Update 18/11/23
After upgrading my Laptop to one with a M1 processor I was finally able to run the HAL 9000 4K screensaver – which looked amazing and was using Savehollywood to randomly play the videos. All brilliant until that is I upgrade my OS. The the first thing to break whenever I do aMAC upgrade (and the first thing I like to fix) is ALWAYS my HAL screensaver. To cut a very long and boring story short, I’ve just updated to Sonoma OS 14.1.1 and you guessed it – FFS – where’s HAL?
Anyways – here’s the fix: Aerial – a free and open-source Mac screen saver. Follow the instructions and put the videos in a your user/shared folder. If you get stuck, drop me a line.
A graphic recreation of the computer from the film 2001: a space odyssey – The HAL Project 4K Remaster release
I can’t tell you how excited I was to find the 4K re-release of Joe’s epic HAL 9000 Project. Basically ever since I can remember, I’ve had a HAL screensaver – the moment I found it – I installed it. Although, admittedly I’ve never actually managed to watch Space Odyssey 2001 all the way through without falling asleep! However, I have always been in love with the special effects which manage to hypnotise me every time I watch any clips.
How to install The HAL Project 4K Remaster…
So having watched a few of Joe’s videos on his youtube channel (which is now the only official place to find The HAL Project ) and fallen asleep into a blissful like coma, I set about looking for instructions on how to install the new screensaver. After digging around for instructions and after being initially disappointed I stumbled upon a proper fluffy fix, which for now seems to be the best and only way to get a screen saver onto your computer. If anyone knows better then please let me know via the comments below.
Basically use 4K Video Downloader (or similar – I ended up snapdownloader) to grab the 86 clips from from Joe’s YouTube channel and then to display them (randomly) as a screensaver install, Savehollywood for Mac or videoscreensaver for Windows to play the videos randomly. I downloaded .movs @ 4k. This seems to be the best way to get HAL up and running for the moment. There are many different versions of the videos to download, including long play versions where all the clips are edited together, dark mode versions, versions with and without sound, versions with flat graphics, or with a glow effect, there are also a few aspect ratios and resolutions to choose from. Joe’s work is incredible.
I ended up downloading the lowest resolution possible, sorry Joe but my 2015 macbook pro struggles with full screen 4K on two monitors – so I went super low-rent and converted to 480p – I kinda like the low res retro pixels you get and so does my laptop. I have no idea whether playing video loops on your computer as screensaver is a good idea for your graphics card or not. But I don’t care – I am just so happy to have HAL back. Each time he appears, I smile to myself and feel a little bit of healthy respect and fear for my computer.
Joe offers all of his work for FREE – however you can always donate to Joe if you want to.
I am so excited to see someone has actually done this. I got screenshots of all the static screens last year, which was a nightmare to name/categorise but I never got around to figuring out how to create a screensaver with the assets.
I was a long time user/supporter of the project and every so often, I’d attempt to start looking into how to get the old screensaver working. So this is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!
Also, I can’t recommend reading or listening to the audiobook for 2001. It was written along side the movie, and while the movie can be a bit of a monolith, the book is awesome!
thanks – works great however there is no option with video screensaver to extend the screen saver across multiple displays. I can only get one monitor to display the screen saver – my second monitor just blanks while the videos are running.
I can see from your pics that you have two independent HAL screens running concurrently, which looks great. Any ideas on how to fix this issue? thanks
Hey John – I have a folder with multiple HAL videos in it. Then I just used the Aerial screensaver and picked the folder. No other special settings. It’s just a guess but maybe if you only have one video both screens can’t use it simultaneously? Let me know if you get it working.