[PaulJBis] “Would you say that the quality difference is negligible? “
That is going to depend on your editing codec, if you are using HDV or DV I think “Sending to compressor” is a must. But it does tie up your system and it ties it up for a longer period of time. I also almost always use CBR vs. VBR and this give me back some of the time and I feel like I get a better encode most of the time.
I use “send to compressor” more then not, but my workflow and schedule allows for it. Everyone you should be testing these things out since it boils down to a judgement call.
Is the quality worth the extra time? Nobody can answer that but you. But the explanation above is correct.