Using video as your background in Vista and doing it for free

Have you ever thought, man it would be cool to use a video as the background instead of a static picture like every other Joe in the world, I know you have and that’s why your here.  Your probably telling yourself this is impossible, this is crazy man talk. Well its a feature I’ve always wished for and tried to do several times on previous operating systems with no luck but finally this feature comes in XP and vista and now W7 with their marvelous user XP(experience).  Anyways you all know i can get long winded but I will use the KISS(Keep It Simple Stupid) principal and get to the point. So here we go: There are several commercially available apps out there that offer you the ability to use video as wallpaper but in this day and age who wants to pay for it, certainly not I, apparently Vista Ultimate has the ability to do this but you must download the add-on separately.  This tutorial uses VLC 1.0 on Vista Business.

1) The first thing you need to do if you don’t already have it is to download VLC it’s a free video player that plays most video and audio files out there on the net and best of all its free.

2) After you install or update to the latest player  run VLC and click Tools>Preferences. VLC will open in the interface screen on the right make sure there is a check in the ‘systray icon’ box (this will minimize VLC to the system try whem miimize thus clearing up the task bar.

3) Now lets set up the video desktop, click on the video icon on the left. The ‘Enable Video’ check box should be checked, for ‘Output’ select ‘DirectX video output’.  Below the ‘Display’ section check the box under ‘DirectX’ that says ‘Enable wallpaper mode’. ‘Display device’ should be left at ‘Default’.

4)everything else should be left as is, click “Save”

5)Find the video that you wish to have playing as your new video background, I’m currently using a video I found online of a sunset/sunrise on a tropical beach with waves crashing in with no sound.  It’s a low quality flash(swf) video but I hope to get my hands on a similar high quality video I can use during these cold winter months…yes I miss the beach.

6) Now that you have your video in VLC click VIEW(ctrl+L) to open “playlist” and add your video(s) to the list.  At the bottom of the playlist window click on the repeat/loop icon, the reason for this is obvious…it will loop your videos.

7)Click play in VLC and BAM! Your video should be playing as your background.

The quick and Dirty option
Play the video in VLC player. Right click on VLC player and select Wallpaper
That should be it. The video should now play in your desktop background as a video wallpaper. If not you should follow the settings above.

Windows has released DreamScene which allows you to add video as wallpaper in Vista Ultimate but like all MS apps it has its limits and thus VLC is better because of its ability to play a wide variety of file types. But if you wish to use MS DreamScene you can get it at:

Windows DreamScene download via Windows Update.

Direct download link for Windows DreamScene (6.0.16455) to bypass WGA validation: windows6.0-kb929327-x86_b89227ba03f80f3571c48e970b667328b56731f3.cab

more detailed instruction on Dreamscape can be found here.

Magnitude 7 earthquake or higher has hit Haiti.

A major earthquake of magnitude 7 or higher has hit Haiti. The island nation has be devastated, numbers of wounded, dead or dislodged are not yet available.  The Red Cross believes at least 3 million people are directly affected by this event. The Prime Minister of Haiti has announced that there are possibly a HUNDRED THOUSAND dead and dieing but I believe that any official real numbers will not come for sometime, maybe days. If those numbers are real this is very tragic. From earlier report I’ve heard that the airport was not functioning and in others that it was completely destroyed however new reports say that the airport is not damaged which is vital for foreign aide to access Haiti and bring in support.

DART(Disaster Assistance Response Team) is on the ground in Haiti.

I was in shock as I watched the feeds coming in from my social networks and Television news reports.  The epicentre of the quake was located inland, just 16 kilometres from the capital, Port-au-Prince, and was a shallow 10km deep, intensifying its impact.  If you look at the image from google maps of the capital and how congested and tight packed in they city is and you keep in mind the poor construction of the buildings you can imaging the possible devastation if you consider these builds follow no code and thus most aconstructed with no reebars.

View Larger Map

Ways to find loved ones in Haiti:

CNN:
http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=381628

FACEBOOK GROUP:

Earthquake Haiti
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=earthquake+haiti&init=quick#/group.php?gid=252988675717&ref=search&sid=699735577.786451225..1

There is not much more to say right now as the news coming out is all repetitive since the little infrastructure that exist in Haiti has been completely destroyed.  As western media head down and more information comes out you can look to the internet to do what it does best and spread the news with its gruesome pictures and details.

Americans Donate to Wyclef Organization Yele

If your in Canada you donate here:

Canadians Donate to the Haiti Earthquake

We booty poppin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4EvVErNhVE

A friend of mine on facebook posted a video link this morning that I found hilarious and sad at the same time. The video was a commercial for “booty pop panties”, yes you read it right, let me repeat – a commercial for “booty pop panties”, I watched the commercial in its entirety twice, and I just could not believe it. So what is booty pop panties, they are panties that give those who don’t have or feel that their ass is droopy a firm lifted toosh. Are there really women out there who are that deficient in the posterior that this is an in demand product? Are we really there, you know that point where we have just all lost our fucking minds. Ladies What if you are able to land the perfect man but he’s an ass man, what do you tell him come the inevitable bedroom boogie down, and fellas what would you do if you see your girl take off those tight jeans then…her ASS! NO, NO, NO this is all wrong, I mean I can handle a good weave, and will tolerate a great boob job as long as they are in proportion and not two huge misplace watermelons on a 80lb woman but I think I have to draw a solid line at ass panties. I think that this is one deception to many, ladies and men if you want that a REAL poppin ass do like the rest of us if you’re not genetically gifted, hit the stair master and work for it. Work seems to have become a bad word when it comes to our bodies, no one wants to break a little sweat. If you want a real as hit the stair master like a beast.

I’m not sure how many of you out there are into the old black films but the ass panties make me think of that movie “I’m gonna get you sucka” the cherry bar scene. Below is the scene where a guy lies about his size and gets a surprised from a “beautiful” woman he picks up in a bar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-1C6QlvHl8