Ross reimagines chroma key with ACID

The new ACID range: distinctive branding, distinctive results

While at the extreme high-end of things the Lytro Cinema System has been pointing to the death of greenscreen, in the world the rest of us will have to work in for a few years yet Ross Video’s new chroma key system looks very interesting.

There are two components to the complete system: two new ACID cameras aimed at different sectors of the market and the new Carbonite UltrachromeHR multichannel chroma key processor, based on the company’s existing Carbonite Black production platform.

The company says that the cameras, the ACID H200 and ACID Z50, have been designed to provide the very best image compositing from chroma key sets (as well as decent ones from any environment, it hesitates to point out). They therefore output standard SMPTE 4:2:2 video signals for use in any production, but come into their own when they output a special 0:4:4 full bandwidth colour signal. Carbonite UltrachromeHR accepts this special full resolution chroma signal and internally combines it with the standard video input to produce a full resolution 4:4:4 signal from which you can pull key edges that the company says are simply not possible from standard video inputs.

The ACID H200 is a Full HD 1080P, 3-imager camera that utilises the very latest 2/3” UAIT CMOS sensors. “Sensitivity, Signal to Noise and overall picture resolution are unmatched by any competitor” claims Ross, partly due to its three 2.6 MP image sensors and standard 2/3” B4 lens mount.

The ACID Z50, meanwhile, is a more moderately priced, three CCD sensor 1080i/720P HD camera performer for slightly less demanding applications that looks to fit well into mid range production systems.

As with all Ross kit, the cameras also feature DashBoard control. meaning that all camera operation, setup and shading can be performed from DashBoard panels including the transfer and recall of scene files from one ACID camera to another.

The Carbonite UltrachromeHR, meanwhile, includes up to four high-resolution chroma keyers, each with full control of delay management, fill color temperature for scene matching, foreground key and fill, internal storage for animated graphics, and much more.

No word yet on pricing or availability, but it’s a neat system and, as you can see from the promo video below, the finished results look pretty good.