Im using openSUSE 11.1, Gnome desktop for a while and I have this problem. When I activate my desktop effect(compiz) its working fine but if I watch a movie with mplayer(smaplayer) and I close the player the compiz stop working. The box in desktop effect manager is still checked but no effects. After restart the effects are on again. My video card is an ati radeon x1650 and ive instaled the latest drivers they provide on their web site. I dont want to change my video player with another, if it is posible i wanna use smplayer and the compiz at the same time else ill will not use the compiz anymore . Im sorry for my english.
I updated to compiz 0.8.2 and solved one problem. The effect its working after I close the player but when i maximize and minimize the player its freazing the image (the movie stop) but the sound is still playing.
Try going into the SMPlayer preferences and under the General Category in the Video tab, change the Output driver to something other than xv such as gl (fast-ATI cards).
Ive changed my smplayer output video options but i have the same problem. Ill accept that my graphic card with smplayer and compiz are not compatible and stop trying to use compiz any more.
Thank you for your time