Should I Use Codecs Or VLC ?

I can imagine there are litterly hundred of people asking this same question. So today I ask you Video Gurus to tell me and us.

What is the best route to go when installing a new PC window 7 Codecs, Which can mess up your PC but give you precision control over image quality.

Or VLC which has all the codecs built into it that will allow you to play any video format you need right out of the box?

Im always wondering and Ive used both myself However I'm working on the "perfect" build and I do not want to install un-needed or troublesome applications.

I love the VLC ease of use, however I hate the player. No matter what I watch when I jump ahead I get tons of pixelations for 10-15 seconds afterwards.

Im not a dig deep into the guts guy either so installing Codecs and having to config every aspect of these when I have no idea what all the setting really means isn't fun either.

So lets hear what the "pros" here have to say on this question! If There is another application besides VLC please feel free to add it to the discussion.