Sounds like a memory leak issue but im no expert. Did you use the latest bootloader? Dont know if it makes any difference but try flashing bootloader then 29/03/12 again guess its going to be a case of trail and error.
Mate, that's what I've thought for a while (memory leak), however, every now and then I see something that makes me think "maybe not".
For example, to confirm my last assumption about the breakup happening when MemFree drops below about 2500kB, if I was to play that recording on another machine that wouldn't have memory issues (eg my monster Server2008 machine, that I'm currently using to re-encode a whole load of files to m4v) then the recording should play faultlessly. However, that's not the case, so the recording is indeed screwed up. Which then leads me to believe that the logic for memory use when viewing a recording must be try and fill all available memory up to the last 3000kB with the recording stream (on both sides of the current "cursor" point) so that it's quicker to respond to fast forward, rewind, pause, etc. However, if a glitch occurs in the stream, try and adjust this buffer to get to the next "good" part of the stream.
Anyway, after a full system reboot after the new image change and with no plugins installed, the MemFree goes up to around 41000kB (the most I've seen before), and drops down to 3000kB when you go into any recordings. Interestingly, if you are watching a recording and then somehow exit back to a tuner without stopping the recording, the MemFree stays low. Go back into recordings and press the stop button, though, and the memory gets cleared up! :S
EDIT: I've just noticed that MemFree goes down to 3000kB or less when recordings are in progress, too - it was about 34000kB when on 1 channel with encryption, but then a timer recording kicked in (so not even viewing this channel at present!) and the MemFree has dropped to 3000kB or below. As mentioned before, this *could* be for buffering reasons, but it still seems very low to me.
I won't go on too much about memory without a developer of the system commenting, as I know from my iOS development that other factors can affect memory usage - eg in Mac OSX, you *may* see that you've got very little free memory, but it's because the memory is still kept active for closed applications in case you want to re-launch that application again. If however you need more memory for something else, then the OS will decide what to flush from recent memory to make way for the new demands. Anyway, my point is that I'm not sure if there's a similar mechanism in this box, whereby even though very little memory is free, it'll actually be freed up if something else needs it.
Did you use the latest bootloader? Dont know if it makes any difference but try flashing bootloader then 29/03/12 again guess its going to be a case of trail and error.
First time I've heard about needing to change the bootloader? How do you do this??