I've long been using VLC for its incredible support for a wide variety of types of video formats, but today I decided to give MPlayer Extended a whirl after getting frustrated over how VLC was taking an unusually long time to exit after having a large video loaded. I've also long been a bit disappointed that with many larger videos, VLC has trouble skipping ahead a significant portion into the playback. It is often very choppy when doing so for a few seconds before smoothing out and playing normally, though at times it has outright crashed.

In these respects, MPlayer absolutely shines for me. No stuttering when skipping ahead, and it opens/closes very smoothly. MPlayer has supported everything I've thrown at it with ease... mkv, m4v (with AC3 audio no less), mov, and more, and it doesn't even break a sweat with 720p. It does seem to be a bit lacking in some advanced options available in VLC, but that doesn't bother me in the least. It plays what I have and exceptionally smoothly with no hassles. I do believe this will not only be replacing VLC for me, but Quicktime as well.