OnLocation AVI Compatability

[bmac]

AVI files captured in NTSC-DV format from my Sony DV cameras with OnLocation cannot be opened by VLC, mplayer, virtualdub, mediacoder, stoik and many other programs. The selected recording AVI type (T1,T2 or quicktime) doesn't matter. For a T2 type, GSpot reports the codec name as DVC/DV Video and confirms that the codec is installed. It is also able to render the video using MS rendering. It does fail to render using GSpot codec solutions on the DivxDemux process. I have no idea what this really means or if this is related to the compatability issue with the programs mentioned. The only thing I can figure is that the internal codecs used by the above programs fail where external codecs used by others (windows media, zoom player, GOM, etc.) work. I'm trying to find a software solution to batch compress these AVI files, preferably keeping them as AVI, but with reduced resolution. Note that if I capture from the same setup to an AVI using Windows Movie Maker, everything is compatable.

So what is OnLocation doing differently and why?
How can I get my OnLocation files to be compatable?
Any suggestions to batch compression software other than what I've tried?