How to get VirtualDub To Store Codec Or Compression (Xvid, DivX, etc.) Information

When saving VirtualDub settings (.vcf) files, It Doesn’t Store Codec Or Compression (Xvid, DivX, etc.) Information!

I am using VirtualDub 1.9.8. I have a folder full of large avi files and I want to convert each file down to a smaller Xvid compressed avi, and also rename it in the process. I did a Google search for “how to run batch files with VirtualDub” and got a lot of results. However, after investigating the first 2 or 3, it seems that something is going awry, though I am following their directions to a tee. Mainly, everytime an external program loads the .vcf (settings configuration) file I created and launches VirtualDub (aka: Vdub), VirtualDub processes the file using uncompressed “Full Processing Mode”, instead of the the compression settings (Xvid MPEG-4 Codec, in this case) that I saved in the .vcf! This results in a file size (MB) equal to or larger than the original, which is exactly the OPPOSITE of what I am trying to accomplish!

I have tried the following programs, and all seem to do what they are supposed to, but still they won’t compress my file for some reason!

So, I want to ask help of anyone who may be able to answer these questions for me and others who might be experiencing the same frustration:

1. Is this a known problem with Vdub and are there any good known fixes? (note Google search was not fruitful in this regard.)

1. How can I automatically (unattended) batch down-convert a directory of video files using VirtualDub or any other free software that will accomplish this task?

A final note, most of the information I have found on VirtualDub in this respect is sparse and out-of-date, the latest seeming to be on average from around 2006 sometime (it is January 2010 as I write this).

I thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide in this matter!