Well, I guess it's time for some more tests...

I suspect that it's a de-interlacing issue (or at least I hope it is, as the slight sharpening that I applied really does help.

As far as grain is concerned, I will do some test there, after I fix the de-interlacing issue, and see what results I get. You're right that it's MY project, BUT I'm relying on the opinions of users here that have a LOT more experience then I do in doing this and YOUR opinion matters.

UPDATE: I have resolved the problem with the de-interlacing and have adjusted the level of grain by a little bit (as before it was a little "soft" on the grain side) and now I just have to wait ~45 hours for the encode to complete.

As soon as it's finished I will post new, updated, screenshot comparisons between source/my encode. Still hoping that someone can share the laserdisc English audio for this project;)

Peace