Progress. Good.
OK so what format is the Sony camera producing? How are you getting the data off the camera? Are you capturing from miniDV, copying from hard disk, copying from a card?
Tell you what - tell us what camera and we'll take a guess for you
Seriously, download GSpot (google it - it's free) and run your clips in that. It'll tell you loads of info and may well highlight what codec you've got a problem with.