I realize that there are several posts on this topic, but I am having trouble answering a couple of specific questions:

When shooting in "Frame Mode" specifically on the DV953, how is frame rate/ timebase effected.

In other words, my assumption is that the video is 30 fps (non- interlaced, non- drop frame) in "frame mode" as opposed to 29.97 drop frame in "normal mode". Therefore, I can safely use the "frames" timebase in my editing software to correctly capture the footage from my camera?

To my knowledge, all miniDV NTSC cams do this the same way, irrespective of whether they are capturing to tape in 60i, 30p or 24p. Basically, NTSC (and PAL, for that matter) is an interlaced format, no matter whether the fields are interlaced or progressive. So, the camcorder is designed to output from tape in that format...2 fields per frame each 1/30 of a second. In interlaced, or normal, mode, each field is a full 480-line frame of information captured each 1/60 second, but only 240 lines are recorded in each field (even, odd). In frame mode, each field is a full frame of information, 480 lines, captured once each 1/30 second, then recorded as even/odd fields each 1/60 second. There is more technical information on this process here (ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/Drivers/PBTS/papers/Progressive-WP.pdf).

When I bring frame mode clips into my video editor, Vegas 4.0, I set the project properties from the default, lower field first (which is only applicable to interlaced), to "none-progressive." Vegas then knows it is dealing with progressive video. In a like fashion, if I shoot frame mode and 16:9, at the same time I set progressive, I also set the pixel aspect ratio so the anamorphic squeeze is compensated for in the project.