Mac noob: importing 16:9 AVI movie to iMovie 5.0.2 scrunches clip to 4:3

Hello,
My name is Amanda and I am a part time wedding videographer. I recently received my salvation since I converted from a PC to a Mac. :O)
Anyway, I've been using Adobe Premiere 1.5 & 2.0 for the past year. Recently I discovered how easy it is to use iMovie 5.0.2 and iDVD.
The problem I am having is I have 16:9 AVI clips, rendered from Adobe Premiere, that I would like to import to iMovie 5 for final editing. Upon importing widescreen AVI clips, they appear scrunched iMovie preview mode. Oddly enough, on the AVI file properties (in Windows) indicate that AVI files are 720x480. That's 3:2!
Is there a setting or configuration that prevents iMovie from scrunching the 16:9 clip to 4:3?
~Amanda
Buena Park, CA

Obviously the AVI clip isn't flagged as 16:9.
Try to open it in QT Player Pro and export it as NTSC DV/DVCPRO and flag it as 16:9.
Then use this quick iMovie import shortcut to save time and HD space (it is possible to bypass iMovie's DV import and put a .dv file straight into iMovie_project/Media -folder):
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_6_bugs.html#quick_DVimport
BTW, both 4:3 and 16:9 NTSC use 720x480 -- they are just scaled differently. You also have to remember that video use rectangular pixels AND that the actual active frame is INSIDE that 720x480. So you need more complicated calculations for the aspect ratios. For more info, see:
http://www.iki.fi/znark/video/conversion/

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