Jumpy Audio / Video

Okay, here's my situation. I have a brand new Dell Inspiron N7010 laptop. It's completely up-to-date with drivers. It is Blu-ray capable and plays Blu-ray discs in full 720P with no problems whatsover. However, Directv2PC video is nearly unwatchable because of constant sputters (extremely jumpy audio/video). I know it's not my network setup because my desktop computer connected to the same network plays Directv2PC without a hitch. However, even with my laptop connected directly into the system with CAT-5 (instead of relying on Wireless-N) I still have the same aforementioned problems.

Therefore...

the problem is clearly something that is not configured correctly on the laptop. However, if it can play Blu-ray video with no probs, I see no reason why Directv2Pc would be hiccuping on it. Any suggestions on things I can tweak? I'm very comfortable getting under the hood but I'm just not sure where to start with this.

Thanks for anyone who can assist!