It turns out that all my angst was for nothing. I just completed
installing 8.10 and had no problems whatsoever, even with the video.

I did attempt to use apt-p2p but after 36 hours and numerous restarts I
gave up and went back to the traditional upgrade. I didn't have to
re-download any of the package files with either apt-p2p or the regular
upgrade. Both picked up where the download had ended and went on from
there.