This article kind of touches a bit on something related to this. It seems that the ability to properly process interlaced SD video for HD usage is highly lackin

This article kind of touches a bit on something related to this. It seems that the ability to properly process interlaced SD video for HD usage is highly lacking, including at numerous TV networks who air old programming. I can often get a better quality file out of a DVD rip that I do myself than what passes for retro TV nowadays. When Game Show Network is airing any SD programming nowadays, the processing done to it is so bad that I have to wonder who made the decision to process it that way, and who allowed it to actually air that way. It's disgusting. I could get better quality from an SP VHS or S-VHS tape than the video they air that is originally sourced from professional high-bandwidth videotapes. Same is true for online video preservation. Few know how to do it right, or anything approaching right. VHS was not 320x240 30fps as a lot of people have thought over the years. I think that the lddecode/vhsdecode approach is the right way forward for preservation of any analog video content. Capture the raw signal, archive and re-process that as technology improves.