I have been experiencing exactly the issues described in this post, but I just figured out a fix for my configuration. My solution would probably only be effective for Windows Vista/7/8, unless you've got a sound card with an application that manages audio separately with your older OS. If you have another audio manager this may also apply to you but you're on your own for finding where you'd adjust your speaker configuration. I'm using Windows 8 Pro 32 bit, VLC 2.0.5, Intel i3, Intel HD Graphics w/HDMI, Realtek HD Audio, Gigabyte Motherboard.
How to fix in Windows Vista / 7 / 8:
-Right click on the Speaker/Audio icon in the system tray and choose Playback devices
-Right click your audio output device (in my case a TV connected via HDMI) & choose Configure Speakers
-Under audio channels select "Stereo" & test, then press next
-Select "Front Left & Right" & click finish.
I realized I had previously configured my settings for 5.1 surround & since everything else worked besides VLC, I forgot that I had made that change... Reverting it back to Stereo solved my issue. I am able to consistently reproduce the issue by adjusting the settings back to 5.1 surround. The VLC errors I get when configured for 5.1 audio are:
-audio output is starving, playing silence
-audio output out of sync adjusting dates
-not synchronized, resampling
-timing screwed, stopping resampling
-buffer way too early