How to Enable DreamScene Video Wallpaper in Windows XP and non-Ultimate Vista?
Wonder why Microsoft is so evil… DreamScene is a pretty useless feature apart form the eye candy that comes with a motion desktop or video animated desktop wallpaper nothing extravagant. Now why should i dish out $40o odd for Windows Vista Ultimate just some eye candy.
No need to buy Windows Vista Ultimate here is a cool alternative to adding video to your desktop background without hogging system resources and memory. It will work in any Windows Vista version and Windows Xp. Here’s how it goes.
1. Download and install VLC Player for Windows.
2. Run VLC Media Player, go to Settings -> Preferences, expand Interface and click on wxWidgets. In the bottom right corner of “wxWidgets interface module” window, click on “Advanced options” to show advanced settings. Then uncheck the Taskbar check box in order to remove VLC Player title from the taskbar while the program is running. Check Systray icon if you want to enable Systray (system tray or notification area) icon instead.
3. Next, expand Video -> Output Modules and then select Direct X. In bottom right corner of DirectX Video Output window, check the Advanced Options check box in order to see all the settings available.
4. Check and tick the “Enable wallpaper mode” check box.
5. Then, select Playlist and then check or tick the Repeat current item checkbox.
6. Press “Save” button when done.
7. Open and play any video that you would like to set as motion wallpaper in VLC Media Player.
8. If the video hasn’t yet been set as desktop background, right click on the video and click on “Wallpaper”.
9. The video or movie will be set as if it’s DreamScene motion desktop background wallpaper.
Now important thing is to configure VLC Player to loop the video . This can be done by simply clicking on View then select Playlist. Now highlight the video that is playing and by clicking on Repeat One or Repeat All button .
But make sure the video format is supported by VLC Player such as MPEG, AVI, MP4, WMV, FLV (Flash Video) and etc. If it isn’t simple convert it to the above files.
Another alternative is BS.Player. Just download and install the BS.Player. Run BS.Player and open your favorite movie or video clip that you would like to set as desktop background.
Then right click on the video playing on a window, and select “Desktop mode” on the options menu. Alternative, you can just press D shortcut key. Wow, your desktop is now playing video, without interfering with other desktop features.
Feel free to comment on your experiences and problems, I’ll always be obliged to answer your queries.
i dont know much about dreamscene but i know drempels animated desktop has been doing lovely things to my wallpaper for a few weeks now…
simply replaces your wallpaper with a screensaver. still trying to figure out a way to do this without removing your desktop icons though…
if you haven’t seen it should check out
http://www.geisswerks.com/drempels/
and if i shouldn’t post urls in comments, feel free to stab me. :D
I’m using Windonws Vista Home Basic and it didnt work, I did evverything but when I right click on the video the Wallpaper Option doesn’t show up.
On the website http://www.smitsgallery.com you can download a lot of beautiful Dreamscene videos. You can also read how to install Dreamscene on all editions of Vista. Have fun
DreamScenes on XP ? No problem with the free Tool XPScene (http://www.dreamscene.org). Works great without any background programs or hacks. There are also a lot of nice free dreamscene videos on dreamscene.org you can use with XPScene.
Sory but this doesent work on my PC (im talking about VLC) im doing everything as said and it’s not working…
Is there a way to make the video permanently play in place of a desktop picture without the VLC having to be running?
@Evan
I’ll try find one tonight and keep you posted. :!
NOpe – it doesnt work on any Vista. I have Vista Home Basic and the wallpaper function in vlc or the BS player doesnt work. Anyone know of a player available it will work on???
Bill Gates and VISTA suck !!!
I was frustrated to see a few tech blogs not answering the questions that numerous people have asked in the comments regarding “no wallpaper mode”.
Perhaps they have not dealt with the problem and 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 some other things that I found need to be done to enable VLC to show the “Wallpaper” mode and to enable dreamscene on the desktop:
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 sum issues but it might work after trying these tips!
@happypizza
I’m sorry for your frustration but its not possible for us to reply to each and every query our visitors input. We get tonnes of emails each day, most of the time we try our level best to see and answer each any every email and comment.We are thinking about launching a forum in a few weeks, where people can ask and reply questions thus create a great community.
Anyways thanks for resolving the issue. I guess lots of users will benefit from it.