Cannot import as widescreen

I must be doing something wrong, but I cannot figure out what it is.
When importing 720 x 480 widescreen video (.mov files) into iMovie HD 6.0.4, it automatically converts it to 4:3 with black bars around the sides AND the top, and it distorts the picture something awful! I have tried every import setting - DV widescreen, HD 720, HD 1080, but it still imports incorrectly.
When importing the same clips into iMovie 08, they import fine as Widescreen. Also, when double clicking on the clips in Finder, they open as widescreen in Quicktime. The clips were filmed in widescreen format on my hard drive digital camcorder, and like I said, they work everywhere except in this program.
In "Preferences", the following boxes are NOT checked:
- Automatically resize window to fit project
- Automatic DV Pillarboxing & Letterboxing
Also, the Quality is set to "Highest."
I have tried changing all these settings but to no avail. Any help would be appreciated as I am working on a project that needs to be done like yesterday, and I prefer using iMovie HD for the supposed better video quality when exporting to iDVD and for the ease of marking chapters, which I understand if using iMovie 08, has to be done in Garage Band???
Thanks.

Mish,
Thank you for the workaround - when I copied the clip directly to the media folder of my iMovie project, and then opened iMovie HD, I was able to move them from the trash to my timeline and they displayed correctly as widescreen. YEY!!!! I then shared to iDVD and it worked properly. Double YEY!!!!
Incidentally, when looking in that folder I see that iMovie HD had converted the files that weren't working properly from .mov files to .dv files. I suspect that the conversion of the files corrupted the dimensions.
Using the QT inspector, here is the information it displayed:
Source: /Users/paul/Movies/iMovie Events.localized/Wedding9/clip-2008-08-25 01;03;18.mov
Format: Apple MPEG-2 SD Camcorder Video, 720 x 480 (853 x 480), Millions
16-bit Integer (Little Endian), Left, 48.000 kHz
16-bit Integer (Little Endian), Right, 48.000 kHz
FPS: 29.97
Playing FPS: 30
Data Size: 25.01 MB
Data Rate: 10.23 mbits/s
Normal Size: 853 x 480 pixels
Current Size: 853 x 480 pixels (Actual)
It is interesting that the actual size is 853 x 480, rather than the 720 x 480 that I thought it was.
But as John Cogdell said, "But clearly, something is causing the problem!" Seems like there may be a compatibility issue or a bug in iMovie HD that causes this to happen not only to me, but to other folks. I found about 5 posts last night of others with the same problem (luckily, I was the first to get and answer that works!!!) Thanks John for researching this, too.
Great answer - thanks for taking the time to help me out!!!

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Cannot import as widescreen

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