I am shooting my daughters cheer leading team as they perform on a cheer floor.
The cheer floor usually is typically 54x54 feet (approx 16.5 meters)
But because of where I film at the top of the bleachers, the perspective becomes more of a 16:9
Because of the building design, I cannot zoom out enough to capture the entire floor.
To get the entire performance on film, I can either:

1. Shoot in HD, then down-convert to SD in crop mode, which gives a 16x9 feel with black bars at top/bottom
2. Attach the Sony Wide Angle lens, and shoot in SD

The final output is a SD DVD.

Anyone care to offer an opinion as to which is better?

Are you saying the action is too wide for you to capture in a single shot in HDV mode? This cam shoots widescreen DV as well as HDV, so no cropping is necessary. Shoot 16:9 in either HDV or DV modes, then just downconvert and burn to regular SD DVD. Page 54.

Unless you really want a 4:3 picture. Not sure what you're asking.

Hey dude I've got the Canon WD-H72 wide adaptor and it's great and I'd say use your WA in HD and dowrez to SD in post. The only caveat is, what's the barrel distortion like on full wide with your WA?

It'd be good to go there and check that out because if it's bad enough, as you pan the team might look like it's dancing on both sides of a hill.

Cheers.

Are you saying the action is too wide for you to capture in a single shot in HDV mode? This cam shoots widescreen DV as well as HDV, so no cropping is necessary. Shoot 16:9 in either HDV or DV modes, then just downconvert and burn to regular SD DVD. Page 54.

Unless you really want a 4:3 picture. Not sure what you're asking.

No, I can either capture the entire scene in 16:9 mode, or
capture the entire scene in 4:3 with the WA adaptor.

But since my final output is 4:3, I will either get 16:9 with black bars or WA full screen.
I hope that makes sense

The only caveat is, what's the barrel distortion like on full wide with your WA?
Thanks for the info. The HD1000 setting where you tell the camera you are using a WA adapter.
Presumably it helps eliminate some of the WA distortion

No, that setting has nothing to do with distortion. It's about the OIS.

If you don't want to shoot in 16:9 -- and again you can do this in either HDV or DV mode -- then yes, your only option is to use a WA adapter.

But even if it's only SD, in a couple of years you'll have a 16:9 TV, and I think 4:3 looks worse on a widescreen TV than 16:9 letterboxed does on a 4:3 TV. But it is of course your call.

Why did you buy an HDV cam if you only want SD 4:3?