Well, the logic analyser thing didn't go so well. I'll have another go at it later.
What I did instead was create a test ROM which is actively polling the status register and HV counter in tandem as fast as possible, and writing that sampled data to RAM. I ran the ROM multiple times over, under a variety of conditions, both with an without interrupt handler routines, dumping the contents of RAM out to my PC to generate around 1MB of sampled data.
The only tests I've done so far have been in V28/H32 mode on a PAL system, but the data I've compiled suggest the following:
-The HBLANK flag in the status register is set when the HCOUNTER value "jumps" from what appears to be 93 to E9. I assume in other display modes, the HBLANK flag will also be set when the HCOUNTER value jumps ahead, regardless of what the actual values are under that mode.
-The HBLANK flag is cleared at what appears to be a HCOUNTER value of 06.
-HINT is triggered at the exact same time as the HBLANK flag in the status register is set, and the HCOUNTER value jumps. In other words, the HCOUNTER jump, HINT, and HBLANK flag being set, all occur at the same time.
-The VCOUNTER is incremented slightly before HBLANK is set, at an apparent HCOUNTER value of 85. IE, if the VCOUNTER was 14 when HCOUNTER was 84, when HCOUNTER is 85, VCOUNTER will now be 15.
-On the last line, the VBLANK flag is set when the VCOUNTER value is incremented to E0.
-The VBLANK flag is cleared when the VCOUNTER value is incremented from FE to FF the second time. As per the info from Charles MacDonald, and my own tests, the VCOUNTER in this PAL mode counts in the following sequence: 00-FF, 00-02, CA-FF. VBLANK is set when VCOUNTER hits E0, during the 00-FF block. When VCOUNTER hits FF in the CA-FF block, VBLANK is cleared.
-VINT is triggered when the HCOUNTER resets from FF to 00, well after the VCOUNTER has been incremented to E0 and the VBLANK flag has been set.
-The VINT occurrance flag is set as soon as VINT is asserted. It only reads as set when the interrupt has not yet been taken. Reading the status register immediately after entering the VINT routine for example registers this bit as unset.
These readings I took mostly line up with this timing info Eke posted:
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/8066/vdptimingsh32.gif
With the exception of the VCOUNTER increment, which I read as happening when HCOUNTER reaches 85, not when it reaches 86. The additional info I've provided, such as interrupt timing and vblank flag timing, fit into this diagram as I've described above.
This is preliminary info. I need to do a lot more analysis and sampling, and in particular test under different screen modes such as H40, V30, and on NTSC systems, but I can be pretty confident about what I've posted. Regarding the interrupt timing, note that I sampled those times by determining the last sample I was able to capture before the interrupt was taken, so interrupt execution times haven't affected my readings. Due to the volume of sample data I've captured, I'm reasonably confident the info I've given is accurate, but I do need to carry out more tests.