@Linux @debacle I do have libdvd-pkg installed from contrib (on some machines), so I do have some non-free media codecs, but I don't think I've ever seen them causing issues.
As for the reoccurring issues, I'd have a hard time calling them issues, since the only thing I have to do to see them solved is wait a few days, and they only happen on testing when packages are going through a transition.
For sure they aren't a reason to avoid doing dist-upgrades as a regular and frequent practice.
And they don't happen at all when using stable, or even stable + backports.