Middle of transcode is in slow motion

[MiJoBu2020]

I have been using the VLC command line to transcode streams on a Mac. Sometimes it works fine but more often than not lately, the resulting file will be fine for the first and last 13 minutes and 22 seconds and everything in between plays in slow motion. It doesn't matter how long the source stream is. It is always 13:22 at the beginning and the end that is fine and the rest is slow motion. I feel like I should be able to control that with a setting but need help figuring that out. Here is an example of my command:

/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC -I dummy https://stored.stream.com/path/to/stream/file/1.m3u8 --sout='#transcode{acodec=mp4a,ab=}:standard{access=file,mux=mp4,dst=/Users/my/Desktop/Output File.mp4}' vlc://quit

I can transcode the same stream using ffmpeg and get it to save fine but it is waaaaay slower and buries my CPU.

I will accept hints, suggestions, or proven solutions. I'm not picky.

Thanks.