When i am previewing in FCP the P2 footage (in the preview window) the footage is stoping and starting, but when I import it into FCP for edditing the footage is fine. I called Apple tech and they were not helpfull.

Sounds like the bandwidth on your import connection isn't high enough. Should be on firewire. Found that it works on USB as well, but make sure it's not sharing a 1.1 USB device on the same chain.