I figure when I make the super-mondo version in hi-def MPEG-4 (whenever that screwed-up set eventually releases), I'll make the point of figuring out the soft wipes. By then the encoding technology should be so much better that it won't noticibly degrade the video quality on re-encoded sections.
Meanwhile, feel free to "wipe-em" if you can do it. I'd love to know how to do it myself.