MPlayer problem as plugin

[Steven Feinstein <stevefeinstein@netscape.net>]

I'm trying to set my machine up for viewing video over the web.  I read that
one of the best options is to use mplayer.  I found a web site with debs
for mplayer and I installed it along with various windows codecs and a
quicktime codec.

It plays fine from the command prompt and from the GUI.  But I can't seem to
get it to do anything from within the web browser.  What I see is a box
with the text:
mplayerplug-in Loading movie...

Nothing happens.  I tried turning the gui on in the plugin config file. 
That brought up the mplayer gui, but I still got nothing as far as the
video goes.

Does anyone have any ideas?  Is there a better option (since Debian does not
currently support mplayer, what should I be using and how to set it up).

My machine is running Sarge with packages last updated on 9/1.

Thanks for any help,

Steve