It's been years so I forget...does routing RF thru a VCR improve the picture quality on a CRT at all?
Nope.
Yeah, I didn't notice any particular improvement.
You could probably take it right up to HDMI, doubt it would do you much good.
If I had the time, for shits & giggles I could find one of my old Sony receivers, go RF from the console to the VCR, connect the VCR via Composite to the receiver, and then HDMI from the receiver to the TV.