Here is my mplayer configuration file, it's something I've been tweaking forever.. but.. it mostly works for the things I watch.
You might want to customize it to fit your requirements, most options have command-line equivalents.
Code:
# Write your default config options here!
vo=xv
double=yes
framedrop=yes
hardframedrop=no
# Post processing? can be buggy, but, can improve things in some cases.
#vf=pp
#autoq=80
# Use the native sndio API.
ao=sndio
# Volume normalization.
af=volnorm
# Auto-synchronization, fiddle with this if you have issues, 20 is a good value.
autosync=0
# Disable OSD/subtitles.
noautosub=yes
osdlevel=0
# Use an 8M cache, small but enough.
cache=8192
# If you use it, uncomment this line.
#stop-xscreensaver=yes
# Change if your primary device is different.
dvd-device=/dev/rcd0c
cdda:device=/dev/rcd0c
cdrom-device=/dev/rcd0c
# Reduced program verbosity.. but it breaks mplayerplug-in.
msglevel:all=0