Video converting istance?

I am using a cannon DVD video recorder with Sony DVD-RW re-recordable disks. The disks won't show up on the computer withut a certain format and I need a way to convert them to a certain file so i can edit my filming on windows movie maker. I've been using AVS Video Conmverter 6.5 and every ten minutes the time I ahve to wait for it to load jumps up an hour. So I went from have an hours wait to having an eight hour wieght within five hours. Anyone know a better system I can be using?