WOW... help please

Question

so i just got FCP and i am lost... i have three main problems right now
(a) i'm lost (in due time this should resign)
(b) the clips that i imported into my compy, using imovie (.dv format) work in the viewer, but when it gets onto the canvas... the audio does a "beep, beep, beep, beep" like a countdown or somethin... the clips were imported using an 8mm camera and a dv bridge. is there a reason the audio would work fine with the viewer and not the canvas?
(c) i got a new cam for xmas and it's an HD cam. I imported some clips (again with imovie) off of my HD cam and the picture is awesome. This time, in the viewer the clips look great, but when i add it to the canvas, and play it, a big blue screen shows up and says "unrendered" while the audio plays in perfectly (these clips are in a .mov format)
i know that there are SO many more gadgets to FCP, but jeez, i'm feelin stupid
any ideas would be awesome..
one more thing... the clips are stored on an external HD connected via 1394

Answer 1

a) Do the tutorials, read the manual, take a class. Trying to just JUMP into a project without any knowledge on how to use the NLE is dangerous and will lead to a lot of wasted time and effort. Because not knowing how a certain NLE works, and how you should do this in that NLE...you will end up doing a lot of things over...for example:
(b) the clips that i imported into my compy, using imovie (.dv format)
That is the absolute WRONG thing to do. Never ever EVER capture footage in one NLE for use in another. Even though these are both made by Apple, the capture very differently.
Shane's Stock Answer #20: Using iMovie to Capture for use in FCP.
iMovie handles the media differently from FCP, specifically where audio is concerned. So it is not a recommended workflow. Here's why...
iMovie captures using DV Stream (.dv) standard which does not use timecode. That is a big disadvantage over the way that FCP captures in that you can't go back and recapture the material at a later date if you need to revisit a project.
The DV/NTSC specification (the one FCP uses) also calls for seperate tracks for audio and video, even if you capture it as one clip. iMovie' DV stream format is muxed audio and video, which means that they are tied together (I can't get into specifics because I ain't no engineer or programmer). FCP is a bit more demanding and captures the seperate audio/video tracks, either in a single media file or as seperate video and audio files. With FCP you could capture video only or audio only because each is defined by the DV specs. while with iMovie you can't.
Also, if you drop the iMovie footage into the timeline, your will get the RED render bar forcing you to render the footage in order to see it. You can use either QT Pro or Compressor to convert the .dv footage into DV/NTSC in order for FCP to work with it without needing to render.
(c) - See above stock answer.
If you want to use FCP to edit...capture with FCP. If you want to use iMovie to capture...edit with iMovie.
Shane