How to set video as your background

[mysteriousstranger]

I know you can do this, I've done it in windows with VLC. I used to be able to do it in Ubuntu 8.10 but now I can't figure it out. Anyone?

[lovinglinux]

There was xwinwrap (http://www.google.com/search?q=xwinwrap+site:ubuntuforums.org) that could do that on Hardy, but I'm afraid it not longer works and I guess is not even maintained anymore. I could be wrong, but last time I tried to install it, it gave me some dependency problem.

[mysteriousstranger]

Thanks for reply. Yes I have tried xwinwrap. Still not working. I want this to work because I like to watch movies at work while I do my work and to have it as a background instead of a window would work better for me. A lot more organized. Plus when I desktop cube to my other desks my movie will still be there and I wouldn't have missed anything. When it worked I loved it. It's been killing me not being able to do it.

[lovinglinux]

Thanks for reply. Yes I have tried xwinwrap. Still not working. I want this to work because I like to watch movies at work while I do my work and to have it as a background instead of a window would work better for me. A lot more organized. Plus when I desktop cube to my other desks my movie will still be there and I wouldn't have missed anything. When it worked I loved it. It's been killing me not being able to do it.

I'm not using Compiz, but you could create a script to launch the video player with a particular title, then setup compiz to put any window with that title in the background, force the size of the window to fill your screen and remove the window decoration.

[Alan James]

I am interested in the feature and have heard one can do this using VLC in an easier way then what was mentioned above. I can't remember what it is however. I'll do some research and possibly find it.

[lovinglinux]

I am interested in the feature and have heard one can do this using VLC in an easier way then what was mentioned above. I can't remember what it is however. I'll do some research and possibly find it.

I guess it is desktop video mode or something like that, but I couldn't find it again. I don't really use VLC, but smplayer.

[mysteriousstranger]

Yeah for VLC I know there is a way to do it. It used to be easy but now... I'm not sure. You can even see it on VLC's website. The script thing you are talking about I'm not sure how to do that. I'm kind of and Ubuntu n00b but not that big of a n00b. I've used it for a few years. I've been scowering google for some answers and havn't really found any. Trying to figure it out still. We'll see. If anyone figures this out please leave post some very detailed instructions. Attachment screenshots showing that it works would be nice too!