I've noticed that VLC plays video exceptionally well even though NVIDIA refuses to compile their drivers for Linux/PPC, and that so on a 700MHz iMac. How is this implemented, and why isn't it implemented in X (or is it?)?.
VLC does HW-acceleration without NVIDIA-drivers?
Archived thread 102444 from x86 64-bit Users (Pre April '08). Markdown source: x86_64-bit_Users_(Pre_April_'08)/thread_102444_VLC_does_HW-acceleration_without_NVIDIA-drivers.md
The nVidia drivers are only for 3D acceleration. Most of the usual 2D stuff is supported directly by X. That, and the fact that VLC has some nifty altivec optimizations means that it should play most videos well.