That is precisely what it is-although the older shots may seem better upon first glance, once you watch the films in motion you will see there really is no comparison. Cowclops had to compromise a bit on some aspects to get everything balanced properly-if your TV is calibrated correctly it will look better, although it may be slightly darker. The brightness was too high on the old version and the extra sharpness you see is a result of 2 things:
The old set had artificial sharpening added (albeit minor)
The new set is anamorphic, which loses a small amount of resolution.
Together both of these factors contribute to what you are seeing; it was unavoidable due to the conversion process. The contrast, chroma levels and brightness are nearly untouched from the source, so you are seeing them as they are on the LDs with very little modification. The contrast may seem worse but what you are seeing in the old set is a false sense of good contrast, ie black detail is lost but the blacks are deeper.