We think these drives will shine in a home studio environment, so we tested the compatibility and transfer times between editing machines. After going through the mandatory install wizard, we loaded up a REV PRO disc with 28GB of video and proceeded to edit. We used the REV PRO drive with both our HP xw9300 and our Power Mac G5 in the VM Testing Lab. We didn't come across any hiccups going "cross platform" from the PC to the Mac. Transferring the video took approximately 33 minutes, but once it's on the disc, you can edit directly from it. In fact, these discs have a sustained data transfer rate of 110Mbps for a single stream, or 55 Mbps per two streams. What does this mean? Well, it means that the REV PRO can take more than we can dish out.

Now we have 35 Gigabytes to walk around with, as we go about transferring and editing video. The REV PRO disc capacity makes putting a whole project on a disc a reality. We think it's fun and user friendly, but also a powerful solution for any up-and-coming video producer.

Platform: PC
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2
Processor: Pentium 4 1.4GHz (DV), Pentium 4 3.4GHz HT (HDV), Dual Intel Xeon 2.8GHz (HD), SSE2 for AMD systems
Marketed Raw Capacity: 35GB
Formatted Capacity: 32.5GB as tested
Minimum System Requirements: Windows 2000 Professional or Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Professional x64, Windows Server 2003, Windows Small Business Server 2003, Mac OS 10.4 or Mac OS Server 10.4 and above
External Interface: USB 2.0 (Available in FireWire also)
Disc Dimensions: 3/16"H x 3"W x 3"D
Drive Dimensions: 1.5"H x 4 3/8"W x 6 1/8"D
Total Weight: 14 oz.

• Portability
• Overall manufacturing quality
• Random access

• Plastic drive enclosure
• Pricey discs

The REV PRO is a fool-proof way to back up and transfer your video, especially if you're using multiple computers to edit.

$499 (includes one 35GB REV PRO disc)
Thomson Grass Valley
49 Smith Street
Englewood, NJ 07631
www.thomsongrassvalley.com

Andrew Burke is a world traveler working on a documentary in the jungles of South America.