FCP recognizes some h.264 mp4 files but not others

I'm having a particularly frustrating experience with Final Cut Pro 7 at the moment. I've been working on a project for a while now, and I've been importing and cutting with mp4 files that are in h.264 codec with AAC audio. It's been working just fine for a long time now.
Now, I have three more video files to import into the project. They are THE EXACT SAME format: mp4, h.264 codec with AAC audio. Data rate is pretty much the same. Technically, everything I can see about them, format-wise, is exactly the same.
It's not recognizing them. I get "File Error: Unknown File".
I've tried playing them in multiple players. Quicktime, Quicktime 7, VLC... they all work just fine. The inspector in Quicktime tells me the EXACT SAME format information as the files that are importing just fine.
Can someone PLEASE shed light on what the **** is going on here? Why are all the rest of h.264/AAC/mp4 files that I'm importing working just fine while these three are not? I've looked at their logging/format information... it's all exactly the same. There's no perceivable reason that I can find why Final Cut is singling out these three files not to recognize. I thought maybe something had changed with Final Cut and it no longer works with h.264 or mp4 or whatever... but all the other files I already imported are still working just fine. And I can still re-import them just fine. So it can't be that FCP just doesn't recognize MP4 or H.264 or AAC, because it's recognizing it just fine with all the other files. Again, they're all in the EXACT SAME format!
And yes, I've tried re-coverting these files. I've converted them using different programs. They always end up working fine for playing in all the players I have, but when I go to import them into Final Cut, suddenly they ain't working. I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out why and I'm completely clueless.
Has this happened to anybody else and what did you do? I know I can just try converting them to another format, like ProRes or Apple Intermediate... but that would take up more space on my computer... plus, it's just the mystery of the situation that's really getting to me right now. I want to know WHY it's not working! For the life of me, it doesn't make any sense.
Also: I thought it might have something to do with Perian. I recently uninstalled and reinstalled Perian. Since I did that, Perian hasn't been working very well. Quicktime doesn't play the audio in mkv files, for example.
But if Perian not working is preventing FCP from recognizing THESE mp4/h.264/aac files, then why are the rest of the mp4/h.264/aac files still working just fine? Again, it just doesn't make any sense to me. It's like FCP got picked on by these three files and is holding a grudge.

I know h.264 is not ideal. And you're right, I have had issues with sync on export and such that I've had to deal with. But it still worked. I was able to import and edit with the files, despite having some glitches along the way.
Now it's just plain not importing. And I have no idea what changed. Final Cut didn't change. It's still importing all the files it likes just fine. They're mp4/h.264/aac, and they import. These three files that aren't importing are the SAME format, but Final Cut doesn't like them for some reason. I would love to know what that reason could possibly be. What could possibly make one mp4/h.264/aac file import, but another one not?
JUST talking about importing. Not editing or exporting.

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No ‘Play to’ option. Still no ‘Play to’ option when file is copied.
mkv                 178,798 KB
No ‘Play to’ option. Still no ‘Play to’ option when file is copied.
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FAQ:Why has my question not been answered?
Cheers
Eddie
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FCP recognizes some h.264 mp4 files but not others

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