What do you mean it was bad. You couldn't play it or the quality was poor or it wasn't what you were after? Make sure you have lots of codecs: http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html & even downld xtra players like divx player & vlc (is free & has in-built codecs & plays everything except the odd wmv file.): http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ (choose the nearest mirror site.)

Are you just going to watch them on your computer or connect your comp to a tv or burn to cd or dvd? The larger the file size the better. 500+ MB is the recommended size for a decent movie.

And avi, mpg/mpeg, avi-divx are the best formats to aim for.