Which is better, streaming 480p H.264 with very good internet, or DVD 480i MPEG-2?

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by Vilya

I have no direct experience with Apple, but I have seen nothing in print that quantifies the bitrate increase that you are claiming. Apple has always been among the best streaming providers in terms of their bitrates, but I have not read anything that quantifies an improvement to their HD streams.

See e.g. here:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...postcount=7243

As for Amazon, they are the most, and only, problematic streaming provider that I ever used. Despite having ample internet bandwidth and despite having no problems with any other streaming provider, Amazon can not maintain a consistent HD stream, yet alone a 4K stream, even over my wired network.

I have never had any such issues with Amazon. I just recently streamed the 4th season of The Expanse and it was excellent.

Some content that still languishes in SD has serious source limitations; video tape sources in particular for some vintage TV shows, but many were also shot on actual film stock. MASH (the TV series) looks sad on DVD despite having been filmed on 35mm film; it deserves better.

Indeed. I would love to have proper HD versions of Sledge Hammer!, Space Above & Beyond, Tour of Duty and a number of other shows. Sadly, it will likely never happen and we're saddled with material that even the best encoding will not turn into good quality.

I will not respond to your remaining remarks since we really don't need another "physical vs. digital" thread.