i havent used avi's, but i think its easier to just make a fast slide show instead..
divide your avi into seperate jpgs or bmps
do something like this
load images
make sprites
do
inc variable1,1
if variable1=4 then variable1=1
if variable1=1 then show sprite 1:hide sprite2:hide sprite3
if variable1=2 then show sprite 2:hide sprite1:hide sprite3
if variable1=3 then show sprite 3:hide sprite2:hide sprite1
sync
loop
this will esentially make a 3-frame animation. it takes a little more time and typing, but it works pretty well for me.. if theres a better way, maybe someone else will help out. I dont have an AVI maker so i take the shortcut