Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I used the Elgato Video Capture device and software to convert 50 family VHS tapes and 40 family mini DV tapes. I used the elgato's composite video (yellow), left audio (white), right audio (red) to connect to my VHS player for conversion of the VHS tapes. I used the elgato's S-Video, left audio (white) and right audio (red) cables to connect to my mini DV camcorder for conversion of the mini DV tapes. I had to supply my own cabling between the elgato and my VHS player as well as between the elgato and my min DV camcorder. All 90 tapes were converted to H.264 encoded mp4 files. Normally I would have converted the mini DV files using iMovie with my mini DV camcorder connected to my computer via firewire but my mini DV camcorder's firewire port failed years ago. The conversion process basically amounted to simply connecting the Elgato Video Capture device to the player (in my case a VHS player or mini DV camera), launching the software, inputting the applicable settings, initiating the conversion, then leaving to do something else until the conversion was complete. I usually waited an hour or less, depending on how long I expected the video to be, then returned to check on the progress. Monitoring was easy because the Elgato software played the video as it was being converted. Once I was satisfied that the conversion was complete I stopped recording, used the Elgato software to trim any extraneous recording from the beginning and end, then waited a short while for the file to be saved. The reduction in the file size of my mini DV recordings was drastically reduced from about 13 GB/Hr to less than 1 GB/Hr . My VHS recordings also converted to an MP4 video of less than 1 GB/Hr. There was no noticeable loss in quality. In short I am very happy with the product and highly recommend it. Of course your experience may vary depending upon your hardware. Hardware: Apple iMac (Late 2013) running OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan, Sony DCR TRV11 NTSC Handicam (2000), Magnavox VRT442 (1996)