.DV and .MOV files don't play smoothly in the Final Cut Express viewer

Hi,
I bought Final Cut Express 4.0 yesterday, so I have no experience with it. I only used iMovies HD 6.0.3 a little before.
Problem:
When I import my .MOV and .DV files into FCE 4.0, then try to watch them in the viewer they don't play smoothly. The sound is fine, but the video is not smooth, it plays in stops and starts.
Just to see, I tried importing a .FLV file and it plays just fine in the viewer, both audio and video runs smoothly with no 'stop starting'
I experimented with importing different file sizes of .DV and .MOV, from 3GB to a few MB even and even very small clips of a few KB. But regardless of the size I always have this problem of them not running smoothly in the viewer.
One of the .MOV files I tried to import was a reference file, and I later read in the manual that FCE may only recognise the original file. But I have the same problem even with the Original file and other self contained files that have been copied from the original. So it doesnt seem to just a problem with reference files.
Any idea what the problem might be?
Is it something to do with how I have FCE set up?
Or is it that the .MOV and .DV files are not being properly imported and is this why they are not running smoothly in the viewer?
I'm using a MacBook with 10.4.11 operating system, which the guys at my local Apple store said would be fine for using FCE 4.0.
Hope someone can help,
Ian.

Look at item properties for the .mov and .dv files. What exactly does it say they are? What drive are they playing back from? Make sure the contents of the viewer are set to fit to window in the View popup at the top of the viewer.

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