Screensaver coming on while watching videos -- is this normal?

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Level 1

34 points

Screensaver coming on while watching videos -- is this normal?

I am experiencing continuous occurrences of the screensaver coming on while I'm watching YouTube videos.

It isn't preceded by the usual screen darkening that occurs when there is no keyboard, etc. activity. It just happens right in the middle of a video -- suddenly the picture disappears, the screen darkens and the screensaver comes on, and continues until I tap a key.

Is this somehow 'normal'? If not, does anyone have an educated idea what may be causing it?

Thanks.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 1.83 MHz

Posted on Feb 9, 2009 1:47 AM

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Answer 1

Ed Hanna

Level 4

1,240 points

Feb 11, 2009 6:02 AM in response to dymar

I think your question's really about the intention of the OS designers—about which we are discouraged from speculating or commenting here—in setting up the screensaver. In OSX the traditional anti-burnin purpose of screensavers has been supplemented by the security fetish—masking your 'puter when it's unattended (see the password option in the saver preferences) It seems to me that the design thinking was focussed on no one at the keyboard, triggered either by user action (hot corner) or user inactivity (the time setting).

So it would be quite appropriate for it to activate during a long code compile when the user might wander off. One might think that watching a movie, though identical to the compile from a machine POV, would have been an obvious exception to provide for, but it seems it wasn't for them. So one gives up either the time-activated security, or watching movies. You might use the Feedback link to draw this drawback to Apple's attention. SnowLeopard doesn't exhaust the cat family, and by the time they release HouseCat, OSX might actually be domesticated.

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Answer 2

dymar Author

Level 1

34 points

Feb 10, 2009 9:51 AM in response to BDAqua

BDAqua wrote:
No, not normal, try this...

Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, then Reset Launch Services...

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/resetlaunchservices.html

Reboot.

Thanks. Unless I'm misunderstanding, the information on that xlab.com page doesn't really seem relevant to the problem I'm experiencing. What is the procedure you recommend intended to do in terms of dealing with the screensaver coming on while videos are playing, etc.?

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Answer 3

dymar Author

Level 1

34 points

Feb 11, 2009 8:07 AM in response to Ed Hanna

Ed Hanna wrote:
One might think that watching a movie, though identical to the compile from a machine POV, would have been an obvious exception to provide for, but it seems it wasn't for them. So one gives up either the time-activated security, or watching movies. You might use the Feedback link to draw this drawback to Apple's attention.

Thanks. I'll send the feedback, as you suggest. I had actually already called AppleCare and was told that this should not be happening (i.e., regardless of the screensaver 'setting' in Preferences), so I think I'll also stop by my local Apple Store and discuss it with someone there.

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Feb 9, 2009 2:02 AM in response to dymar

Hi Dymar,

No, not normal, try this...

Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, then Reset Launch Services...

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/resetlaunchservices.html

Reboot.

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Answer 5

Feb 9, 2009 5:39 AM in response to dymar

When watching long videos, movies or doing hard drive backups, I use the freeware utility Caffeine - a tiny program that puts an icon in the right side of your menu bar. Click it to prevent your Mac from automatically going to sleep, dimming the screen or starting screen savers. Click it again to go back. Download at http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/

 Cheers, Tom 😉

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Answer 6

Feb 9, 2009 10:10 PM in response to dymar

Go to System Preferenes/Desktop&ScreenSaver and then click the ScreenSaver tab. Where it says:
Start screen saver... move the slider over to a point where it can't interfere with the videos you're watching. You can select Never.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 7

dymar Author

Level 1

34 points

Feb 10, 2009 9:55 AM in response to Texas Mac Man

Texas Mac Man wrote:
When watching long videos, movies or doing hard drive backups, I use the freeware utility Caffeine - a tiny program that puts an icon in the right side of your menu bar. Click it to prevent your Mac from automatically going to sleep, dimming the screen or starting screen savers. Click it again to go back. Download at http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/

Thanks. I know about Caffeine for preventing screen dimming while watching videos, but isn't it the case that if the computer is working properly, regardless of the screen saver setting, the screen saver should never be triggered while a video is actually in progress?

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Answer 8

dymar Author

Level 1

34 points

Feb 10, 2009 9:58 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Carolyn Samit wrote:
Go to System Preferenes/Desktop&ScreenSaver and then click the ScreenSaver tab. Where it says:
Start screen saver... move the slider over to a point where it can't interfere with the videos you're watching. You can select Never.

Thanks. Perhaps that will work. But am I mistaken to think that if nothing is wrong with the computer I shouldn't have to set the screensaver to 'Never' in order to prevent it from kicking in while there's computer activity, including videos being played?

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Answer 9

Limnos

Level 10

428,339 points

Feb 10, 2009 10:01 AM in response to dymar

isn't it the case that if the computer is working properly, regardless of the screen saver setting, the screen saver should never be triggered while a video is actually in progress?

I know what you're saying, but don't have an answer. I don't know what the system regards as activity, but it's possible that the browser simply being open and displaying something is not counted as activity. I have even had the computer go to sleep on me when doing a long encoding process despite both processors working to nearly full capacity.

YouTube videos only last a maximum of 10 minuts I believe. You must have your saver on a tight leash.

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Answer 10

Feb 10, 2009 10:17 AM in response to dymar

"But am I mistaken to think that if nothing is wrong with the computer I shouldn't have to set the screensaver to 'Never' in order to prevent it from kicking in while there's computer activity, including videos being played?"

Yes. Set the Screen Saver so it won't automatically come on after a certain amount of time like while you are watching videos.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 11

dymar Author

Level 1

34 points

Feb 11, 2009 7:55 AM in response to Limnos

Limnos wrote:
it's possible that the browser simply being open and displaying something is not counted as activity.
YouTube videos only last a maximum of 10 minuts I believe. You must have your saver on a tight leash.

Thanks. Most YouTube videos are under 10 minutes, but I've recently run across some (mostly lectures/speeches, academic & otherwise) which for some reason aren't segmented. But having a screensaver kick in under 10 minutes isn't really "a tight leash," is it?

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