Video quality and bitrates are tightly related. 240p video (320x240) requires 300-700 kbps for live streaming, well beyond the capabilities of modems. 360p is in the 700kbps - 1.5 Mbps range, now considered low-end DSL. 720p, a reasonable HD resolution (1280×720) runs at 2-4Mbps, and 4K is 15-25Mbps.
My own recollections are that live streaming video wasn't a commonly-encountered thing until the mid-2000s, that Netflix was still mailing (rather than streaming) video as of 2007, and adoption of that service took considerable time.
As of the late 1990s, online audio was a relative rarity, and much of that RealAudio based, witness early archives of programming from NPR and other sources locked in inaccessible, and very low-quality, audio codecs.
Assertions of a pre-2004, let alone pre-1999, golden age of Internet Video are implausible.
US "broadband" (apparently: any connection speed >56.6kbps, mostly early T1 lines at 1.5 Mbps) crossed the 50% threshold in October, 2004.
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0506/
Video quality and bitrates are tightly related. 240p video (320x240) requires 300-700 kbps for live streaming, well beyond the capabilities of modems. 360p is in the 700kbps - 1.5 Mbps range, now considered low-end DSL. 720p, a reasonable HD resolution (1280×720) runs at 2-4Mbps, and 4K is 15-25Mbps.
https://teradek.com/blogs/articles/what-is-the-optimal-bitra...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2017/12/10/you...
My own recollections are that live streaming video wasn't a commonly-encountered thing until the mid-2000s, that Netflix was still mailing (rather than streaming) video as of 2007, and adoption of that service took considerable time.
https://qz.com/887010/netflix-nflx-launched-streaming-video-...
As of the late 1990s, online audio was a relative rarity, and much of that RealAudio based, witness early archives of programming from NPR and other sources locked in inaccessible, and very low-quality, audio codecs.
Assertions of a pre-2004, let alone pre-1999, golden age of Internet Video are implausible.