with CQMatic is is taking 6 minutes to predict a 7 minute clip using X1 prediction and I have a 3ghz CPU. I don't remember it being this slow in the past. Could it be because I'm using hte KDVD template now and my video is 30fps interlaced?

Is your source already 7 Minutes?? DO I understand this right??

Well CQ matic is not movie percentual based in generating the framecount!
It generates a static framecount of 3000 frames in (as I understood this right) X1 mode. So no matter if your source is 7 minutes or 70minutes the count of frames will be "static".

And refering to the new MA: It takes like 3% more time to handle the source ... but the results and compressions are better!