I’d like to be able to take short videos (usually scenic vistas) and have the option of displaying them as the screen saver on my Mac – currently running Sequoia. (The macOS version is a key factor in what options one has for doing this.) I only want to display the video – I have no interest in the screen saver playing audio.
I’ve done some research on it, which I’ll summarize below; but I’m curious if the TidBITs community has suggestions that I haven’t run across.
Here’s the options I’ve encountered:
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SaveHollywood (https://savehollywood.macupdate.com/): This apparently does exactly what I want – allows you to select a video to play as a screen saver. SaveHollywood appears as a Mac screen saver you can select; when you select it, a dialog appears to let you choose the video you want to play.
However, SaveHollywood apparently hasn’t been updated forever, and (according to Reddit) won’t play on Sequoia or later macOS versions.
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Wallper (https://www.wallper.app/): Wallper lets you choose from an online library of custom “live wallpapers” (i.e., animated) for your Mac. Very polished, and seems to be well-designed to work within macOS’s guidelines of how live wallpapers – and screen savers – are used.
It also has an option to select a video, and make it a custom live wallpaper. AND, it can also use this custom live wallpaper as a screen saver and lock screen (i.e., what I want to do). BUT:
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These features only work for macOS 26 (Tahoe) and later.
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And it would appear to require that your custom video would be your wallpaper, as well as your screen saver. I’m looking for something allowing a custom video to be the screen saver only, independent of the wallpaper. (I prefer static photos for my wallpapers.)
(That said, having played with Wallper on Sequoia, I can see that it allows you to choose which monitors are used with the live wallpaper. Maybe I can select the custom video as the live wallpaper, and make it the screensaver, but not enable it as the live wallpaper for both of my monitors.)
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Assuming I migrate my Mac Studio to Golden Gate sometime late this year or early next year, I will give Wallper a full test, and let you know how it goes. If anyone with Tahoe is using Wallper, I’d be very curious to hear of your experience with it!
Anyway, those are the only options I’ve found. Does anyone else have other suggestions for custom videos as screen savers, for Macs running Sequoia or later?