Hi my apologies if my question is obvioulsly flawed. I'm shooting a short in November and I'm very interested in using one of the new HDV cams. As i have a number of green/blue screen shots, would it be possible to shoot it using the JVC hd100/Z1. But by using the component outputs to feed the signal into a HDCAM recording deck. Would this give me the compression ratio of HDCAM?

Yes, if you have access to an HDCAM deck that accepts analog component inputs, you could do what you suggest and bypass the HDV compression completely.

HDCAM doesn't record 720p, so you'd have to cross-convert the JVC signal from 720/60p over to 1080/60i.

Thanks Barry for your quick response, I shall now endevour to try and relieve my local rental firm of a Hd 100 and HDcam deck at "testing prices"

As HD-CAM only has 3:1:1 chroma resolution (8-bit) you will get better results with a Panasonic D5 desk which will capture 4:2:2 (10-bit.) This will help with keying. Again you will need a analog to HDSDI converter in the chain.

Thanks David, i'll start doing some homework on this.