When Grass Valley introduced the REV PRO digital media drive and removable media in 2005, it offered broadcasters and A/V professionals the ability to access and leverage IT-based technologies.
With a capacity of 35GB, a sustained data rate of 110Mb/s supporting dual streaming for simultaneous read/write, and superb reliability and durability, the removable hard disk-based media and drives combine the nonlinear advantages of a traditional hard disk drive with the portability and cost-effectiveness of videotape.
The company's Infinity series of products uses the media to capture, transport and share content within a true file-based workflow. Once projects have been completed, the media can be shared, archived, used to ingest final content to playout servers or used to transport content via express mail in a tape-like manner.
The storage system's unique two-part design offers the durability of solid-state media combined with the affordability of today's magnetic-based tape media. This combination offers a removable media that can be transported without the fear of head damage or the data loss commonly associated with standard hard drives.
The right fit
At NAB2008, Grass Valley introduced two versions of REV PRO for the second generation of the Infinity digital media camcorder — the DMC 1000/20. The media is now available in XP or ER versions, which allows customers to choose between high performance or high capacity, depending on their application. (See Table 1.)
XP is designed for up to 2X real-time HD performance with multistream support, providing in-the-field editing without the need to ingest. ER is optimized for large data storage capacity and captures time at a great value.
Both XP and ER are designed for specific uses. Those users whose primary concerns are media cost and performance tied to short recording times, such as ENG, will choose XP media. Users whose main concern is long recording times with a lower cost per GB of storage, such as EFP and corporate, will choose ER.
While this new generation significantly enhances the format, there are compatibilities with the first generation REV 35. REV 35 media (both professional REV PRO and the consumer version) is compatible with new-generation REV PRO drives for both read (real time or faster) and writes (slower than real time). Those with REV 35 media will read their existing content more often than they need to write or add material to their old media. However, the new ER and XP media is not compatible with existing REV 35 drives.
The platform offers a random access, nonlinear format with an expected shelf life of more than 30 years. An erasing/shredding feature allows the media to be repurposed with confidence that old material cannot be accessed. Multisegment caching allows the media to be used in place in an NLE. There is no need for a time-consuming ingest step, or internal disk management, because two streams can be read or written simultaneously (depending on overall bandwidth). Multilevel password support protects material during transport. Users can retrieve the data with a master password in case they lose or forget their password.
Scott Sheehan is director of marketing for new and emerging markets for Grass Valley.
Table 1. REV PRO media options Single-stream performance (Mb/s) Dual-stream performance (Mb/s) Capacity (GB) Media price Price per GB SD @ 25Mb/s recording time (minutes) HD @ 75Mb/s recording time (minutes) ER, optimized for extended record times 130-240 2 × 65 65 $80 $1.23 >240 >80 XP, optimized for extra performance 170-240 2 × 85 40 $70 $1.75 >140 >50 REV PRO (35GB) 110-204 2 × 55 35 $68 $1.93 >120 >45
