Not defending intellectual incuriosity here, but in fairness ffmpeg is the antithesis of "easy to learn." I capture Laserdiscs (i.e. sampling the laser's RF output and decoding in software [0]) for fun, and use ffmpeg as part of that chain – I still barely scratch the surface of what it can do.
No, I’m using an ADC modified for use with LD captures [0]. I did this because it’s cheaper in theory, although with the amount of time I’ve dumped into getting it working and keeping it working, the $500 or so for the Domesday Duplicator may well have been a better choice.
[0]: https://github.com/happycube/ld-decode