Only comments I have are:

1) Yes VIA seems flaky and always have been from what I've read. For that reason I have never bought a VIA board ever personally. I'd have to say ditch it. Especially if you're using software encoding (i.e. no DVB/PVRx50) and there's a lot of data flying around the busses.

2) I run an Asus A7N266-VM (nForce 1 board for my MythTV box with an XP2400 on an it's been rock solid for about 18 months 24/7 now. I'd have no qualms going nForce again.