Ok, laserschwert was absolutely right. The VDub "Exorcist" method does a much better job and looks much sharper. Whereas the other method left the edges looking blurry, this one keeps them sharp and retains that otherwise lost detail.

Also, adding the Convolution3D filter makes a huge difference. I was using this way back when, but eliminated it with the thought that the video was losing too much detail. I'm using a lower setting than before, which I think is a healthy compromise.

Now if I could just figure out the best way to eliminate dot crawl....