To video editors: What's the best software video encoder?

I'm relatively new to the encoding world, outside of .m2v for DVD. I have a Mac Pro Dual Quad-Core 2.4 Ghz Intel Xeon system with 14 GB of RAM and running OS X 10.7.2. I have the latest version of Final Cut Studio, which includes Final Cut Pro 7 and Compressor. I also have Adobe Media Encoder, but upon testing, I was (ironically) flabbergasted by the fact that Adobe's encoding software doesn't come with support for .avi output. For that reason, it's difficult to trust it. I love what Compressor has to offer, and its encoding quality is more than satisfactory for any and all Mac-based file types, but obviously, the format limitations outside of the Apple realm present a problem in terms of the variety I can offer a client. I would like to have the flexibility of .flv, .wmv, .avi, etc.
Again, I love the QuickTime options of Compressor. I have read that Flip4Mac has add-ons for the formats which I listed above, but I've never used that software for this kind of workflow. I also have some experience with Sorenson Squeeze, but that was mainly on an Avid platform, and there were various frame size/crop issues with encoding which forced me as a user to jump through MANY hoops (none of those hoops are an issue in Compressor, but, again, file types are limited) in order to achieve my encoding goals. However, Sorenson does offer support for every imaginable file type in its $599 Pro edition of the software. I'd rather not spend that much just for an encoder if unnecessary, but I honestly have no real frame of reference in terms of cost-to-"output variety" ratio.
So, to the many who are much more educated and experienced than I am, I ask, in your opinion as professionals...what's the best software encoder? Is it one of the three I have already mentioned, or is it another software with which I am not yet familiar? I am open to any and all suggestions and opinions. At this point, I am mostly dealing with web delivery, whether it be streaming or downloadable file types, and DVD/Blu-Ray encoding for disc burn. However, as I'm sure you understand, you never know what kind of project will come your way, or what kind of file type and/or size a client will require on any given day. I'm really just trying to get an education on encoding in general so I can stay somewhat ahead of the curve, and be able to deliver as many different file types as possible so I never have to tell a client, "No, I can't do that."
Thoughts?

Sorry that you are not getting help.
I would have said that there are some excellent people I see that hang out in the forums for Final Cut etc that would.
I look more at hardware aspect and had you asked I would have recommend against the 2.4GHz in favor of 6-core 3.33 or 2.93 or something. Giving up GHz for more cores or something never works out.
Then I would have stayed with 10.6.8 (maybe keep Lion handy for testing only).
Setup a good storage subsystem, 6 x 4GB (or 3 x 8GB when using single cpu).
A good place to start is over on www.macperformanceguide.com for setup hardware and testing.
http://barefeats.com/macs11_01.html
Handbrake
http://www.barefeats.com/wst10c3.html
http://macperformanceguide.com/Optimizing-Handbrake.html
http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-MacProWestmere-Handbrake.html
Why you want more RAM
http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-MacProWestmere-AfterEffects.html
http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-MacProWestmere-Memory.html

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