In fact, the banding I see in AviSynth's histogram("classic") view suggests to me that the raw files have already had some form of levels adjustment. MeBeJedi, did you do anything else with these files apart from the IVTC?

No, there's banding. There are other problems as well. If you have the scene of R2 going through the canyon, there's some definite problems there as well. I don't remember the technical term, but there's rolling interference in the scene. I remember comparing my capture from my V8000 to Laserman's, and it turned out that the X0 really highlighted the problems with the transfer. My transfer looked "cleaner", because a lot of the problematic details didn't show up. That's why I was spending so much time trying to get rid of missing pixels and "debris".