diff --git a/samples/cpp/cvstarter.cpp b/samples/cpp/cvstarter.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d6330b22f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/samples/cpp/cvstarter.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+/*
+ * cvstarter.cpp
+ *
+ *  Created on: Nov 23, 2010
+ *      Author: Ethan Rublee
+ *
+ * A starter sample for using opencv, load up a list or get a video stream
+ * 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] << " image_list.yaml\n"
+      << "\tThis is a starter sample, to get you up and going in a copy pasta fashion\n"
+      << "\tTry running imagelist_creator to generate a list of images\n"
+      << "\tOr try running this with an integer arg like:\n\n" << av[0] << " 0\n"
+      << "\tThis will open up the video device." << 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 videoProcess(VideoCapture& capture)
+{
+
+  namedWindow("video",CV_WINDOW_KEEPRATIO); //resizable window;
+  Mat frame;
+  for (;;)
+  {
+    capture >> frame;
+    if (frame.empty())
+      continue;
+    imshow("video",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 imageListProcess(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
+  }
+  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))
+  {
+    int ad = atoi(arg.c_str());
+    VideoCapture capture(ad);
+    return videoProcess(capture);
+  }
+  else
+  {
+    return imageListProcess(imagelist);
+  }
+
+  return 0;
+}