Best Linux playback of h264

[ckjnigel]

I'd like to know whether Debian or Gentoo -based distros make it easier to compile optimized codecs. My immediate choice is between SIDUX and Sabayon.
I've been disappointed by how far inferior to ffdshow quality the Linux playback of h264 videos is; I had Ubuntu 64-bit Feisty and Gutsy. What comes with VLC is better than the stuttering playback using the old codecs from Ubuntu's non-free universe, but VLC doesn't have the pan/scan and image adjustment abilities I'm used to. Perhaps there are more control options in 0.9 VLC Linux betas?
What do you experts use and like? I had seen instructions from someone in domain .RU for compiling from CVS, GIT, SVN, faad (whatever the terms are) 64-bit builds of codecs... but I lost the URL.

[nm]

MPlayer is your best bet when you need performance and like to fiddle with filters. Compiling the latest SVN version is quite simple, so any distribution will do fine. MPlayer is also faster than VLC, even without tuning the parameters.

For those who prefer a GUI to control the player, there are many frontends (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/projects.html) available, but one still needs to read the documentation (http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/info.html#docs) (esp. the manual page) to use advanced features and filters.

When you are talking about codecs, I assume you mean the FFmpeg/libavcodec library used by the media player of your choice, probably through the GStreamer or libxine frameworks? In case you prefer that player to MPlayer, building an up-to-date version of the backend library will probably bring more performance -- at least if the backend is libxine.