I think you may be referring to a post that Anthony Roberts had in his blog about how he had been doing var in his HRT, and his bloodwork had showed reduced SHBG. After he did some research and found a paper that showed confirmation of this, indicating that it may be more helpful than proviron. I'd check out his blog for the details.
Don't know if there is consensus on that.
An oral for long term HRT does not seem like a good idea. I think most people will eventually experience some negative impact on the liver even at a low dose if run for long enough. If you did run an oral like that, I would be sure to get PSA testing done regularly.