Hi Mike,
K-Lite codec pack is good. I use XVid from there for my AVI encoding, and x264 AVCHD from Sony Vegas for smaller files.
AVI settings (almost lossless):
1920x1080
Frame Rate: 24
Field Order: None (progressive scan)
Coded: Xvid MPEG-4
Xvid settings:
Encoding type: Single pass
Target quantizer: 3
1.5 minutes of video = 350MB
For lossless AVCHD (x.264) I use 16MBit/sec and 1920x1080
For online sharing: 1280x720 and 3Mbit/sec
Sony AVC is a proprietary codec that comes with Sony Vegas, but i a sure ffmpeg from K-Lite codec pack will offer something similar.
I use Nikon Capture NX 2 for batch processing and Sony Vegas Platinum HD to produce movies from sets of still images, but you can use VirtualDub (free), here is a short howto:
http://timelapseblog.com/2009/08/04/...or-time-lapse/
Hope it helps,
Alex