Windows Movie Maker - Green screen, unchecking DivX compatibility makes video black

[Kadence]

I have a video in MP4 format (about a 2 and half hour, 2GB file), and I'd like to take a 10 seconds out of it and turn it into a .gif. My issues are with Windows Movie Maker, although if there is a more direct approach to this issue than the one I'm taking, please let me know

I converted the MP4 file to AVI using the program "Any Video Converter". Then in Windows Movie Maker, I edited the project and shortened it to a 10 second clip, taking two sequences from the video of about 5 seconds each and deleting the rest.

However when I publish the WMM project and play the resulting file, I get a green screen. There is audio but the video is almost totally just green, with pixelation at the top. I googled and found a solution where you go to Tools>Options>Compatibility and uncheck the Xvid/DivX option. The two options I get under Compatability are "AVI Decompressor" (version 6.6.6001.18461) and "DivX Decoder Filter" (version 7.1.1.14).

However when I uncheck the "DivX Decoder Filter" option, instead of mostly green it goes to totally black - no pixelation at the top, just pure black. Also the audio is gone. (the audio going away doesn't matter for me because I'm trying to in the end make a gif, I'm just noting the issue)

What is the problem here, and how can I resolve it? Are there perhaps any options I can alter when doing the conversion from MP4 to AVI in Any Video Converter that will take care of the codec isses?

Is there any program where I can edit the MP4 directly and output as a .gif?

 

[Bubbaleone]

This is freeware: Movie to Animated GIF Converter .Only the Windows 7 version supports MP4 files.

This isn't freeware: RiverPast Audio and video recording, conversion and editing

You'll need to check on 64bit compatibility.

 

[Kadence]

I solved the problem by in Any Video Converter, converting to .wmv format instead of .avi. After opening the .wmv file in WMM, I was able to edit and publish into .wmv format successfully. I then used an online tool (online-convert.com) to convert the .wmv to a .gif.

However I'd still like to know what the issue was with trying to publish the edited .avi file Why I was getting the greenscreen, and why after unchecking the DivX option as per online advice I got pure blackness with no audio.

 

[Kadence]

This is freeware: [URL=" to Animated GIF Converter[/URL] .Only the Windows 7 version supports MP4 files.

This isn't freeware: [URL=" Audio and video recording, conversion and editing[/URL]

OK thank you very much You posted just as I was posting. I will try out the Freeware later and post my results.

edit: Although I don't have Windows 7, I have Vista 64, so I assume it won't work for me.