[BuckarooBanzai9]

We just got a Cube and a 15" Studio Display, and we got to thinking... "Can we set a movie as a desktop background?" If not a movie, how about an animated gif?

[Cipher13]

Not without 3rd party software, the like of which I haven't come across before...
Why would you want to though?
It would be terribly annoying, off putting, and performance would be terrible - but it would be pretty cool

Cipher13

You can make DVD movies play on the desktop while you work, without the need for any third-party software whatsoever. Here's how:

1. Open Apple DVD Player
2. From the "Video" menu, choose "Present Video on Screen"
3. Move the pointer to the lower right corner of the screen out of view
4. Take a screen shot using "Command-Shift-3." This will create a SimpleText document titled "Picture 1" at the root level of your hard drive.
5. Open the "Appearance" control panel or "Control-Click" on the desktop and choose "Change Desktop Background…"
6. Open up your hard drive and drag "Picture 1" to the open "Appearance" window or click on "Place Picture…" to choose the image, then click on "Set Desktop."
7. Return to Apple DVD Player and start your movie. Choose "Hide Apple DVD Player" from the Application Menu, and the movie should now play on the desktop.

On a PowerBook G3/400 with 128 MB RAM, running Mac OS 9.0.4, the movies have a tendency to be a bit choppy when you are performing other tasks, but they perform just fine otherwise, and it's kinda cool to see too!

Have Fun!

Zamboni

What a great tip!

I tried this with apple video player and now I can watch the TV behind my other work.

Well done

Mark A Tilley

[Macfreak7]

i tried exactly what u said zamboni... but it never worked. the desktop changed to a dark blank screen (just like when the dvd player is in 'stop' mode)

[jzaw]

wow dvd as wallpaper works on lombard 400MHz with 128 MB and ramdoubler set to filemapping only

try opening the "picture 1" file in something like bbedit you get a window that also has full motion withing it

great tip though i doubt i will be using it often as it does run very choppy when i have any disk access

fab fun!!