMagic, and Magewell. Some have luck with Elgato's Cam Link but avoid their other products if you intend to use with MacOS.

For a device with composite/component capture as well there are Magewell devices as well as the BlackMagic Intensity Shuttle.

 

[tmike]

thanks very much for you help, ideas and reply.
Will call Blackmagic tomorrow and see what they can suggest!