Is the old Cineform codec provided as a free upgrade by Adobe lower in quality than the current one? For the purpose of this thread I am not asking about features, SDI card support and other issues, like being buggy, etc. Is the codec itself any better in the newer apps?

Thanks,

It is MUCH better in the newer apps. The interlace mode of that old codec has been obsoleted, the progressive mode significantly enhanced since then. Think off the interlace mode v0.8 and progressive v1.0, all our products are being updated from today v2.9 codec to v3.0 next week (this is another big jump.)