thanks for all the info guys...

i don't have to put soundtracks on the movie as the guys would rather hear the motor noises and the crowd cheering in the background so that makes it a little easier on me.

MPEG2 is the standard format for the USA ... is it the same down under? [Australia]
[it seems lots of things are different between the two countries]

i had a quick look at movie maker and it has about a dozen different WMV formats and one AVI format in its save list ... no others... so i better hurry up and get myself a program to use :-)