Windows DreamScene

Victor Frost

If you have Windows 7, here's how you can use any WMV or MPG as your desktop background.

So apparently dreamscene uses barely any CPU because the background video processing is handled solely by the graphics card.

Omnutia

You can do this on any version of Windows with any video if you use VLC's video as wallpaper function.

lackofcheese

I presume that VLC would struggle to compete on efficiency, however.

Omnutia

I presume that VLC would struggle to compete on efficiency, however.

Doubt it. The Mplayer Gestapo have a tendency to blow things out of proportion.

lackofcheese

I presume that VLC would struggle to compete on efficiency, however.

Doubt it. The Mplayer Gestapo have a tendency to blow things out of proportion.

I'm not saying VLC is inefficient, but

So apparently dreamscene uses barely any CPU because the background video processing is handled solely by the graphics card.

I doubt VLC does this.

Omnutia

Hmm.. GPU video rendering, could be interesting. You'd need to transcode the video but it might be worth it if that's your sort of thing. Is someone going to try it out?

I once used VLC to put a playlist of Planet Earth running in the background on an old machine. While it's nice to have at a LAN party or just to show off, I'm not sure how distracting this will be for everyday work.