Microsoft has released the Windows Media 8 Encoding Utility. Thanks Luka.

To take advantage of this great new audio and video quality, Microsoft now offers content creators a professional level utility for producing on demand content. Windows Media 8 Encoding Utility Beta is a command-line tool for content producers converting pre-recorded audio and video to Windows Media 8 for on-demand delivery.

Encodes Windows Media 8 Content for on-demand streaming and download-and-play.
Enables Two-Pass Encoding to optimize quality for on-demand (streamed or download-and-play) content.
Supports True Variable Bit Rate (VBR) Encoding for download-and-play scenarios. True VBR can be applied over the entire duration of a high-motion sequence, ensuring the highest quality.
Enables Batch Encoding of Windows Media 8, allowing content developers to encode large numbers of pre-recorded media files.

Read more