Hey Brian,
I’m having the same issue. I’ve been using F4M as well as Episode. I’ve been trying to get a good looking WMV compression on 30 files for a few weeks now. Not only does each one (about TRT 4mins all around) take about 3-4 hours to compress, but it looks terrible with artifacts and data-moshing abundant. It ranges from fairly unacceptable to vomit inducing.
I wish I could offer some suggestions, but all I have on the matter is my bitter sympathy.
Good luck, and please let me know if you find a silver bullet.
Cheers,
Chris
http://www.scissorbot.com