To build the package:
 Get the cvs version, or .tgz and uncompress it,
 cd into programs direcotry:
eyck@incubus:~/src$ cd main
eyck@incubus:~/src/main$ fakeroot debian/rules binary
 (... mplayer detects hardware/software, builds itself and.. )
 ..
 dpkg-deb: building package `mplayer' in `../mplayer_0.17a-1_i386.deb'.

And now just dpkg -i ../mplayer_0.17a-1_i386.deb

eyck@incubus:/src/main$ sudo dpkg -i ../mplayer_0.17a-1_i386.deb 
Password:
(Reading database ... 26946 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace mplayer 0.11pre-1 (using ../mplayer_0.17a-1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement mplayer ...
Setting up mplayer (0.17a-1) ...