MPlayer is the only player I use. MPlayer supports almost any format you may need; if you want to watch a movie or show episode it has simple ui that let you do exactly that and no more, so no distractions. If you want to work on more complex tasks involving audio or video MPlayer and MEncoder also offer powerful features that I prefer not to discuss but that I encourage you to read about them if you’re interested.

One thing that was bothering me is that when I was watching a movie and I was away from my computer I had to go near the laptop to do things like pause the video or change the volume level. I could avoid this using a wireless keyboard but I don’t want to buy one. However, I do own a wireless mouse and it would be great to be able to use it to control MPlayer. Continue reading →