@ Chris Brearley + 1,
I know this is an old post, but I stumbled upon and I wanted to add my 2 c.
In don’t understand that attitude, either you (Dave) help or you don’t. If you do so, why being rude? You’re not forced to help if you don’t want.
Now, about the OP question there’s another workaround. Import your sequence, clips, audio or whatever in AE (or Premiere), save your project and then open it from within Media Encoder (File, Add After Effects Composition). You’ll be prompted to choose what comp you want to render and then you’re done.
dsp _