Any shortfall in any area of the above equation may result in an inferior result.

One challenge you are going to encounter in your quest for determining video quality is manufacturers rarely provide you with adequate information to formulate even the most basic answers. Even if a manufacturer is forthcoming with specifications on a datasheet be careful to note under what conditions you can expect that performance, remember the MPG sticker. It’s not what they do tell you but what may be omitted.

Ultimately, unless you have scopes and a laboratory, you have to rely on visual observation.

Video compression technology is a continuously evolving science. Advancements tend to be incremental as opposed to exponential. Whether it’s the ordinary scheme or the hardware that processes the information, it is an evolutionary process. It has taken two decades from the lunch pail cellphone to a touch screen Blackberry.  

Good luck in your quest and always remember “caveat emptor”, let the buyer beware.