HDD Media Player problems

I have a Cyclone Fusion HDMI 1080P(Sumvision make) media player and docking station. It states that it supports the following formats:-
Video:- MPEG 1/2/4(MPG, VOB, AVI), DivX(Avi),Xvid(Avi) resolution up to 720 x 480 at 30fps / 720×576 at 25fps.
Audio:- MP3,WMA and OGG.
I have recently downloaded various movies and TV shows which have all been listed as either DivX or Xvid. Some of the files have not played and others have played perfectly on the media player attached to TV. All have played OK on PC due to codecs installed on PC.
1. Is there any small utility that can examine these files and provide detailed info on video file type so that I can compare the different files and determine which ones are for my system.
2. Is there any program recommended for converting files to a suitable format that I can use, preferrably quick and easy to use as I dont fully understand video formats and codecs
Thanx in advance for any assistance
Answer #1
1) Gspot
http://www.headbands.com/gspot/
2) depends on the codec used.