Video backgrounds and blends

When you’re done, your screen will play real footage behind your name. Use one clip, or a set of clips that fade between each other while you play.

Pick a video

Before you startVideo backgrounds is included on Creator and up. Compare plans.

Search the built-in library. You do not need to source or host anything yourself, and the clips are free to use.

  1. Open Display settings and choose the Visuals tab.
  2. Switch the background type to Video.
  3. Search for something, or browse the categories. Try words for the mood rather than the object — “smoke”, “neon”, “crowd” work better than a genre name.
  4. Star the ones you like. Favourites stay put, so you can build a shortlist over time instead of searching again at every gig.

Check it workedThe preview should be playing footage behind your name. Watch one full loop before you settle on it.

Choosing footage that works

  • Dark and slow beats bright and fast. Your name has to sit on top of this. Busy footage buries it.
  • Avoid anything with people’s faces. A room reads faces before it reads text, and you want them reading your name.
  • Watch a full loop. Some clips have an obvious jump at the loop point that is invisible in a five-second preview and maddening over an hour.

Blends

Before you startBlends is included on Performer and up. Compare plans.

A blend is a short playlist. Pick a few clips and the screen crossfades between them on a timer. A four-hour set never sits on one loop all night.

  1. In the Visuals tab, switch the background type to Blend.
  2. Add clips. A handful is plenty — the point is variety, not a slideshow.
  3. Set how long each one holds before it fades to the next.

Check it workedLeave the preview running past your hold time. You should see one clip fade into the next rather than cut.

Longer holds feel more deliberate. A change every few minutes reads as a considered visual; a change every twenty seconds reads as a screensaver.

If it didn’t work

The video option is missing. Video backgrounds start at Creator, and blends at Performer.

It stutters on the venue’s wi-fi. Load the screen before doors, let a full loop play once, then leave it. After that it runs from the device.

The clip went black mid-set. Usually the connection dropped mid-download. Switch to a pattern for the rest of the night — patterns need nothing from the network.

Last updated 2026-08-01