Saving Video Takes a LONG Time

Question

Howdy, everyone. I am currently shopping around for a video editing application, and I'm using the trial version of Adobe Premiere Elements. I like everything about it so far, except for one thing. It takes a very long time to save the final video file (from the Share tab). I've noticed that it gets to 50% fairly quickly, probably under five minutes, and at that point the progress bar slows to a crawl. It takes more than two hours for the last 50% to complete. Is this unusual, or is this what I should expect?
Here's a little background of my project, in case that helps.
The video project is just under 30 minutes.
From the Share tab, I'm choosing to Export files for viewing on computers.
The type of video I want is WMV (Windows Media). I cannot vary from this format. It's a requirement of the project.
Frame size: 1024 x 768. At this time I cannot vary from this size. The video must be 1024 x 768.
Frame Rate: 30 fps
Audio Setting: 48kbps, 44 kHz, mono CBR
Codec: Windows Media 9
Encoding Passes: 1
Bitrate Mode: Constant  (I've also tried Variable Quality, but noticed no difference in rendering time)
Maximum Bitrate: 200 kbps (The first time, I tried 2,000 kbps but I noticed no difference in rendering time)
Image Quality: 3 (I've also tried 90 but again with no noticable difference in rendering time)
My Laptop:
Windows XP Pro SP3
Intel Core2 Duo 2.2GHz
2GB of RAM
The window says I should expect the video size to be 53MB in size, which seems reasonable. But when it finishes, it's more than ten times larger than that estimation. I don't understand why the filesize is so large and the rendering time is so long.
Is my rendering time being governed or throttled back because I'm using a trial version of Premiere Elements?
If not, what suggestions do you all have for me? Am I being unreasonable by expecting my rendering time to be quicker than the duration of the video?
Thanks in advance for your help. Please let me know if I can provide any other details.

Answer 1

WMV is a heavily-compressed format/CODEC, and the processing time will depend on several factors:
Your CPU, which is not that powerful in your case
Your I/O sub-system, which is likely a single HDD on your laptop
The source footage. What is your source footage?
Any Effects added to that footage. Do you have any Effects?
Each of those will have an impact on the time required.
The trial has only one main limitation - the watermark. Now, there are some components, that have to be activated, but are not with the trial, but they would be evident with Import of your source footage, if it's an issue.
Good luck,
Hunt