ripping and dvd to avi

why goto AVI? Are you using FCP to edit the clip or some other program? In FCP (if you don't need audio) you can brong in the VOB file from the DVD.

If you absolutely need to rip a DVD into an MPEG let's say.. (forget AVI), then use: HANDBRAKE.
To convert the clip later one you can also use ffmepgx. Works great!

Good luck,

Sebastien Gomez
http://macgomez.typepad.com (FREE FCP Tutorials)

Another good program for ripping DVD's - where you can actually set your own in and out points to just take the bits you need - is MPEG Streamclip:

You can also export in a variety of formats/codecs

http://www.squared5.com/

Tim

PowerBook G4, dual G5, Xsan Mac OS X (10.4.6)