No once a source is uploaded a person has to press a button to reserve their spot. So any group has a chance to encode as long as they press the button quick enough. Has nothing to do with quality and the groups are solitary/ in competition with other groups for the button rights.
AHD: They have some of the worst encoders and are often made fun of on HDBits because of the horrible quality they produce a majority of the time. It is a mortal sin to "enhance" video, which they do regularly instead of making the video transparent.