I tried playing out the project with the audio meters turned off. Sorry to inform that it made no difference – the video still stuttered. I might say that it was slightly better, but not by much.
I experimented and opened a PP SD/NTSC project and imoported my AJA project into it. After rendering it out, it played without any problem – no stutters at all. Did sacrifice some quality though.
This gives weight to my suspicion that the problem is with the AJA/Machina software solution.
If I can’t solve this problem I will have to junk the AJA card and look for another solution.
Dario