Capturing AVI files from DV to disk

[Miss Modular]

I need to capture files from my digital video camera as AVI, as I will be eventually exporting the files back to tape. However, Movie Maker will not allow me to do this. When I try to capture, they give me the options of wmv or my custom video settings (something like that). They offer a DV-AVI option but it is rendered on my computer screen so that I am not available to have this option. Is there a reason why Movie Maker does this? With an external harddrive, I have enough space. Is there a way I can allow Movie Maker to upload AVI files? If not, is there a capturing alternative I can download for free?

I figured I'd ask here since there are a bunch of computer nerds.