does it matter which one of these is set when recording.also does it affect encoding in anyway. my parents took the camcorder on a trip they made a few months back and switched it to lp mode and i have just left it alone. so am i screwing myself in anyway or what? Or am i not loosing any quality and actually getting more video on the tape.

The terms "SP" and "LP" come from analogue recording. In contrast to analogue formats like VHS or Hi8 there's no information loss when using DV in either modes. For my camcorder the difference is whether I have an extra audio track for editing or not. I always use "LP", and I never had any problems. There shouldn't be artifacts either; if so, it's an inadequatance of the camcorder (should not happen). bb

LP OK but stay away from ELP/ESP 

Just make sure you don't use the extended SP (ESP) or LP (ELP) modes, if you have a Canon camcorder. They are a f***** pain in the a**** because they are impossible to capture to your computer (at least I haven't found a way - if anyone knows, please tell me, you'd really make my day). I've never had problems with the LP mode, but I've read that sometimes there are problems with displaying LP footage in a camera different from the one it was originally shot in. pyropir

The standard SP miniDV tape will record 60 minutes, and that same tape running at LP will record 90 minutes. Video and audio quality will be identical for both. The only problem with LP is that the track pitch is 2/3 what it is for SP, which means potential incompatibilities when playing the tape on another machine unless the calibrations are exactly the same. I ran into this issue yesterday; I had an 80-minute program copied by a major outfit here in Portland onto VHS tapes. Took them home and checked the quality, and I'm glad I did; partway into the movie, there were occasional "glitches" of blockiness in the picture. Took the tapes back, and they did the duplication using a different miniDV player. This time, everything was fine. The other issue is that if there are any tape defects, you will take a bigger hit when using LP mode. Two weeks ago I saw my first dropout. It was a strange squeal in the audio that lasted for just a couple of frames. Fortunately, there was another camera shooting the same scene, and I was able to copy his audio into the master.

If you can avoid using LP mode (90 minutes), then avoid it because the chance of dropouts is higher than with SP. If you're using the wrong tapes and/or if the camcorder is under stress (like taken from an a/c'ed car to a hot and windy environment) you can even get dropouts in SP mode (short glitches in the audio, three or four frames showing weird blocks).