This is fantastic news
, as it seems the seriously compromised old transfers have been simultaneously replaced on HBOmax, iTunes and Amazon (and other places too I imagine), so when new fans go to find this show they are more than likely going to see it this way, the proper way.
However...
I purchased a single episode on Amazon to see what it's like ('War Without End: Part 1') and I've done a few screenshots:
http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/FE921NNU
(Disclaimer, this is just Amazon, who are sometimes terrible at transferring stuff for streaming, so other retailers may look different, or better) Some of the live action does look
much sharper (pic 2) but the upscaled stuff (pic 1) looks only adequate with added grain. They've re-composited the titles in sharp HD but the placement/colour/shape isn't particularly good (compare pics 4 and 5) and is something any faneditor with a home PC could of got
exactly right. They haven't remade the main B5 logo, just upscaled. Again something a skilled digital FX artist could have redone in an afternoon, or less (then just copy and pasted into all the episodes).
Some more things I noticed: As WWE-P1 intercuts footage from a S1 episode (because of the time travel plot), it should all be available in HD now but it's just upscaled because presumably that would have been too much effort to find the shots? All the composite shots are predictably upscaled. So I don't think it's been a "labour of love" as that article states. They sort of retained some issues from the older transfers, in that although the CGI now looks better, they've made the live action look 2xbetter, creating a disparity that isn't supposed to exist. While I'd have probably preferred just a high-res un-remastered/unchanged transfer, this is still pretty cool. So I don't want to gripe too much.
I think I'll still wait to see if a blu-ray is forthcoming.