To fix video breakups when reading files from a slow network share I tried to increase SMB caching value (--smb-caching) - strangely it didn't help. After some tinkering about I discovered that VLC always uses --file-caching parameter even though file is on the network and full \\server\share\file path is specified. So, why SMB options if they are, alas, not used a all? I don't want to increase --file-caching globally as it makes seeking in a video file a really unpleasant experience.
VLC 0.8.6c