FS7: White Clip 108% vs 109% vs Off

[LAshooter]

First part of my question is a bit academic as 1% is probably pretty inconsequential, but why does sony default to a white clip level of 108% instead of 109% in custom mode?

What happens if you turn the white clip off? How high of an IRE level can the sensor record natively? Is it theoretically better to record with the white clip set to off and then pull the levels down in post?

 

[vilrockerdefer]

The manual states "The setting is reset to On when the camcorder is turned off. To set to Off permanently, set Level to 109%."

And :

"The default setting varies depending on the country of purchase.
NTSC Area: 108.0%
PAL Area: 105.0%"

Now I would like to know for myself why 105 and 108% instead of 100% (to make the signal legal) or 109% (to forget about legality and to enjoy as much DR as possible with the appropriate gamma curves).