Bad Quality When Importing

I recently bought a Sony HDR-SR12 and filmed a concert with it straight away in High Def and 16:9. Afterwards, I tried to edit the footage on Final Cut Express 4 and iMovie 8 with the latter informing me I need an Intel Mac (which I will be getting eventually).
For the time being, I asked a mate to save the concert on his computer in MPEG2. This works on my current computer, but the quality is not all that great. Whenever I view the files in Final Cut Express, MPEG Streamclip, iMovie and Quicktime, there are lines going across the screen and whenever there are movements it looks as though frames are being skipped. I tried rendering the footage in FCE, but it still looks the same, even when I put it onto a DVD.
I'm not sure as to whether these are side effects from shooting it in High Def, but is there a way I can save this footage in a format where the quality is watchable, even if it is in standard definition. If I have to do this through MPEG Streamclip (which I've also tried doing), how should I save it?
Also, if saving it as an MPEG2 was a mistake, what should I have done?
Thanks.
Dale

You should convert the files in Streamclip into DV not MPEG.
FCE does not work with mpeg, only DV, HDV and AVCHD (if you have an Intel Mac).

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