[vox-tech] mplayer technical background?

[Norm Matloff]

I use mplayer a lot, and it's great.  But I get the impression that I'm
only using 5% of its capability.  I would like to use more of it, and
also more of mencoder.

The problem is that I really don't have the technical background to 
read mplayer's documentation.  Terms like frames per second and seek are
obvious enough, but a lot of the other stuff, e.g. on interleaving, is a
mystery.  

Can anyone recommend a good source for learning the necessary
background, preferably on the Web?

Norm