So after getting bored with static wallpapers, I decided to try Wallpaper Engine for something a little different. Settled on a nice 4K animated wallpaper which looked great. After a day, I noticed power usage go up on Home Assistant for the PC's mains draw, more easily noticeable when the machine was at idle. After much faffing and then measuring, Wallpaper Engine was using an extra 70W (realise this will vary from machine to machine) just to run a desktop wallpaper! Needless to say, it's been removed with haste and I wondered if there's a smarter way to freshen up the desktop?
I think you can get Wallpaper Engine to use a video rather than an actively render a scene, which should help with power consumption when it is active. Also using the performance settings in Wallpaper Engine and the power settings in Windows, you should be set it so the wallpaper is paused/stopped when an application is maximised/full screen or the display is asleep. This would mean it is only consuming power when you can see it, which makes sense.
@wolfticket - Yep you're very correct! I had a scene that was being rendered, rather than a video. Problem is, the ones I really like to use (i.e. configurable ones) are all rendered scenes. @creative Thanks for the suggestion of Lively. Wasn't aware of this software but will give it a good trial run. Does seem to be all rendered wallpapers though, so may put me in the same predicament as WE does.
