Trying to import MP4 to iMovie

Alright, so I downloaded a video file from the internet, and the format is apparently MP4. But when I import it to iMovie, it doesn't show up in the event viewer. The event will be created for it, but there's nothing in it. I checked the folder in my iMovie folders, and the file was indeed copied. It just doesn't show up.
I googled this, and someone suggested re-encoding the file as an MP4 in Handbrake, because for some people, that made the file show up in iMovie, which I tried, but apparently Handbrake 0.9.3 doesn't like Leopard 10.5.7 because it keeps crashing just after I start the first encoding process.
Investigation on this revealed that Handbrake doesn't even recommend preparing movies for iMovie using Handbrake, because there's a lot of generational loss along the way. Fine. They recommended converting the file to DV with MPEG Streamclip, another program.
MPEG Streamclip didn't work. All I got was an error that said "Cannot prepare movie". Googling this didn't find me a solution to fix MPEG Streamclip, but DID reveal to me that QuickTime can export MP4's as DV files. So okay. Let's try that.
After exporting my MP4 to DV, and reopening it to check, all I get is a white screen. All the audio is intact. No video. I tried many options and settings and I keep getting the same output. All audio is fine. No video.
Can ANYONE help me get my MP4 file into iMovie?

I also experience this problem. My mp4 clips has been taken with a Samsung NV24HD camera and are HD (720p). I haven't tried to convert these clips but I think it should not be necessary since I can play them in quick time. However I have perian installed, perhaps that's why they play in quick time? The next question is then: Is there a similar plugin to iMovie?

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