Dot crawl is exactly what it sounds like, lots of dots crawling around the edges of colour boundaries.
The most obvious places to see it are in the 'LUCASFILM' green logo at the start of EPIV. You will see the edge of the green lucasfilm text have lots of dots craling around it. (Like the perforated edges of a stamp.)
Unfortunately the LD player you have (CLD-V2400) gives a pretty awful picture, and suffers from dot crawl but it can be converted to play the old laserdisc games like space ace etc. so it has some redeeming features. So I am not surprised that the TR47 set looks comparable on your setup.
As far as plasma's go, the 6UY is a damn good screen with good black levels, but it's limitations don't make it a good choice for comparing sets, a normal TV will actually be better for this. The jagged edges you are seeing are mostly a by product of the internal scaler on your plasma screen not getting it right.
(Compared to other plasma screens, the 6UY has good black levels, and contrast ratio, but compared to a CRT it is badly lacking in both areas, as well as colour reproduction - also its internal scaler is good but not great. You really need to run an external scaler for the Laserdisc. and a scaling DVD player like the Momitsu V880DX or the Nueneo or similar to see the best out of that screen. They do a MUCH better job of scaling to the panels native 1366x768 resolution. The screen is truly wasted without a scaling DVD player running from the HDMI port. Also, turn CATS off for the best pic, and I would shell out a couple of hundred to get it professionally calibrated by a pro with a colourimeter, the difference is astounding.)
You should actually see a noticable increase in quality from the new DVD versions we are preparing from LD, vs what you see on your laserdisc player.
This is mainly due to a much better quality laserdisc player being used in the initial transfer. So bizarrely for anyone out there with a laserdisc of the CLD-99 ilk or lower quality unit, the new bootlegs we are working on should look better than your original laserdiscs on your players!
On other topics, jeez guys how tight are you all. 7 Bucks is too much to pay to have a Dual Layer version of the movie????
DL burners are less than $100, and though the media seems really expensive in comparison to DVD5 blanks, really for one off projects like this, 6 or 7 dollars isn't really a problem is it?
That way you get the pure PCM sound, and a big increase in picture quality. If you are capturing from a good laserdisc player (an X9, X0, S9 or 925 etc.) then the difference in DVD9 vs DVD5 is quite drastic.
I can't even fathom the prospect of doing a DVD5 version of the OT anymore - I just can't see the point - unless you own a cruddy 20" TV set or smaller, the difference is instantly noticable. I agree that PCM on a DVD5 is crazy though, it leaves you with so little space for the movie that you are seriously compromising the picture.
Of course, if you are coming off a low end LD player as your source, then a DVD5/9 version with 2.0 DD is probably not going to look any different, so from that pov, it makes sense. But the DVD5 versions have already been done - repeatedly- and you aren't going to get that big an increase in quality out of a new DVD5 version.