In response to point 4: You can install MPlayer rc2 (not version 2), and it will improve performance and fix some bugs. It will also help with Canola2's performance. However, I have noticed some cases in Canola2 where the program will get stuck in fullscreen mode and I will have to reboot, and I suspect that this problem is due to my mucking about with rc2, so I usually just stick to the basic MPlayer GUI to play videos. YMMV