Many Canon camcorders claim various supported progressive frame rates but denote that the video is actually recorded interlaced (30p "Video is recorded in 60i" for example).
What is the implication to the recorded media? Does the camera itself de-interlace to simulate progressive scanning?
No, the camera does not de-interlace in PF30, but the TV does. As for the PF24 stream, it depends which one of the two devices (camera or TV), removes pulldown on the fly. But if you wish to edit these streams instead, you need to follow my instructions here: http://eugenia.queru.com/2008/07/16/sony-vegas-project-properties-with-hv2030/
For PF24, I suggest Cineform NeoSCENE to remove pulldown, and not the free pulldown removal methods linked on the article linked above. The free methods suck. If you only care about DVDs or camera-only playback on TV, there's no reason to remove pulldown at all, you edit and export as 60i. But if you do want to export to Vimeo/Youtube and create true 24p streams/BDs, then you need to remove pulldown. If you don't remove pulldown, and you export in 30p or 24p, you will get this: http://eugenia.queru.com/images/pf24.jpg