DONE: Transparent Screensaver

[michaewlewis]

I mentioned this idea a while ago in another part of the forum, but am wondering if I put it in the wrong section.

The idea is to have a screensaver that refreshes the pixels on the screen but keeps updating the current data on the screen.
The DimScreen screensaver does this when the screen is dimmed. It continues to update information on the screen until the selected screensaver kicks in (which I can tell it to do after three hours). But that's only half of what I want.....

Could a new program be made (or a version update to DimScreen) that dims the screen (or not), continuously updates information displayed on the screen, and moves some pixels around to keep them from getting stuck? I think an inverse vertical line of 1-10 pixels could move from left to right would do the trick, or maybe bouncing bubbles like the screensaver in vista and win7.

I know some people say that LCD monitors don't suffer from burn in, but I see it happen all the time. I work at a water/wastewater treatment plant and the screens have to be on 24x7 and they display the same header and footer on the screen for months at a time, which get stuck in place even on the best of monitors.

If someone could help me out with this, that would be great. Thanks. :)

[rsteward]

All, I've been wanting this for a long time.  Thanks to Michaewlewis for renewing my interest in it.  I did a little searching and stumbled on xyz's example of how to do it.  

http://www.geekpedia.com/tutorial65_How-to-make-a-screen-saver.html

You can download the SCRs made from the example code but I would like to see it enhanced a little.  I would like to see it use the "Settings" button on the Display Properties | Screen Saver tab.  I'd like to be able to select the BMP or JPG I want to use and set the transparency percentage.

How about it?  Any takers?

[scancode]

InvertSaver
a transparent screensaver with color inversion and vertical shifting

Installation instructions: copy to any folder, right click, install

18:08 19/12/2010

• First public release

VB6 runtimes required on Windows 9x/NT/2000

[mouser]

neat.

though i wonder if something that only briefly changes a pixel and then puts it back to original state is going to do anything to avoid burn it, since the pixel will be it's original color for 99% of the time.. maybe what's needed is to move across the entire screen, inverting everything and then undoing it, etc., so that pixels stay changed for a prolonged period.

ps. only affects primary monitor, for what it's worth.

[scancode]

neat.

-mouser (December 19, 2010, 03:19 PM)

Thanks

maybe what's needed is to move across the entire screen, inverting everything and then undoing it, etc., so that pixels stay changed for a prolonged period.

-mouser (December 19, 2010, 03:19 PM)

There's a slight problem: to do the inversion you take a partial screenshot, invert it, and display it on the screensaver window. Since one of the requirements was that it keeps the data on screen up to date, I don't know how it could be done. (Would be easier if I could find a way to capture everything but a specified window [the screensaver's])

ps. only affects primary monitor, for what it's worth.

-mouser (December 19, 2010, 03:19 PM)

I don't know how to make it multimon-aware, sorry

[mouser]

why not:

Take a screenshot, slowly invert it,
Repeat.

I read the original request as just saying it needs to display a reasonably updating view of real screen but not that it had to be constantly refreshed every second or so.

[scancode]

why not:

Take a screenshot, slowly invert it,
Repeat.

I read the original request as just saying it needs to display a reasonably updating view of real screen but not that it had to be constantly refreshed every second or so.

-mouser (December 19, 2010, 03:42 PM)

That could work, but won't be nowhere as real-time.

I'm waiting for some feedback from the OP

[michaewlewis]

Thanks for tackling this for me! It's a good start!
Multi-monitor capability is a must for me because all of the computers here are 2+ monitor configurations.
I think the inverse band is pretty good, but it's moving too fast on my system and is really choppy. Is there a way to modify the speed and width of it?
Also, if there could be a way to dim the screen such as in the dimsaver screensaver (allowing realtime updates), I think that might be just as good as doing a whole shot and inverting it.
As far as how realtime the data must be.... I would be okay with less than 2-5 seconds of delay.

[michaewlewis]

oh, and I just noticed the vertical shifting part.... that's a really good idea. Cool!

[scancode]

I'll see what I can do... Need to grab a hold of a 2nd monitor first...

[JennyB]

Thanks for tackling this for me! It's a good start!
Multi-monitor capability is a must for me because all of the computers here are 2+ monitor configurations.
I think the inverse band is pretty good, but it's moving too fast on my system and is really choppy. Is there a way to modify the speed and width of it?
Also, if there could be a way to dim the screen such as in the dimsaver screensaver (allowing realtime updates), I think that might be just as good as doing a whole shot and inverting it.
As far as how realtime the data must be.... I would be okay with less than 2-5 seconds of delay.

-michaewlewis (December 20, 2010, 10:01 AM)

Would it be possible/useful to just slowly scroll the whole screen? Up until the header appears at the bottom, then down until the footer appears at the top, and repeat? 

[rsteward]

Thanks for tackling this for me! It's a good start!
Multi-monitor capability is a must for me because all of the computers here are 2+ monitor configurations.
I think the inverse band is pretty good, but it's moving too fast on my system and is really choppy. Is there a way to modify the speed and width of it?
Also, if there could be a way to dim the screen such as in the dimsaver screensaver (allowing realtime updates), I think that might be just as good as doing a whole shot and inverting it.
As far as how realtime the data must be.... I would be okay with less than 2-5 seconds of delay.

-michaewlewis (December 20, 2010, 10:01 AM)

Would it be possible/useful to just slowly scroll the whole screen? Up until the header appears at the bottom, then down until the footer appears at the top, and repeat?  

-JennyB (December 20, 2010, 04:31 PM)

I like that idea.  Reminiscence of the old vertical hold problem on old tv's.

I did find this but haven't tried it out yet.  (work computer has screensavers locked down, like that's a security risk!) 
Ike-World Screen Saver
and
Mangle!

[michaewlewis]

Interesting idea, but that wouldn't really work for what I need it for.... the screen content needs to be very viewable at all times and having it scroll like that would break up the data, obfuscating the information.

BTW, WOT doesn't like the first link rsteward posted. http://www.mywot.com...card/freewareweb.com

[scancode]

But... dimming the screen wouldn't cause burn in? I think it will (but it will be less than a full-brightness image)... Think on how the TV station logos, which are usually alphablended (75%?) do get burnt into LCD/Plasma TVs

[michaewlewis]

I thought about that..... and I don't think it will.
I'm thinking (hoping) that even subtle changes on LCDs are enough to keep them from getting burned in. I'm hoping that having a white line get replaced by a gray line would refresh the pixels on the screen just enough to keep it from getting stuck.
Unfortunately, to find out, the test takes a long time to run. It usually takes 3-6 months before you see any real effect.

[scancode]

My laptop gets "image persistence" aka temporary burn in in as little as 8 hours...
I'll run some tests and report back.