I've finally figured out how to extract video from the Zosi security camera system I've installed but it seems that it can only be done in AVI format... the two applications I've downloaded and tried skew the final picture from wide to tall.... seems the horizontal and vertical resolution is reversed or such.... can someone here suggest an application that does not do this....

Have you tried Handbrake?
https://handbrake.fr/downloads.php

Easiest video file converter I have come across.

Handbrake is the best video converter I've used so far.

I also use the VLC player from Video LAN as it's the easiest multi-format video player (and includes the ability to snapshot from the video which is very handy for ID photos from surveillance footage)

It'd be easier and simpler, rather than converting every file you want on an ongoing basis, to just find a player app that handled AVI without flipping it sideways.

I think Gibb's suggestion of trying VLC makes sense.

Another thought - is there a portrait/landscape setting or something analogous in the camera software that you could tweak to get it producing videos in the other orientation?

Another vote for Handbrake. Specifically, Handbrake CLI (Command Line Interface). You can script Handbrake and not have to use the GUI for each time. I had several thousand AVI files at work I needed to convert. I wrote a for loop and I got them all converted over a weekend.

thanks for the feed back... gonna give it a try...

Back ground information:

I had a Lorex camera system at my home for a number of years... up graded from 4-8 cameras then I convinced the head of my churches safety team that we really should have a camera system there.... she bought a Zozi 16 camera system just before Covid and when that was pretty much over I offered to install it.... then I being the nerd and over thinker I am decided we needed more than 16 cameras to cover the campus and the open rooms....here is the absolute crazy part.... I'm done with it, at least until I figure out how to get solar powered wireless cameras in the parking lots.... I ended up installing 4 dvr systems and a total of 54 cameras.......
here's a picture of it:

This is all wired.. over 6,000 feet and of course the Zosi system is pretty cheap... but it all adds up... I also installed a Zosi 16 camera DVR at my home and used the original Lorex cameras and just added 8 more.

I'm on a Linux box, rather than a Mac, but I would be surprised if the same utility wasn't available:

$ ffmpeg -i some.mov -c:a copy some.mp4

Then I delete the .mov file.

I just tested it on a sample .avi file I have laying around. Works fine.

Many of the GUI tools use ffmpeg or ffmpeg libraries to get the job done.

Handbrake or VLC can change the format/container. Many people don’t realize that both of those applications draw on the same libraries, so you can simply go to VLC’s export function to change the format.

Well, it looks like the problem is in the Zosi system and how it saves the AVI file... I downloaded handbrake and in the preview picture it shows the video skewed like I said... taller than wider....

Do you mean the videos are sideways?