Media Encoder renders are disproportionately, exponentially slow.

AE / ME Version: 25.3 (Issue occured before and after the update to 25.3)

Mac OS Version: 15.5 (24F74)

Hi, while AE/ME are stable and not crashing, the render time in ME has been extremely sluggish and at times non-responsive. The strangest part is that upon opening both programs fresh and sending a 00:15 second 4k / 1:1 render to ME, the render will usully take less than a minute, often a few seconds. However, after sending the same render to ME with a minor change (editing the type) the render jumps to 30 minutes+. My workflow is in complete disarray. This has been incrementally getting worse for months now. My only fix so far is to restart both programs. The restarts occasionally returns ME render speeds back to their glorious, lighting-fast selves, but any subsequent ME renders are slow again - as if dipped in molasses.

Please help! I cannot carry on like this!

Thank you

BS