1. prepare your video files for Ben:

Use ffmpeg2theora or ffmpeg with vp8, vorbis, mkv.

When using theora, try to use a video width and height that are a multiple of
16.  Currently theora decoding displays strange borders, if size is not a
multiple of 16.

Try to use an audio sampling rate of 44100 for the vorbis audio.  If the
automatic resampling of the alsa OSS emulation is triggered, quality degrades
a lot.  Alternatively use 'mplayer -af resample=44100:1:1' on playback.

For encoding try to use libtheora 1.2 ("ptalarbvorm") which improves visual
qality a lot compared to previous versions.  Always encode with
constant-quality *not* giving a bitrate target.

Here's an example encoding command:

ffmpeg2theora  -o output.ogv input.avi \
	       -v8 -x320 -y176 \
	       -a0 --channels 2  --samplerate 44100 

Yielding a pretty high visual quality (-v8 i.e. "80%").  Use -v6 for
approximately half the bitrate with moderate quality.

2. play your files with Ben:

mplayer output.ogv

In case sample rate doesn't match 48000 the default will be to perform quick
resampling, introducing noticeable quality degradation.  Add -af
resample=44100:0:1 to improve audio quality at the cost of a few percent of
CPU usage.

(Assumptions:

the following options should be set in your ~/.mplayer/config:

volume=10
vo=cvidix
screenw=320
screenh=240
fs=1
ac=tremor
quiet=1
)