1080I Issues

[happydood]

Dunno if this is the right place for this question, so mods please move if necessary!

I'm having an issue with a couple of discs that are presented in 1080i and it's not the usual motion judder/combing business I read about on the regular.

First things first: the discs are the Criterion Safety Last and the Australian Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell.

I'm having a major contrast problem. So much so that while detail is good, everything is much lighter- to the tune of blacks being grey, right down to the bars on either side of Safety Last. Both discs are mostly well-reviewed with no mention of this problem.

Is this a 1080i issue, a display issue, an hdmi handshake issue or a player issue? Thanks for your help!