heya - welcome to the vidding community. On the LJ info page as well as in the memories section (look under For New vidders) there is a lot of info about DVD ripping, editing programs, tips for new vidders.

I am a Mac vidder - up until the new dual core chips, Mac users were limited in their editing software - but because it was Mac, while you had fewer choices, they often worked better and the system was more stable. The newer Macs can now run some of the PC programs as well.