I am using Crystal Player and I'm satisfied with it.
Great features,small size.

VLC is the best video player ever!

Its only a few MB in size and can play any video format, never stalls: D

Media player classic is the most compact player ever I think. You don't even have to play it. If someone has problems with drivers then I always recommend mp classic, it solves the problems almost always.

Blazr wrote:VLC is the best video player ever!

Its only a few MB in size and can play any video format, never stalls: D

I couldn't agree more! We only use VLC at my school to view movies and clips that students has made.
And it's easy to add subtitles to VLC too, so that's a big plus!

I have three players installed on my PC
Winamp
Windows Media Player
Real Player.
Of these, I use Winamp most frequently though I wouldn't say that it is the best, but I find it easy to use.

In order to save your troubles, i think the best way is to download the all in one codec and then play with the embedded media player classic software. You can you use the player to play all kind of movies, so, it is the best player with full codecs.