Need some advice on video editing.

I've never done any sort of video editing.
I've got a home video on DVD and I wish to edit it in Windows Movie Maker, how can I get the video off the DVD in a format that Windows Movie Maker will read?
I'm sure there are better programs than Windows Movie Maker, feel free to suggest other free programs.
I also have the original 8mm analogue tape from the Camcoder but nothing to play it on.

I would recommend using Vegas Pro 9. Its a very good software. As for the DVD format, there should be a program for free that convert a dvd format to an avi format.

Thanks for that.

Ya windows movie maker is really limited in terms of what kind of playback speed/blend/morph/fade effects you can do. There just isn't a whole lot. Even iMovie is infinitely more powerful. I agree with getting a 'cheap but effective' piece of software for editing. Ripping a DVD to AVI isn't hard. You can find the freeware on download.com in a few minutes.

This is straight home video on DVD in actual DVD format right? It's not like an MKV that a video camera recorded onto DVD right? That's even easier.

It's actual DVD format. about 90 mins worth