Need to render audio in Final Cut Express?

[Bill_Friedman]

I am trying to import a DVD into Final Cut Express and have succeeded using the DV settings in ffmpegX. However, the audio tracks need to be rendered after the .dv file is imported into FCE. Checking the item properties in FCE for the imported audio I find that it is 32 bit. When I look at result of capturing DV from my camcorder directly into FCE I find that the audio is 16 bit. Could that be the reason that I need to render the ffmpegX converted files? I have over 9 hours of material to work with so it would be nice if I could configure ffmpegX to skip the additional render step which must be repeated each time a new clip is added to the timeline.

[Case]

I'm pretty sure the output from ffmpegX will have DV audio at 16-bit, little endian, signed linear PCM, 48 kHz. Apps like VideoSpec or MediaInfo Mac should be able to confirm this.
32 bit floating point is not valid for DV.

What I think is happening is that Final Cut Express/Final Cut Pro/iMovie will calculate with imported audio at 32 bit floating point to get accurate samples when mixing and transforming the audio track. This is how Final Cut works. No setting in the conversion to DV can change that. I don't have/use Final Cut, but I assume the manual/user guide will have a paragraph on 32 bit audio explaining this more detailed.