"Selectively Prerender Video" and "Render to a New Track" seem to offer similar capabilities. A forum search seems to indicate that most users favor "Render to a New Track." On the surface (from searching the forum) it seems like Prerender is a superior capability, but is flawed in its implementation.

Can you shed some like of the pro and con of these techniques?
Under what circumstances do you recommend their use?
Are there any other similar techniques that should be considered?
My footage is exclusively AVCHD (normally) converted to Cineform AVI (in various size and frame-rate combination's) does that have any bearing on which technique to use?

thanks!