What you need to rip an AVI clip from a DVD

A PC with a DVD drive is all you'll have to pay for, the rest is free.

If your Windows PC won't actually play DVDs go and download a free player. Either VLC Media Player or Media Player Classic will do. In fact get both as they each have their strengths and weaknesses.

Now you need the ripping program. This guide uses the shareware AoA DVD Ripper which is free as long as you'll only be taking clips up to ten minutes long.

The good thing about AoA is that it's Fisher-Price-simple to use with big shiny buttons for big clumsy mouse-cursors. The downside is that it's buggy and gives no guidance on the output settings you'll need to produce good quality clips. There are some good outline guides on the official website, but here I'm going to give some more in-depth advice on getting the best results with it.