I guess all things are learned the hard way (after keying for hours on 4:2:0 footage from my HD-100), but I want to see what my options are for better keys on my next shoot. I have a quadcore g5 and I want to be able to capture the available 4:2:2 color sampled footage through the componant. I know it will have to be "live captured" since the tape is 4:2:0. If we are shooting in a large area inside, it doesnt matter that I have to set up a tower for this.

The question here is: If I get a Kona device (either the 3 or the LH) then how does that work with direct capture from the camera? I have a second internal drive that I would be capturing to. I noticed that it can only capture 720p in 59.97 or 60 fps so 24p is out? Also, with this set up can I turn my HD display into a reference monitor?

Are there any other thoughts on my delima of needing to capture higher quality footage for green screening or special effects? I have learned all the tricks in Shake about converting color spaces and blurring the y and converting back. Also using the luminance to make the key instead of the color. Im not really a fan of this whole run-around, but if I must... I will.

Thanks, guys.

Be sure to post your results. I'm interested to see what kind kind of image quality you'll get...

Hey James,

My advice is you might want to stick with HDV/firewire on your HD100 and look at lighting instead. By spending more time (and/or money) on better lighting, both the screen and talent, you can more often than not get better results than going the component route, again with your specific camera. The cost of component capture for 4:2:2 color IMO was not worth the loss in image detail. This was covered a little bit, not too long ago, I hope you find some answers in this posted link.

Peace!

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=88954




.

Thanks for the link. Actually we had a large budget for the trailer we were shooting and Bob Driskell was our gaffer. We rented the best lighting truck in town, so lighting wasn't the issue. I'll post some pics of what I'm talking about. We are renting a Kona 3 for a day to do some testing and import live to get 4:2:2 in as DVCPro HD. The other thread was talking about the horizontal squeeze, with DVCPro HD and I totally understand as an animator in AE, but the color space is becoming more and more important to me for keying, and even tracking.

All the shots of green screening that people have posted look pretty good on the web with compression. We are putting this out on DVD (which is compressed) but you will see more flaws.