coverting avi files

After days of searching for a mac compatible software to convert my avi files to dvd readable files, I am still at a loss. I am currently trying to use ffmpegX. While reading various forums, I read that mgeg2 was the format I needed to convert my avi file into if I wanted a dvd player to play the movie.
ffmpegX doesn't seem to save the avi files once they are converted to mpeg2. When I try other formats they seem to save fine. Is there an issue with ffmpegX? Is there another conversion option out there that my dvd player will read besides the DVD mpeg2enc version that I have tried so far. I can't afford to purchase an expensive program to convert my files.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

still try to burn converted avi with ffmpegX

i was finally successful in converting the avi file to DVD ffmpeg and have the DVD folder containing the video_TS and audio_TS folders. I found the following instructions:
- where it says source format, drop your avi file there
- where it says target format, choose either DVD mpeg2enc, or DVD ffmpeg, mpeg2enc takes longer but quality is better(from my experience).
-under the options tab select author as DVD & encode with quicktime.
- then press encode... your result will be and .DVD folder that contains 2 folders, AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS
- in ffmpegX yu can select the tools tab and select the img tab
- select browse find your .dvd folder select go
- in disk utility drag that .img file to the let side and select burn

Burning the .img file didn't work right. It only burned about 1 minute of the movie. When I drag the Audio_TS and Video_TS files directly to the cd I get a decent burn but the sound and video are not in sink. Its like watching an old school martial arts movie where the mouth moves and the sound comes out after the fact.

Any one know how to burn the file in such as way as to avoid errors?

If you have Final Cut, you can simply import the .avi file into the timeline and export a .mov or whatever you prefer - this is what I do with footage I have captured via PC. The entire soundtrack has to be rendered though, so if your movie is long it can take I while. I think imovie has similar capabilities.