Club Cobra - Any Chroma Key-Green Screen experts out there?

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Any Chroma Key-Green Screen experts out there?

I love green screen technology and have used it a few time with my elementary school kids--I'm a technology teacher. So far I have only done post production work using software to combine the green screen shots with other pictures or videos.

I wanted to investigate real time green screen technology, just like the weathermen use on TV-on a smaller budget!

Any tips or resources?

Thanks

Green screen is better known in television broadcast as chroma-key. Real time chroma-key can use any color as the key. Green and blue are traditional. Green is primarily used in TV (the weatherperson will wear a blue suit or shirt, but probably not a green one) while blue was primarily used in film production.

Unfortunately, good realtime chroma key can be very expensive. Well out of the budget of a school. There is hardware used specifically for this. There are lower priced units, but be warned that the key quality can be very poor.

Typically, the chroma key is an option built into a 'production switcher' which is also a very expensive piece of gear. The cheapest keyer I found on the web was $2800. Who knows how good it is. I have no specific recommendations. I've seen 'professional' keyers trying to be sold at professional trade shows that were garbage. So don't buy anything unless you see a live demonstration of it in action or get a very very good recommendation.

Search for 'chroma key' and 'production switcher'.

Thanks for the info Paul F. I have a feeling it might be beyond my budget but will explore it further. I appreciate your time.

Here is a toy that can almost do what I want for less than $50 bucks.
http://www.hasbro.com/playskool/dancecam/