Set 1: G Chroma Smoother

This filter combines a speedy and high quality field blending de-interlace with a 4:1:1 or 4:2:0 (progressive or interlace) DV colour sampling custom interpolator that increase the colour sampling to 4:4:4. Use the DV Colour Fix before chroma keying for improved keying or when boosting DV to DigiBeta.
DV digital video is a great format that has many advantages, not least size and cost, but this comes at the price of compression. Most digital video, whether it be DV, DVCAM, DVCPro (50), Digital-S, Digital Betacam, Betacam SX, HDCAM etc. is compressed in some way. One way in which these formats differ is in how they compress the colour information in your video signal. Colour information is routinely compressed by reducing it's resolution compared to that of the luma part of the video signal. Digital video records the video picture as one luma component (Y’) and two chroma components (Cb & Cr). The resolution of the Cb & Cr chroma components is often recorded at half the horizontal resolution of the luma component.

There are a set of short-hand descriptions of the various ways that the colour can be recorded as a fraction of the resolution of the luma signal:

4:4:4 no reduction in chroma resolution. The resolution of the chroma is identical to that of the luma.

4:2:2 standard for broadcast video - the resolution of the chroma is 1/2 that of the luma; used by Digital Betacam, DVCPro 50, Digital-S etc.

4:1:1 the resolution of the chroma is 1/4 of that of the luma; used by NTSC DV and DVCAM, and PAL and NTSC DVCPro

4:2:0 the resolution of the chroma is 1/2 of that of the luma in both horizontal and vertical directions; used by DVD, PAL DV and DVCAM

For more information on Chroma sampling, please view the article “Chroma Sampling: An Investigation” at www.lafcpug.org/Tutorials/basic_chroma_sample.html.

For more advanced chroma sampling correction see G Nicer and G Chroma Sharpen in Film Effects.