diff --git a/samples/cpp/starter_imagelist.cpp b/samples/cpp/starter_imagelist.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9b39915e45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/samples/cpp/starter_imagelist.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+/*
+ * starter_imagelist.cpp
+ *
+ *  Created on: Nov 23, 2010
+ *      Author: Ethan Rublee
+ *
+ * A starter sample for using opencv, load up an imagelist
+ * that was generated with imagelist_creator.cpp
+ * easy as CV_PI right?
+ */
+#include <opencv2/opencv.hpp>
+#include <vector>
+
+using namespace cv;
+using namespace std;
+
+//hide the local functions in an unnamed namespace
+namespace
+{
+void help(char** av)
+{
+  cout << "usage:" << av[0] << " image_list.yaml\n"
+       << "\tThis is a starter sample, to get you up and going in a copy pasta fashion.\n"
+       << "\tThe program reads in an list of images from a yaml or xml file and displays\n"
+       << "one at a time\n"
+       << "\tTry running imagelist_creator to generate a list of images." << endl;
+
+}
+
+bool readStringList(const string& filename, vector<string>& l)
+{
+  l.resize(0);
+  FileStorage fs(filename, FileStorage::READ);
+  if (!fs.isOpened())
+    return false;
+  FileNode n = fs.getFirstTopLevelNode();
+  if (n.type() != FileNode::SEQ)
+    return false;
+  FileNodeIterator it = n.begin(), it_end = n.end();
+  for (; it != it_end; ++it)
+    l.push_back((string)*it);
+  return true;
+}
+
+int process(vector<string> images)
+{
+  namedWindow("image",CV_WINDOW_KEEPRATIO); //resizable window;
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < images.size(); i++)
+  {
+    Mat image = imread(images[i], CV_LOAD_IMAGE_GRAYSCALE); // do grayscale processing?
+    imshow("image",image);
+    cout << "Press a key to see the next image in the list." << endl;
+    waitKey(); // wait indefinitely for a key to be pressed
+  }
+  return 0;
+}
+
+}
+
+int main(int ac, char** av)
+{
+
+  if (ac != 2)
+  {
+    help(av);
+    return 1;
+  }
+  std::string arg = av[1];
+  vector<string> imagelist;
+
+  if (!readStringList(arg,imagelist))
+  {   
+    cerr << "Failed to read image list" << endl;
+    return 1;
+  }
+
+  return process(imagelist);
+}
diff --git a/samples/cpp/starter_video.cpp b/samples/cpp/starter_video.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1d8c3792e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/samples/cpp/starter_video.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/*
+ * starter_video.cpp
+ *
+ *  Created on: Nov 23, 2010
+ *      Author: Ethan Rublee
+ *
+ * A starter sample for using opencv, get a video stream and display the images
+ * easy as CV_PI right?
+ */
+#include <opencv2/opencv.hpp>
+#include <vector>
+
+using namespace cv;
+using namespace std;
+
+//hide the local functions in an anon namespace
+namespace {
+void help(char** av) {
+	cout << "usage:" << av[0] << " <video device number>\n"
+			<< "\tThis is a starter sample, to get you up and going in a copy pasta fashion\n"
+			<< "\tThe program captures frames from a camera connected to your computer.\n"
+			<< "\tTo find the video device number, try ls /dev/video* \n"
+			<< "\tYou may also pass a video file, like my_vide.avi instead of a device number"
+			<< endl;
+}
+
+int process(VideoCapture& capture) {
+	string window_name = "video | q or esc to quit";
+	cout << "press q or esc to quit" << endl;
+	namedWindow(window_name, CV_WINDOW_KEEPRATIO); //resizable window;
+	Mat frame;
+	for (;;) {
+		capture >> frame;
+		if (frame.empty())
+			continue;
+		imshow(window_name, frame);
+		char key = waitKey(5); //delay N millis, usually long enough to display and capture input
+		switch (key) {
+		case 'q':
+		case 'Q':
+		case 27: //escape key
+			return 0;
+		default:
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+}
+
+int main(int ac, char** av) {
+
+	if (ac != 2) {
+		help(av);
+		return 1;
+	}
+	std::string arg = av[1];
+	VideoCapture capture(arg); //try to open string, this will attempt to open it as a video file
+	if (!capture.isOpened()) //if this fails, try to open as a video camera, through the use of an integer param
+		capture.open(atoi(arg.c_str()));
+	if (!capture.isOpened()) {
+		cerr << "Failed to open a video device or video file!" << endl;
+		return 1;
+	}
+	return process(capture);
+}