ionmich, the package mplayer has a new fork called mplayer2 and a file that allows the use of mplayer2 as mplayer. I have switched to mplayer2 with no ill effects though I did read were oldcpu was sticking with the older program. I would also say that I have stuck with pulseaudio and have not changed it from the default. I have a bash script that might be helpful in trying to setup all of your multimedia properly called mmcheck. You can find the most recent version here in message #75:
MMCHECK - Check Your Multimedia in 10 Steps - Script File, as proposed by RedDwarf - Page 8
It is worth a try. I also use Kaffeine though I actually use the KDE3 version you can also get from Packman and I even get the default Kaffeine from Packman. I have noticed a few changes lately like mplayer2, but so far, everything is still working. Why not check out your setup with mmcheck and tell us what you found.
Thank You,