Help with avi conversion for Linktheater

[lewburns]

First post so be gentle. I require to watch my home movies on tv via my Buffalo Linktheater(BLT). 'Captured' footage no probs and end up with a big avi file. I want to learn how to compress and encode/convert(are those the right terms?)these files into a format my linktheater can handle. Hopefully storing the files on my pc and using my wireless network for the BLT to see the files. I know the linktheater has been discussed on the forum before so I'm hoping some of you are familiar enough with its format handling capapbilities. I had a bash using the avi to dvd-/+r guide with tmpgenc and ended up with seperate video and audio files. The BLT plays the video file ok but I'm wondering if I've got the best settings to retain the quality of the original footage(mini dv). Presumably I need to merge these files but thats where my knowledge runs out. Any advice on which programs to use or pointers to guides would be real appreciated. Also due to my extreme newbieness I am struggling a bit with having a good general overview of the process's involved. My apologies if I've posted on a subject that's been previously covered.
Regards,

Lew

[jggimi]

According to their website (www.buffalotech.com), they support DivX. Converting from DV to DivX might provide you more flexibility than converting to DVD. But ... you may want to experiment, and see which looks best to you.

I would consider using a "one click" tool such as AutoGK to go from DV/AVI to DivX/AVI, and if file size isn't much of a concern, I would elect to use a single pass constant quality of 80%-90%.

I would then compare that to a DV->DVD conversion, and see which looked better.