Low Resource ScreenSaver/s ?
 

I am trying to find a good super simple screensaver for my macbook. I would like to run it while Encoding Professional Quality DVD's, because iDVD will only allow me to activate a screensaver, i.e. if I use hotcorners to turn off the display, it turns back on because of iDVD. I don't want any known bugs or memory leaks causing erroneous DVD's either. Suggestions?

If you're not using Leopard, you could sleep the display with this script:

See this thread for info on its problems with Leopard

Try here:
http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.de/Fr...sicSaver.shtml

Trevor

I would really like to try the 'Basic Black' screensaver, but the download link was broken. Does anyone have a copy?

Oops, sorry about that. Try this one instead:
http://b-l-a-c-k-o-p.com/BlackenedPixels.html

Trevor

Great! Thanks A Lot!

What about using control-shift-eject? That turns off the screen, using no screensaver and therefore no resources.

Any Different than using a HotCorner that "turns off display(s)"?

Haven't tried yet...

Wasn't any help... the Monitor turns on several seconds later (same as hotcorner).

Why waste any CPU cycles on a screensaver? When encoding a DVD, lower the screen brightness to zero with F1.

The Brightness is From the Cold Cathode Back-Lights, Dimming the screen makes it appear off in darker conditions, but the pixels are still active and capable of image burn-in. Appreciate it though.

Dim your screen to '0' and shine a bright light on it (experiment with angles), you'll see.

LCD pixels don't burn in. They're just transistors that switch on and off.

Sorry, nothing has yet convinced me that screen burn-in (the permanent damage caused by an image etching the phosphors that are part of a CRT tube) is even possible on an LCD screen. I have replaced some LCD panels that had a manufacturing fault, and retained an image on the screen, but there's nothing that a screensaver (low resource or not) can do to prevent a manufacturing defect. There is a temporary effect caused by a type of screen persistence, that can usually be eliminated through a screen cycling utility, or simply unplugging from power, and leave the screen off for 24-48 hours.
Even so, turning the backlight all the way down would certainly prevent a 'burn-in', and, of course, the short time that you are talking about (such as 4 or 5 hours) would contribute nothing to potential damage, if that were possible. The burn-in on a CRT is greatly accelerated when the screen is brighter, and the principle is the same. Turn the screen brightness down (or turn the backlight to a low level or off)

Sorry, LCD's can suffer from 'Persistence'. It's were the liquid crystals don't realign after being polarized to shape the White back-light into a given color. Check it out.

The back-light has nothing to do with 'persistence'. LCD's work by blocking certain light spectrums from the back-light by forming different structures under different polarization. I agree 'it' is a fixable problem. However, I don't want to ever NEED to fix it. Thus, when I leave a DVD to process OVER NIGHT and it finishes, then when my computer DOESN'T go to sleep, what am I to do?

Nothing in that article changes my opinion, plus that article misses any mention of backlighting. No mention at all that turning down the backlight virtually eliminates the possibility, even of the temporary persistence that the article partially explains.
What more do you need?
The LCD screen does not use the backlight to create the video image. The backlight's purpose is to make the image more visible, and provide more brightness. More brightness adds to the potential persistence issues. Turn the backlight down, and persistence issues will be highly unlikely.
Is that your only reason to turn brightness down? No, less brightness will give you longer battery life, and the LCD panel at full brightness will produce a lot of heat. Of course, an LCD panel with the newer LED backlighting doesn't really have the heating issues. Still, less brightness relates directly to longer battery life, and that will continue on a battery operated laptop. Persistence on a laptop LCD screen is really a non-issue, compared to others related to battery use. It's just not a serious concern like it used to be with CRTs.

Are you one of the unusual users that have an antivirus app installed "just in case a virus happens"? I won't convince you that a virus can't infect your Mac (although unlikely), but LCD persistence issues are even less likely. As a Mac service tech, I get the question occasionally. My answer - Impossible? No.
Will a screensaver prevent the issue? I suppose so - and it won't hurt anything.
If you are still concerned - you can turn off the screen when you want to. Leopard allows that as one of the choices for Hot Corners in the Desktop & Screensavers pref pane.

