Bil,
You have 3 options on the A1.
4:3
16 : 9 DV anamorphic
HDV (16 :9) native

I shoot a lot of anamorphic. It fills the screen of todays widescreen TV's very nicely. Only downside is the resolution when not shooting in HD mode. The picture looks like any SD source on an HD monitor. however, the 16 x 9 aspect works out much better for shooting and viewing.