Question About Multimedia Player VLC - Windows Media Player - Etc.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Hopefully this is easy to understand, but a long time ago(I'd estimate 6-7 years) my grandfather had a video capture card in his PC.Now the feature that I liked about his program(I'm completely unsure if it was just software, or if it came with the card) is that you could put the video you were streaming into the foreground of your PC, but in a ghost-like way.More or less you could have like...This web browser up. And over on top of it, but see through, would be the video. So that you could do other things while watching your video full screen.And now, I'm looking for something like that but that will play video files(WMV, dvd's, etc.). I want to be able to watch stuff full-screen while doing other stuff online.So does anyone happen to know of any programs capable of that? Free or paid is okay. I would also like a walkthrough as to how to set it up.So far I've tried Windows Media Video, VLC player, and a few dvd-specialized programs but none of them allow me to do the see-through video. Most will allow you to "force" it to the top, but that does no good if I can't see behind it, .So hopefully one of you understands what I'm looking for, and can help me.Thanks in advance.

[rvalkass 5]

KDE4 allows you to make windows partially transparent by scrolling the scroll wheel over the title bar of the window. So, you can use any video player you like (my personal choice is MPlayer), and make it partially transparent. That should work OK for what you want to do.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

By making the window transparent, would it also allow for clicking through the window? More or less so that I can browse as normal, just with the video overlay here. Most programs that allow you to make things transparent won't allow click-throughs.

[truefusion 3]

By making the window transparent, would it also allow for clicking through the window?

Rather than having the video on top of all other windows and transparent, lower the media player to the bottom (i.e. "Keep Below Others", under the Advanced menu—in KDE4) and just have the windows on top transparent. That way you'll not only be able to watch the video but also use the program(s) above it. Since, if i remember correctly, you have Vista, i suppose it is safe to assume you have a graphics card that supports 2D acceleration and compositing, so you shouldn't experience any lag if the drivers for the card are good.
However, this isn't really limited to KDE4, but KDE4 doesn't require the installation of Compiz-Fusion.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Yeah, I'm on Vista now, although it took me over a year to finally drop down to it. I still prefer XP due to speed, but it's turning into a necessary evil. I'm getting used to it.As for my video card, I'm using an 8800GT right now.And for the record, listening to your idea kind of makes me think that's what my grandfather had done before...I seem to faintly remember him having the video as like the background of his PC so that it was always up no matter what, rather than in the foreground as I was thinking.I will definitely attempt this and let you know how it goes! Wondering how this would work for games too...(Play games while watching a movie, like when you're doing a game where all you do is just heal or something, and don't really need to be able to see your screen all that well).

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Hey guys, I did more research into exactly what I was looking for, based on what you were saying.

I ended up finding this program, and it works very well for what I wanted. It's almost 2 MB's, but easy to use.

/legacy

Thanks again for your help. If it weren't for your ideas I wouldn't have known really what to look for!

(For the record, as I type this right now I have a video playing in the background and the browser at 70% transparency, )