MPlayer is a MediaPlayer for Linux and other unix-like OSes. It also runs on MicrosoftWindows using Cygwin.
MPlayer plays a huge number video formats, many using OpenSource CoDecs included with MPlayer (such as FFmpeg's libavcodec for MPEG 1, 2 and 4). Proprietary CoDecs such as RealPlayer RealMovie can be played by using their MicrosoftWindows DLLs and the avifile library (obviously this is less than optimal so use MPEG 4 or H.263 for all your DVD rips ;-)). MPlayer can play MP3 and OggVorbis, so you can also play video with sound encoded with those CoDecs. It's suboptimal for DVDs as it does not support DVD menus.
To get it to play some of these formats you will need to install extra software if you are running a LinuxDistribution such as DebianLinux - see AptSourcesList for example.
MPlayer also supports a wide range of output devices, video can be output to:
MPlayer has normal GUI, but can also be fully controlled from a remote control, keyboard, joystick or line-based protocol. Joystick might seem a bit useless, but you could use a wireless gamepad or a PlayStation2 console remote.
5 pages link to MPlayer:
