How can I import .mov footage with original pixel aspect ratio?

Question

So the footage is 720x480 Square Pixels (1.0), 29.97 fps, progressive .mov but when I import it into Premiere Pro, they come up compressed as D1/DV NTSC (0.9091) automatically. When I try to Interpret Footage, it simply adds black bars. Why can't it just import correctly? When I preview the original footage, it plays back correctly but the preview inside Premiere Pro shows the distorted version... Please and thank you!!!

Answer 1

The suggestion about "new item" above was short. Here's the "full" version. In the Project Panel, go to the lower right corner ... click on the "New Item" Icon ... as shown here:
The first item on the pop-up menu that will appear should be "Sequence" ... click on it and just say ok at the next screen without even reading it. It's irrelevant, really.
Then going back to your project panel (we assume you've already imported your footage into it) click & drag a clip from the proj. panel to the timeline, or move one from the "Source monitor" to the timeline ... you should get a pop-up asking if you want the timeline changed to your footage, or your footage changed to the timeline. Take the timeline/sequence settings changed to match footage, and go.
That SHOULD take care of the problem in the vast majority of cases. It is such a simple fix, and so often the easiest and "correctist", that it's worth a try. Navigating the choices of setting up sequences is best left for those people who say, study GPU algorithms for a couple hours before going to bed for the sheer exhilaration of it ... unless, of course, PrPro actuall does a face-plant with your footage. But it mostly works good at it ... once you just let it ... so you might give that a try, takes what ... 20 seconds to see if it works?
neil