Hi Aurora,
Congratulations on your progress on the original Dream Body DVD! That is not an easy workout!!
Some thoughts based on your post:
-None of the workouts have any water breaks (I just take them as needed and backtrack if I have to)
-All of the Dream Body workouts - cardio, sweat lab, etc. have the high reps and high intensity (and for the cardio high impact too).
-I TOTALLY agree about the testimonials on the original DVD
annoying!! All of the other workouts are more polished and don't have that sort of problem!
-I also love being repped to death
As long as the moves are switched up and it's engaging (not boring) I don't mind it at all, TAM, Tonique, barre, Dream Body, etc. They are all great.
Based on what you're looking for (including a cardio effect) I'm thinking the Cardio Series would be a great choice. They were actually designed with a halfway mark in mind (although keep in mind they are not really chaptered in a way to easily navigate and only 'play all' on the DVD menu)
-MILF: Clear halfway mark at around the 30 minute mark. The first half is standing cardio, one big superset of cardio work (which also has a fusiony toning impact) repeated twice for a total of three circuits. The cardio uses the loop band and gliders (going off memory here). The second half is mat work with total body toning - a long elevated bridge set, pushups, etc.
-InTENse: Easy to break up as it is structured in 10 minute circuits: 10 minute cardio/10 minute arms/10 minute abs/10 minute cardio/10 minute arms/10 minutes abs. The circuits are not repeated, in the sense that the second 10 minute cardio is not the same as the one at the beginning. It is chaptered but I didn't find it to be exact at the start of each circuit.
-Batabarre: Clear halfway mark, the first half is standing tabata/HIIT and the second half is barre work, using the gliders.
-Fusion 50: This one didn't seem so easy to break up, but it is a little shorter at 50 minutes. There is more standing cardio at the beginning, maybe the first 30 minutes, and toning at the end, more like 20 minutes, but I don't remember it being intuitive to break up.
-Bikini Bootcamp: Clear break point but not at the halfway mark. The first ~40 minutes is standing cardio, 1st 20 minutes with the band and 2nd 20 minutes with light weights, and the last 20-ish minutes is floor toning.
They are all great tough workouts, with MILF and InTENse being probably the hardest of the group.
The Sweat Lab set (toning arms/abs/booty) in my opinion do not get the heart rate pumping. The booty to some extent yes, since you are using your legs, the other workouts you will get a little sweat due to the pushups in the arms DVD and some plank work in the abs DVD. But not really significant cardio effect in my opinion.
I think Mix and Match HIIT would be a great place to start with Barlates. The downloads are a couple dollars cheaper than the DVDs FYI.