Try here: http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/terms/codec.cfm And here: http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/terms/container.cfm @Varnull, chalk and cheese...sounds like a french pool hall.
Gotta love the comeback edit. MKV is the future really.. it's a good container for most video formats. Don't forget about the lesser known tools either.. http://yatoshi.com/en/index.php