DVCPRO HD P2 PPro CS3 Settings Question

I....really need some help. I'm used to solving any problem you can sling at me in FCP (even hacked the program to fix pull in issue a few years ago). On Premiere CS3 I feel like all of the clear control options are withheld from me.

I am editing a feature film shot on the Panasonic HV200E PAL camera. I'm editing on an XP 32-bit system that has a Blackmagic Intensity Card and a monitor with a HDMI-in (currently a large, pretty, object-d-art until I figure out how to get the card to work)

The P2 viewer lists this media as:
DV100_720/50p
Pulldon 2:2
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Audio Sampling: 48k/16bit

When I create a P2 DVCPRO HD 720p/50fps default project I have to render all playback (material plays back beautifully in Source monitor for non-Blackmagic formats: blackmagic options does this strange purple "golden mean" spiral pattern)

When I create custom 25fps version everything seems peachy, but I'll be darned if I can export an H.264 file looking halfway decent even at High Profile and a healthy data rate.

Even aside from any of these issues, what kind of project settings do you seasoned pros suggest for me to work on this sequence? I have 140 cards to bring online soon....I'd hate to pick the wrong thing and have to do them all over again!

Thanks so much in advance. It has been years since I have ended up this frustrated before a project starts.

Matt