I agree with Canadbis. I searched for a long time to find conversion software but couldn't find anything that was free. A friend told me about something called CovertXtoDVD but it wasn't compatible with my Mac. If you have a PC though try googling it but like all the software I found for PC or Mac after a trial period you will have to buy it. Anyway I gave up and bought a DVD player that plays avi files. The one I got is a Panasonic that also has upcoversion for better picture (only good if you have an HD TV) and it has worked great so far. It retails for $150 (but I had a $75 futureshop gift card
) I'm not sure if it can download codecs but that sounds like a really good feature to have so I'll have to check.
HTH