Uploading sony cybershot DSC-T7 movie clips into iMovie

Question

I can import the movie clips from my Sony Cybershot DSC-T7 into iPhoto, and I can play the movies on my Mac. I can move still photos from that camera successfully into iMovie. That's the good news.
But every time I try to move a movie clip from my Sony Cybershot DSC-T7 into the area to create a new project, I get the RED flag.
I even went to an Apple store where they had a session on iMovie to sort it out. The Apple person guessed my inablity to import movie clips from the Sony camera was because my Sony doesn't have the right movie format. Apparently the only kinds of files that iMovie works with are MPEG-4, DV, or .mov files.
What movie format does the Sony Cybershot DSC-T7? If I can successfully hook up the camera via USB port, and can play the movie clips on my Mac, why can't I import them into iMovie?
My current backup measure is to take pictures while my movie clips are running, using the Apple-Shift-3 keys to create stills. But, hey, I want to work with the video stream!
Thanks for any help you can offer.

Answer 1

What movie format does the Sony Cybershot DSC-T7?
MPEG VX. If I remember correctly, this is a full-frame (VGA) of MPEG-1 with up to 30 fps in fine setting. Muxed formats (like MPEG-1, MPEG-2, VOD, TOD, MOD, FLASH, etc.) are not editable at the frame level and must be converted to a compression format that contain synchronized instances (i.e., frames) of audio and video data.
If I can successfully hook up the camera via USB port, and can play the movie clips on my Mac, why can't I import them into iMovie?
There are basically three levels of QT support for video files:
1) PLAYBACK ONLY -- these files can be played back by QT applications but cannot be converted or edited.
2) CONVERSION COMPATIBLE -- These files with play in QT applications and can be converted to "Fully" compatible QT compression formats but cannot be edited at the frame level.
3) FULLY COMPATIBLE -- these files can be played, converted, and edited by QT applications.
Your video files are "Playback Only." If converted by a QT Application (like iMovie '06 or iTunes), they will lose their audio. They can, however, be converted to iMovie '08 import/edit compatible files by MPEG-based, third-party applications like MPEG Streamclip (free), iSquint (free), FFmpegX (donation ware), Visual Hub (pay ware), etc.