Hi Stan,
Did you ever find a solution to this problem? I have the same thing happening with my Samsung LN40A550P3 TV. It is happening only with the over-the air broadcast of my local FOX station. In my case it seems to have started when the station started up a new transmitter located closer to to my home and changed from 24.2 to 24.4. Also the freeze then speed up video only occurs on taped programming- live broadcasts like NFL football games and local news don't have this problem.
I think you are on the right track with something in the Samsung TV not working right with the broadcast.
If you ever figured anything out about this I'd love to hear about it.
Thanks,
Will