diff -Naur MPlayer-0.90rc3/libvo/vo_vesa.c  MPlayer-0.90rc3-fixvesa/libvo/vo_vesa.c
--- MPlayer-0.90rc3/libvo/vo_vesa.c	2003-01-05 11:30:39.000000000 +0000
+++ MPlayer-0.90rc3-fixvesa/libvo/vo_vesa.c	2003-01-28 23:13:57.000000000 +0000
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
 
+#include <errno.h>
 
 #include "video_out.h"
 #include "video_out_internal.h"
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@
 #include "fastmemcpy.h"
 #include "sub.h"
 #include "linux/vbelib.h"
+#include "linux/vt.h"
 #include "bswap.h"
 #include "aspect.h"
 #include "vesa_lvo.h"
@@ -995,6 +997,30 @@
     // not inited
     if (!init_state) return;
     vesa_term();
+
+    /* Apparently the only way to unblanking the screen after a "vesa" playback
+       is to switch console, so this patch makes use of the ioctl system call
+       to switch back and forth from a second console. Of course this patch won't
+       work if the system has only one active console */
+    int fb_tty_fd=-1;
+    int other_tty_index=-1;
+    struct vt_stat vesa_stat;
+    char *tty = "/dev/tty";
+    if ((fb_tty_fd = open(tty, O_RDWR)) < 0) {  
+      printf("notice: Can't open %s: %s\n", tty, strerror(errno));
+    }
+    if (ioctl(fb_tty_fd, VT_GETSTATE, &vesa_stat)) {
+      printf("Can't get VSCREENINFO: %s\n", strerror(errno));
+    }
+    other_tty_index = (vesa_stat.v_active == 2) ? 1 : 2;
+    if (ioctl(fb_tty_fd, VT_ACTIVATE, other_tty_index)) {
+      printf("Can't get VSCREENINFO: %s\n", strerror(errno));
+    }
+    if (ioctl(fb_tty_fd, VT_ACTIVATE, vesa_stat.v_active)) {
+      printf("Can't get VSCREENINFO: %s\n", strerror(errno));
+    }
+    close(fb_tty_fd);
+    
     if(verbose > 2)
         printf("vo_vesa: uninit was called\n");
 }