How to change xvid codec in an .avi

[haelsyx]

I'm fairly new to avisynth, avsp, and virtual dub, and have only the vaguest idea of how to script.

My main issue is I have a bunch of downloaded episodes which are dvd rips and high quality .avi's, but they're encoded with Xvid. I want to be able to change the codec to lagarith or huffyuv, and maintain the same quality.

I've already tried working with the videos in avsp but the error message reads: Couldn't locate a deompressor for fourcc xvid

I also tried using [freeware] Any Video Converter to convert the .avi file into an .avi with identical configurations except the codec, which had the huffyuv option. I imported this file into Sony Vegas and also dealt with it in Avisynth but in both places the same errors occur.

I'm a little lost and any help is appreciated And if I assumed something wrong, go ahead and call me an idiot because I've read way too many tuts without any progress.

[daniyagami]

Some useful links for you:
http://www.xvidmovies.com/faq/
Video Cleaner Overview
XVID to AVI: Convert Video from XVID(XVID Video) to AVI(Audio Video Interleaved) with River Past Video Cleaner, XVID2AVI converter, conversion

[haelsyx]

daniyagami, thanks for responding so quickly! ^^'

After skimming briefly through the links, I think my topic title is misunderstood. My original format is an .avi and I don't want to convert that. The codec it uses to play is xvid, and is what I want to change [into huffyyuv I think?]

Technically I want to convert an uneditable .avi into an editable .avi, and I don't care how much scripting or work is required I just need a guide somewhere that addresses it D: It's what I get for not going through the pain in the ass to actually rip DVDs

[daniyagami]

I'm confused. What exactly do you want to do?
I'll give you an example.

I use Adobe Premiere to edit my vids and Premiere have a hard time with AVIs with XVid codecs but Premiere works really fine with MOVs and Mpegs so when I want to edit some AVI that I downloaded, I convert from AVI to MOV or MPeg using a freeware software called Cinemaforge.

To storage and play I prefer MP4, MKV and RMVB so I'm using another free software called Easy Real Media Tools to convert AVI to these formats.

What do you want to do?

[haelsyx]

If I convert to mpg I loose the quality of the .avi file (Or at least such was my experience), I want to edit with the .avi file but what I thought made that impossible was the fact that it had an xvid codec, and somehow I thought that if I could change the coec I could edit with the .avi file in sony vegas?

Again, thanks so much for being so quick!

*edit: Or at least, I want to edit the video without loosing the quality. Usually I just convert to .wmv but I'm trying to enter this video officially into a convention.

[daniyagami]

I think what you really need is some documentation about the formats that Sony Vegas work. I never had a problem with quality loss using MOV and MPEG and some of my videos were sent to official television channels and movie competitions without problems. (also MPEG is the used compressor to make DVDs so it shouldn't give you problems).
You need to know the best format to input videos to Sony Vegas.

[haelsyx]

I'll give those formats a try then, thanks for the help!
I actually think I had converted with mpeg2, but maybe my source video was more of an issue.

Again thank you.

[daniyagami]

MPEG2 should be compatible with most of DVD burnings and vid editing softwares
I hope this info helps.