Thanks, Neil! That eliminates the "defective copy" theory. The report from Perry ("flagbrothers") also tends to confirm that there is some sort of authoring error with this disc. Unfortunately, since the problems don't seem to manifest themselves consistently, I doubt Severin will address them...
The review clearly states that Incidents in an Expanding Universe is a "badly out-of-synch Super 8 film". Nowhere is it suggested that this has anything to do with the disc mastering.
He also lists all the special features as being in "HD", which makes me wonder whether we were watching the same disc. (Note: Lest anyone be misled, I'm being facetious here. I'm sure the discs are identical, but the reviewers and the equipment are not.)
Neil, as a fan of the movie, you're going to enjoy the disc, because, even with its shortcomings, it presents a better version of Hardware than was seen in theaters (or on cable, which is where I first saw it). And if I didn't already have it, I'd be getting it too, because I already know I like...