Jonno said:

I've compared the raw MPEG-2 rips and, while the conversion to AVI hasn't helped the definition, the clipping is definitely a factor of the recorded DVDs.
While ADC technology in set-top DVD recorders does vary considerably in quality (not wanting to cast aspersions on Russ's AV kit!), it seems more likely that it was a limitation of the consumer-level VCR that created the tape in the first place.

Yeah, it could be the original recording but I've actually seen this amount of blown out whites on LD-captures apparently caused by some DVD recorders. It sounds weird I know.

Jonno said:
Anyway, I'm presented with a bit of a quandary here - I certainly hadn't planned to make any revisionist alterations to the image (indeed my proposed editing workflow - as outlined earlier - is intended to obviate any transcoding at all).
I wonder what the best approach is - make my edit as a 'pure' preservation of this tape, then hand over to someone else to make improvements to the image as they see fit? I'd be glad to hear peoples' thoughts on this.

I think your original plan sounds good - pure preservation, then someone else may make further improvements on your work if needed.

danny_boy:

Russ:

Russ (white level tweak and de-interlaced):