[pkj]

>never had to download "random codecs" from "random codec packs"

Second that. I have had videos which couldn't be played on VLC (codecs or missing frames) play nicely with mplayer. Easily the best versatile player, especially if you are conversant with the command line options ( or take a quick look at man page).

[userulluipeste]

At least some time ago, for Windows there was a (main) installer that included the player and the most used codecs, and there also was available an additional package with the uncommon codecs. This is what I've got after a quick search: http://data.netfast.org/downloadse.html