Does anyone with XP have any experience with both K-Lite Codec Pack (full) and Vista Codec Package, is one more preferable over the other?
I have XP SP3 and used K-Lite for years, no problems. The Vista Codec says it's compatible with XP as well.

I've used K-Lite Mega Codec Pack for a long time, but then I switched to VLC Media Player for files Windows Media Player won't play.

I haven't tried Vista Codec Pack, but I can recommend K-Lite.

I've had K-Lite / K-lite full on XP with no issues but haven tried the vista one.

One I was wondering about is a windows 7 codec pack I've seen on a few sites...
not that I've needed one since installing VLC on win7.

So I'll stick with K-Lite for my XP. VLC sounds like a good app for Vista & W7.

Read this :
http://www.howtogeek.com/wiki/Why_Codec_Packs_Are_Bad

When said article becomes a reality and I can read it, then I'll do it. Till then I have absolutely no idea which codecs I need and which I don't.

Check out MPUI with MPlayer, it plays just about everything, doesn't technically need installed as in not registering file types in it just use Send To, and can be used portably. I think it's more stable than VLC too, albeit older.

Personally i use k-lite

yes vlc does contain all its own codecs and does not require any system libraries.which means it can play mostly anything. Which means all the codecs are older versions.

KMplayer ftw!!!!!!

Someone posted that on here a few months ago, and upon trying out the suggestion of ditching the codec packs some of the issues I had disappeared completely. I really think using a frontend for MPlayer such as MPUI, SMPlayer, etc., is the way to go since MPlayer will play just about anything.

Also already mentioned on the forums and in that article is that some codec packs are illegal, like K-Lite Mega because it includes a pro version of DivX which is commercial software.

Yeah but wouldn't they have been sued up the wazoo by now? Look at QT Alternative and Real Alternative. They've been around for years.