So I'm finding that I can render a 1/2 hour video (~ 1.2GB mpeg source) to WMV9 at high bitrate (1500-2000 Kpbs) in about 1/2 hour elapsed time, for a 300-500MB upload, or... at low bitrate (target=500Kbps) in about 1.5 hours elapsed time, for about a 75-150 MB upload. Question is: which mode will get all of the SOTM.US videos uploaded quicker? :)
I think I'm going to take the option that saves my upload quota, so that I can start helping with the Girona videos as soon as I finish the US videos.