Also, as low E as the Pi is, why not leave it on 24/7 instead of WOL. Maybe I misread that part... But if it isn't waking proper, then leave it on. It probably costs about 30 cent a month tops. I have a 14 month old Pi that spent half of that time never being shut off, works fine.

SMB is noted to not be the best... FTP works well for xvid, wouldn't try HD. Best I found for HD 1080p MKVs is probably the DLNA/UPnP. I have a friend who has the same issues as you, as if it is dropping network (odd is still hits internet, just not local). He does a lot from local and was using a s...