SOLVED- stuttering audio for some HDTV programs

[indulis]

I was getting weird audio stuttering and freezes during LMCE playing *some* recorded HDTV programs.  These would play fine using Mythtv or normal Xine, so I knew it was not hardware or the linux or alsa configs.

Anyway, I had to change /etc/pluto/xine.conf line from
   audio.alsa_front_device:plughw:0
to
  audio.alsa_front_device:default

This cured the problem.

[indulis]

Wrong wrong wrong.  That will teach me to depart from "scientific method".  I had forgotten that I had also increased the Media Station's deinterlace quality to "high".  In the end this was the problem.  Anythign higher than medium causes audio problems.