I am raising this issue in a new topic as I am now sure that this is unrelated to Sony TVs or DLNA.
I am now convinced that this stuttering problem is nothing to do with streaming or DLNA settings. It appears to be a fundamental problem with ffmpeg or, potentially, an incompatibility between Windows Media Center .dvr-ms files and ffmpeg. It may or may not also be related to 50Hz PAL land. The problem also occurs with downloaded .avi files.
Just to be clear, the stuttering is a jumpiness in the video at about 5 jumps per second. The resulting video is unwatchable.
I have been using the ffmpeg version supplied with MC in a command line situation, converting .dvr-ms files to MPEG2 .mpg files. I have experimented with many of the ffmpeg switches and parameters and nothing has resolved the stutter.
I remembered that I had DVRMSToolbox installed on one of my PCs. This uses ffmpeg. I used it to convert the files and the result was a huge improvement. The stutter was completely gone. There was still some noise in the picture, especially around high contrast areas but that is a separate issue. This DVRMSToolbox ffmpeg version is dated 07/08/2007.
I have downloaded several other versions of ffmpeg but none works as well as this 2007 one.
I hope this will help you find a resolution for this problem. I am very frustrated as one of my main reasons for going for MC was to get a well thought out DLNA solution. I am surprised that nobody else in PAL Land has reported this issue.
Nick.