Of course the back-light isn't responsible for creating the video image. LIGHT is. As the structure of the crystals change with voltage, so does their ability to refract light and 'select' a spectrum of 'color'. Much like millions of little prisms angled just right as to produce an image. If the prisms get 'stuck', then you have LCD Image Persistence.
How do you propose the back-light aids in this process, when its only purpose is to provide more light to the 'Prisms' making it more Visible?

OK, well no harm in trying I guess. I wonder why iDVD affects the screen that way? I use Disk Utility to do all sorts of disk related things and my screen will stay black.

I'm going to put my two cents in on screen persistance or burn-in. I have seen this in LCD displays, but I've also seen where "exercising" the pixels gets rid of it, at least temporarily.

On a side note, what about saving energy? A long time ago (OS 9 days) a screen saver designer made the statement that an all white screen saver saves battery power on a laptop with an LCD compared to all black. Apparently, on an LCD, a white pixel has less electrical power passing through it than a colored pixel.

There is probably a reason that this won't work for you, but what about the " Computer Name" screensaver. Have you looked at how resource hungry it is? Doesn't seem like it could be using that much processing power. And on another note, and I haven't used the latest version of iDvd, but I've found the quality of iDvd created discs to be inferior to that of a disc made using an app like toast. Though I am using compressor to do the actual encoding and just letting toast handle the burn. If its an option for you give it a look.

Based on my experience, I don't think that it is disk related things, but rather Quicktime compression related things. When I use iMovie '08 to publish video the same thing happens. I've submitted it as a bug to Apple, I suggest that you do the same me-luv-mac.

And now to address some of the more egregious bits of misinformation in this thread:

chabig -> LCDs are NOT transistors! LCDs are driven by matrices of transistors but that does not make them synonymous with transistors.

DeltaMac -> Backlights have nothing to do with image persistence! Image persistence is a result of prolonged application of voltage to the liquid crystal causing persistent uncoiling of the nematic helix.

me-luv-mac -> LCD operation is not dependent upon refraction but rather optical activity. The birefringent medium of the LCD causes a rotation in the polarization of the light incident on the back of the LCD from the backlight. The amount of rotation can be "tuned" by applying a voltage to the LCD which causes the crystal helix to uncoil. Oppositely aligned polarizers determine how much light passes through the LCD assembly (although some light always leaks through).

The general structure of an LCD assembly is as follows (note that I am leaving out a lot of specifics here):

Reflector -> Backlight -> Diffuser(s) -> Collimator(s) -> {Polarizer -> Liquid Crystal -> Colour Filters -> Polarizer}

The {...} part is typically sandwiched into one glass assembly.

Respectfully, please do a little more reading about LCDs before getting into a pointless debate about things you don't understand. Other people may read your posts above and naively take them as gospel since they are on a help forum with generally knowledgeable people.

On the subject of image persistence, LCDs do "suffer" from image persistence. However, I would argue that the effect is extremely minor - so much so, that I don't bother worrying about it. I have yet to notice any detrimental effects on any of my screens.

That sounds like a its due to a difference between Compressor and iDVD, not a difference between Toast and iDVD.

Disk Utility is great, I use it all the time, but we all know it doesn't make Pro. Menus. I agree quality can be poor depending on the source format. My Solution is VisualHub. When I made my first erroneous DVD (funny glitch in the Video, good audio though) I read somewhere that iDVD's 'favorite' source format is DV (NTSC, PAL). IF you have large hard drives, then use VisualHub to convert 'your' .avi/misc. video to DV (about 30 minutes for a standard movie). A 1.8Gb .avi movie turns into around 17Gb! Then use the DV in iDVD and burn the .img (iDVD/finder/file/save as image). Test it. And get rid of that giant DV. Then you can burn as many copies as you like with DiskUtility.