Yea the Time and Money this is always an issue :)

Few Questions:

Can a Ty stream be played back on the PC yet?

Would it be easier to edit a Ty stream compaired to the final mpeg2? I have never had much luck with editing mpeg2's, how ever what I usually do is when cutting out commercials I start the start point at the beginning of the show then end point where the first commerical starts, then I save that segment out as like partA. I do the rest saving partB,C,D etc untill i have a few files but no commercials. This keeps the Audio sync in check as compaired to using Premiere to cut out the commercials and re-render the mpeg stream which then causes audio drift.

anyhow..

Thight might help with viewing mpeg2 on the PC via directX

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/stream/DirectX_VA/default.asp

I know alot of people use or have installed this decoder on thier machines to view mpeg2 streams.

http://www.elecard.com/products/mpeg2decoder.shtml

Elecard MPEG2 Video Decoder provides software-only MPEG-2 and MPEG-1 decoding solution. It is implemented as a Microsoft® DirectShow® filter and could be easily incorporated into your editing and playback applications.

im sure a simple window with the ability to set in-out points at various locations would be great i dont even care if it saves them out as part1,2,3,4 as well.. just a thought

Gateway