How to tell if NEON processor is enabled and helping my programs?

[GuyWithDogs]

I'm trying out one of  https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/ Ubuntu builds on a BeagleBone Black to see how media plays. It's a whole new experience trying to get this to work. 

I've managed to get ffplay and Mplayer to play a video. Can't get VLC to actually do more than show first frame of the video.

Is there some way I can tell whether the OS version I'm using has the NEON processor support enabled? Similarly, is there some way to tell within these applications, or in "top" or a similar app, that the NEON processor is indeed being actively used?

My main focus is trying to determine how well video can be played from the SD card.