30 hours since the first complete d/l's and no comments.
Anyone not want the DVD's now?

Update/Edit: I just got to the scariest part in my re-editing of the transitions.
It's a dissolve that goes from one clip to white to the next clip. I figured I'd have to remove it and write it off as impossible. But noooo, avisynth rocks:
clip1=crop(avisource("smithwakes.vdr"),0,58,0,-62)
clip2=crop(avisource("neoarrives.vdr"),0,58,0,-62)
fullclip=fadeout(clip1,12,$ffffff)+fadein(clip2,12,$ffffff)
addborders(fullclip,0,58,0,62)
(If you don't crop first, the letterbox borders go white too, and that's just sloppy.)
Woohoo. Looks so much better than MVW!