Hi scott, i think i know the answer to these questions...
The videos must keep 'Aspect Ratio' (google it), so it doesnt matter if you show them in the interface or on a 2nd monitor/tv, the clips must always keep relative size to look normal and not stretched. Ps: It also depends on the format the video was created in.
There is a delay before videos show because if it shows straight away as soon as you select a track it covers the interface and frustrates further track selection, we found in our tests that it gets anoying real quick.
Steve