Dropped Frames / Choppy Video

I've read through the discussions and had a bit of luck finding solutions to my problem, but apparently it isn't fixing the root.
I'm running Final Cut Express 3.5.1 on a new 3.06 GHz iMac that I only purchased a week ago. I've started editing some video footage and between one day and the next I only get choppy video. The previously rendered videos still work fine, even within the viewer or if re-rendered. But the new content, in the same file format and recorded the on the same device with the same settings, give me choppy video.
I've done everything that I could think of, including restart, software update, checked my Fit-to-Window in the viewer brought the files straight to the internal hard drive and even increased my scratch disk size. Nothing seems to make a difference.

Two things you could try if you haven't already:-
1. Trash Preferences EXACTLY as detailed here... http://www.fcpbook.com/Misc1.html
2. Open a new User Account and use FCE from that.
I notice you don't mention what "the same file format" is ?

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