I don't know where you're located, but if you can find the time, why not take it to a Best Buy or other home theater vendor, and have them try to play it?
The "blooming," as you call it is as photographed. Probably from specific filters. To me it adds an almost orthochromatic look, the stock which Mr. Stradling used early in his career.
Think Jolson's gloves in The Jazz Singer,
More Loverly... was produced at 480i.
It was uprezzed at Fotokem to 1080i, to create a better image for those with basic players that might not do a good job of outputting an HD signal.