One thing I loved about the “old” Quicktime was that you could watch a video at 1.3x speed or similar. That allowed you to get through material quicker. With Quicktime X the feature seems gone. Now macosxhints.com comes to the rescue.
“A simple hint for the new Quicktime X player. Clicking the fast forward button increases video playback speed to 2x, then 4x then 8x. 2x, however, is a bit fast to watch a video.
To increment by .1x, hold down Control and click fast forward. I find 1.3x speed works well, and is very watchable. This also works for reverse.” (link)
Thought I needed to share that. Saved my day today! 
