Stuttering sound when playing AVI's

The same files played fine with whatever application I used a month ago:

Windows Media Player
Nero Showtime
Ulead VideoStudio 6.02 SE
Nero VisionExpress 2.0

Now, the sound is screwy in everything but Nero VisionExpress 2.0. In
the interim I swapped out my Santa Cruz soundcard (was using the analog
audio to my AV receiver), for my Hercules GTXP soundcard, and I'm using
the digital coaxial output to my AV receiver. The other audio stuff from
my Windows 2000 SP4 machine sounds OK, but AVI files sound weird. It
sounds different in Nero Showtime than Windows Media Player. Nero
Showtime, you hear a little bit every 1/2 second or so, in WMP it's just
stuttering, real quick, with a secondary volume modulation with a
frequency of about 1 second. Funny thing is, I played one of these files
in WPM a few minutes ago and it sounded OK, but now every AVI I play in
it sounds stuttery (fast stutter). When I try to play them in Nero
VisionExpress 2.0, they sound fine! A reboot is no help.

This might be a clue: In Nero Showtime, the files play in slow motion
(about half speed). The speed seems approximately correct in Windows
Media Player and Ulead VideoStudio 6.02 SE, but very stuttery. Any idea
what's up here? Thanks!!!

Dan

OK, I guess I figured it out. Playback preferred device was my Total
Recorder application. Changing that to the GTXP seems to have fixed
things.