The VideoLAN Forums

I've started trying out the streaming capabilities, but the format choices are quite confusing.

What formats (video, audio, encapsulation) do I choose to get a basic avi file?

More generally, is there a site somewhere that lists the choices to get the common video formats? (mov, mpg, wmv, avi)

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html
Supported Formats

Thank you, but it's not quite what I need. I need a page that says how to get those outputs.

http://www.videolan.org/doc/play-howto/en/ch04.html
Advanced use of VLC

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/
Guides for creating audio and video

viewtopic.php?t=20037
Transcoding in VLC 0.8.5 and earlier

http://wiki.videolan.org/index.php/Main_Page
Tons of information on formats, containers, streaming and how to

There is also videohelp.com and the doom9 forum.

BTW VLC does not support the AVI container when transcoding as this container was never finished for transcoding.