Isn't mpv a more modern and maintained mplayer fork? Mplayer was my go-to for many many years, starting in the early 2000s, but I switched at one point and can't remember why. What do you prefer about mplayer?

If I recall correctly, for a brief time mplayer disappeared from Debian. At the time I evaluated various alternatives and mpv was one of them, but I switched back to mplayer as soon as it made its way back to the distribution. For me, mplayer is the standard media player. I guess I just don't see any reason to switch to mpv or to any other player.

I see no reason to cling to mplayer/mplayer2, mpv has pushed things forward from there.

mplayer is what I used to use ages ago, can't think of a single thing I miss that it did which mpv doesn't. Like you, I was introduced to mpv through the debian disappearance, and it's been fine. Forks can be necessary to keep development active; it's one of the core features of FOSS.

mplayer has DVD menu support, mpv doesn't. I use Kodi if I need to navigate DVD menus these days, which is rare but it happens...

I used played for 20+ years but moved to mpv recently as I ran into a couple of things player won’t work with.

Struggling to see the benefit of mplayer over mpv today.

mpv is an active mplayer fork.