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 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.