Have a Video Wallpaper as Desktop Background
By Madhur Kapoor on Apr 5, 2007 in My Choice, Tech, Tutorials, Vista
Windows Vista will have a feature called Dreamscene which will allow us to have a video as a desktop background . Dreamscene will only be available to the people using Windows Vista Ultimate but for people using Windows XP , there is also a way . And that is VLC player . VLC player has a built in feature that can allow you to have any video as a wallpaper . All you have to do is the following things
1) Open VLC and check whether Wallpaper mode is enabled
Goto Settings->preferences->video->output modules->Directx
Just select the advacned option box and you will get the following window as shown below , enable the wallpaper mode , now when you run your videos and right click on it , you will see a wallpaper option .
2) Now to remove VLC from your taskbar go to
Settings->preferences->Interface->Main Interfaces->wxWidgets and uncheck the Taskbar option.
3)Now all we have to do is loop your videos , go to
Settings->preferences->playlists and you will see the required option .
This will work on most of the versions but i recommend you to use the latest version of VLC . I tried it on Windows Vista Ultimate but i got a black screen as a wallpaper which was probably due to some issues with Aero , so if anyone gets it to work in Vista , do comment about it .
via VistaRewired
I’ve tried that before. But even without the steps, I could see the video as my wallpaper.
Ashwin | Apr 5, 2007 | Reply
The settings are reqd when Wallpaper mode is not enabled.
Madhur Kapoor | Apr 5, 2007 | Reply
came here through freakitude’s…
nice blog i must say..
would you like to exchange links??
thnx..
Sahil | Apr 5, 2007 | Reply
Madhur, thanks for this information. I know this feature in Visat, but didn’t know the tweak for XP.
Gili
Web 2.0 | Apr 5, 2007 | Reply
Great info, will try that soon!
Shankar Ganesh | Apr 5, 2007 | Reply
i will try it out…
well, i just came here from Harsh’s blog, and thought i’d like to tell you that this blog is simply superb!! the layout…posts, etc, are really good!!!
for that, will you excange links with my science blog???
http://science-core.blogspot.com/
link to me, and then leave a comment on my blog….i’ll reciprocate within a day.
thanks
srikanth
Srikanth | Apr 5, 2007 | Reply
This one is really cool.Video Wallper…who gave this idea…awesome
Ashish Mohta | Apr 5, 2007 | Reply
I think VLC player had this feature long before Vista introduced it. VLC is also a cool player to have..even better that Mplayer in many aspects.
Sharique | Apr 5, 2007 | Reply
Yeah VLC had this feature all along . Wish i could have known about it .
Madhur Kapoor | Apr 5, 2007 | Reply
@Sahil , Srikanth
I have added you to my blogroll.
Madhur Kapoor | Apr 5, 2007 | Reply
I’ve used it a few times with VLC. They’re pretty cool !
Aniela | Apr 5, 2007 | Reply
This is nice info, but I have not tried out the Vista yet. The XP tweak is good
Nirmal | Apr 6, 2007 | Reply
very Awesome share Madhur
I knew that Vista had this feature but always wanted to try it on XP
Glad I found it
Dj Flush | Apr 6, 2007 | Reply
This just made my day. I’ll try this out right away.
Brown Baron | Apr 7, 2007 | Reply
DreamScene is pure crap really, with its 2.5x explorer.exe RAM consumption.
Harsh | Apr 9, 2007 | Reply
@Harsh
Has Dreamscene been released
Madhur Kapoor | Apr 9, 2007 | Reply
whoa. this sounds pretty cool. I am going to check this one out.
Somu | Apr 15, 2007 | Reply
This seems interesting, but I do prefer plain wallpapers, cant say why though..
Vijay | Apr 17, 2007 | Reply
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SEO | Jul 23, 2007 | Reply
you could just use live desktop to insert a video in a html file and view it on your desk top
this also uses way less memory
and live desktop comes already on windows
Wally | Jul 25, 2007 | Reply
This feature on VLC has never worked for me. I just end up getting a black desktop, but it’s a cool feature nonetheless.
Jay | Oct 19, 2007 | Reply
its not working i try evrything i ust dont get wallpaper button on my window vista
ali | Nov 18, 2007 | Reply
Hi,
I tried on Windows XP but got only blank screen on desktop. Tried everything but nothing worked
Ashish Yadav | Nov 22, 2007 | Reply
Is there a way to use a live video as a background without using too much memory????
greg | Dec 19, 2007 | Reply
i tried on vista too but i cant get the wallpaper option button to show when i right-click… u think microsoft might have somehow disabled this option for vista users?
D!eter | Mar 29, 2008 | Reply
Hello, I have window’s Vista, and VLC media player. Ive done everything the directions say, but still no wallpaper option:( I have also tried other video wallpaper programs, that didnt work either, could you help me out?
Jared | May 20, 2008 | Reply
i have vista also. microsoft disables this option for us in vlc media player…….. they want us to upgrade to vista ultimate.. jack asses…
Dez | May 22, 2008 | Reply
I have been doing this on xp but there is an anoying loop that you can notice when it is done
Joshua Cloutier | May 25, 2008 | Reply
I have XP and the only problem is that the window frame doesn’t go away when the video is a wallpaper. It just kinda stays there… Is there any way to make it disappear when you activate wallpaper mode? Other than that this is a really neat trick! Thanks in advance!
Yevs | Jun 4, 2008 | Reply
i enabled the wallpaper button and saved, but when i right click it don’t have the wallpaper feature :S
lynx | Jun 6, 2008 | Reply
i have tried this with windows vista ultimate.it works as long as you got the latest release of vlc player..download the latest release and it should work
keno | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
nah no way they could do that.as i said before try downloading the latest release of vlc and it should work
keno | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
@Dez
there is no way for microsoft to block the feature. try downloading the latest release and that should fix it.
keno | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
i did this trick but didnt get the result!
sarim javaid.SJ | Jul 2, 2008 | Reply
I was frustrated to see the author of this blog is not answering the questions that numerous people have asked in the comment section regarding “no wallpaper mode”.
Perhaps they have not dealt with the problem so are unaware of the solution. It has been quite a frustration for me to follow all the instructions and still have no “wallpaper mode” in VLC (Windows vista home).
Here is what I found:
Some other things that must be be done to enable VLC to show the “Wallpaper” mode and to enable dreamscene on the desktop is:
Disable the Windows “Aero theme” and switch it to “Windows Vista Basic”. To do this right click anywhere on the desktop, click personalize>Windows Color and appearance>Open Classic appearance properties for more color options>color scheme. Change the Theme to basic.
In VLC go to Settings > Preferences > Interface > Main Interfaces > wxWidgets; disable taskbar and enable systray to remove the VLC windows from the taskbar.
In VLC for Windows Vista Home you also have to change the “Video output module” to “directx” mode, to enable the “Wallpaper” option in VLC. To do that open the settings dialog and select -> Video -> Output Module (enable “advanced settings”) and change video output module from “default” to “directx output module”.
Go to Playlist and select Repeat current item to loop it.
It is still has issues but it might work after trying the above!
Cheers!
happypizza | Jul 9, 2008 | Reply
i tryed vlc but there is black screen on my xp so wat should i do know
arun | Jul 19, 2008 | Reply