I am trying to convert flash video files (.flv) into some kind of format that is recognized by Vegas 6. I realize that I can't do it directly and must put them into some kind of intermediary format. I have tried numerous formats, but none seem to work. I first tried .avi, but then realized there are many different types of .avi and the ones I tried were not compatible with Vegas 6. I believe that the .avi's I used were all based on some kind of mpeg-4, Divx, or similar format. I then tried converting the .flv files into .swf files to put on the Vegas timeline. Again, apparently there are numerous types of .swf files, not all of which are compatible with Vegas.

I have numerous questions:

1) What is the best format to convert the .flv files into which will result in the least amount of recompression / quality loss that will be accepted on the Vegas 6 timeline? What software can anyone recommend for it? It doesn't have to be free, though, that would be nice!

2) What specifically are the types of .avi's and .swf format types that are accepted onto the Vegas 6 timeline? Apparently Vegas is pretty finicky about this because I tried numerous types of .avi's and .swf's and they failed to be recognized.

3) I realize that a lot of times that a specific codec must be installed on one's computer in order to read certain file types in Vegas. How does this work? Does one have to install the codec specifically somewhere inside the Vegas program files for it work, or can one just have a software application, external to Vegas, that has it. In other words, if I have a certain type of media, and it plays on my computer, on a certain application, does that mean that Vegas should recognize that file extension? If not, what do I have to do to get Vegas to accept that codec?

Thanks for anyone's help, I really want to put these .flv video files onto Vegas 6's timeline somehow!