AVI recording and offline parameter settings

[Chandan]

Hi,
In my virtual world example, the number of objects are huge.This consumes a lot of time and the realtime simulation goes really slow:-).Is it possible to record the simulation to a file such as a ".avi" for a specific period of time and view the file later? How do I turn off the world view window when such a simulation is running?Also is it possible to record a parameter from my world to the disk?

Thanks in advance