QtheC wrote:[...]
If you were replying to the web-based conversion, then... nevermind  
 
  
 
Heh, I did mean zamzar, yes. Since mencoder can use ffmpeg as well (among other libraries), the results should be similar (as you noted). Maybe I'll check that GUI out for my next video 
 
janesalteredstates wrote:I have several problems with Microsoft Movie Maker. Some avi's don't work. I'm confused by codecs 

 
Just imagine codecs as dictionaries 

Imagine you were supposed to talk to Chinese person. You'd probably need a dictionary for that, right? You are the player, the Chinese guy is the movie, and the dictionary is the codec - necessary to understand the movie. Several key codecs come supplied with Operating Systems nowadays (Intel Indeo, for example), but proprietary ones or those in active development often have to be installed seperately.
Players such as 
MPlayer and 
VLC can play pretty much everything, and can give you information about which codec a video has. If you're not much of a command line person, I suggest taking VLC - under "View", there's "Stream and Media information" -> "Extended Information", that shows you the used codec, among other things. Then it's mostly as simple as googling the codec name.
In addition, trying to play the file in Windows Media Player might help. It is a spawn from hell, but it automatically tries to download unknown codecs.
And, last but not least, if it's mainly AVIs making problems, you might just lack the latest MPEG-4 codecs - check if you've got 
DivX and 
XviD, those are the ones used primarily for...err..."backed up" 

 content.
And ask if you've got any questions 
