Serge, I've been doing some experimentation and i've noticed that when i launch an xvid with :
mplayer filename.avi it will play i little slower than when i play through gmplauncher.
when i launch it with :
mplayer filename.avi > /dev/null (i think thats right command) it plays comparably to when launching with mplayer

If statistics make a noticable difference, is there an official command line option to disable them from being sent in the first place? Or would that require modifying each codec?

Also i noticed something weird... if i launch a 1080kbps xvid (with mp3 48000hz, 2ch) with no video using :
mplayer -vo null filename.avi > /dev/null uses up 100% of cpu most of the time...

That same xvid, launching without audio :
mplayer -nosound filename.avi > /dev/null can play high quality video essentially flawless... but also uses 100% of cpu

Although the video is a bit smoother, its not double the performance... and yet the cpu utilization (using load-applet in status bar) is virtually identical when running audio only, video only, or both.

Could the realtime statistics generated by mplayer/codecs be sucking up the extra free cpu time? Even though i redirect it to /dev/null the cpu has to sling those statics around right?