This is kind of wishful thinking at this point but here goes:

If Sony follows Adobe's lead and adds GPU support to Vegas 7 enabling hardware mpeg decoding, it would be possible to use SD mpeg2 files as proxies with Gearshift. This would have the following advantages:

1)Less disc space would be used.
2)Slower media like laptop harddrives could be practical, at least for proxy editing.
3)Stock media could also be streamed off optical drives in an "proxies are free, HDV versions cost $ to license" arrangement.
4)The color space would match.
5)Color correction in preview could be done by the the GPU with no extra strain on the CPU.
6)Whole proxy edits could be mailed on a single DVD-R or maybe even emailed to somebody for collaborative efforts.
7)Rough SD DVD edits could be done very quickly from the proxies.
8) Just the proxies could be copied to a laptop's hard drive enabling advanced editing on a laptop without external drives.

I for one would just LOVE to work this way!