The best option for video decoding simply is Intel graphical chipsets, which
are integrated to their CPUs. If we are talking about a desktop computer with
an Intel CPU, just remove the AMD/ATI video card for better performances, 3D
acceleration and a lesser energy consumption!
If you stick to the AMD/ATI card, you can easily get a newer kernel and a
newer graphical stack with Trisquel 6.0 (those back-ported from Ubuntu
13.10). Try to install the following packages (e.g., with the Synaptic
package manager) and reboot:
linux-generic-lts-saucy
libegl1-mesa-lts-saucy
libgles1-mesa-lts-saucy
libgles2-mesa-lts-saucy
xserver-xorg-lts-saucy
For Debian, well, ask on Debian's forum...
