
REV PRO

REV PRO TECHNICAL GUIDE
Single Stream
Single Stream
Single Stream
REV PRO 35REV PRO ERREV PRO XP
55
55
Dual
Streams
110
Dual
Streams
Dual
Streams
130
65
65
190
85
85
REV PRO™ media and drives are specifically designed
and developed to meet the requirements of video pro-
fessionals and their desire to migrate to a complete file-
based workflow. REV PRO’s revolutionary Removable
Rigid Disk (RRD) technology combines the benefits of
hard drive technology (speed, reliability, and non-linear
access) with videotape (portability, ease of use, and low
cost). The end result is an extremely durable and reliable
medium, fully supporting professional video workflows.
REV PRO media provide fast random access to video
clips. Files can be edited and moved around easily—just
like a hard drive. REV PRO media are well suited for
high-speed data transfers and perfect for true HD acqui-
sition and editing. Its enhanced multi-segment caching
delivers dual-stream performance to allow for simultane-
ous read and write access. REV PRO is ideally suited for
everyday video, graphics, and/or rigorous field produc-
tion applications. It is a medium that is flexible and can
be readily re-purposed in any file-based workflow. There
are currently two lines of REV PRO media and drives:
The REV PRO 35 line and the REV PRO XP/ER line.
REV PRO combines the best of both worlds: the portability and
ease of use of tape, with the non-linear access capabilities of
hard drives.
REV PRO provides dual stream performance for
simultaneous record and playback or real-time cross
dissolves in editing environments.
2

Record Time Comparison of Common SD/HD Data Rates on REV PRO Media
REV PRO TECHNICAL GUIDE
Single Stream
Perf. (Mb/s)
ER, optimized for
Extended Record
times
XP, optimized for
eXtra Performance
REV PRO 35 110-204 2X 55 35 >120 >45
130-240 2X 65 65 >240 >80
170-240 2X 85 40 >140 >50
Storage Capacity
REV PRO media have the storage capacity of up to
80 minutes of HD and up to 4 hours of SD material,
depending on the chosen codec and bit rate. High
performance, sustained data rates allow for real-time
record/play capability directly from the media. REV PRO
allows users to record and play back two simultaneous
HD streams with enough added bandwidth for audio and
metadata.
Dual Stream Perf.
(Mb/s)
Capacity
(GB)
SD @25 Mb/s
Recording Time
HD @75 Mb/s
Recording Time
Durability
REV PRO media use standard 2.5-inch laptop hard drive
components, but are engineered for much greater dura-
bility and reliability by placing only the magnetic medium
and motor within the removable cartridge and adding
additional redundancy to the medium. The drive’s heads
and electronics remain in the drive assembly.
The media can be used in harsh environments and are
resistant to damage within extreme operating tempera-
tures, dust, wind, moisture, high altitudes, shock, and
™
vibration. The Grass Valley
Digital Media Camcorder
(DMC) and Digital Media Recorder (DMR) protect the
REV PRO Highlights
Temperature
Ambient Operating Environment -10 to 60ºC (14 to 140ºF)
Ambient Non-Operating Environ. -40 to 65ºC (-40 to 149ºF)
media even beyond this level.
The disk and drive have been designed to perform a
greater number of insertions than any other type of
removable media. Additionally, each disk can perform
Humidity
Ambient Operating Humidity 8 to 90% R.H. (Non-condensing)
Ambient Non-Operating Humidity 5 to 95% R.H. (Non-condensing)
Electrostatic Discharge Up to 8 KV air discharge,
4 KV contact
over one million record/erase cycles without failure.
Altitude
Operating -300 to 4,572 meters (15,000 ft.)
3

Drive chassis
Disk retention
mechanism
Drive shutter
elastomeric seal
Head stack assembly
Drive electronics (PCB)
Eject motor
Eject mechanism
Control interface
connector
REV PRO Drive Exploded View
Hard disk platter
Desiccant
(moisture regulating)
Disk housing
Spindle motor
Disk shutter
elastomeric seal
Contamination filter
Electronic connection
to drive assembly
REV PRO TECHNICAL GUIDE
REV PRO Disk Exploded View
The REV PRO system is composed
of a drive assembly and a removable
disk—adding unlimited expandability
and flexibility to your workflow.
4

Contamination Control
REV PRO Drive REV PRO Disk
Shutter door
Retention mechanism
Clean zone
Shutter door
Retention
pocket
Seal
Heads
Filter
Desiccant
HDD platter
Labyrinth air chamber
REV PRO removable hard drive-based media have been
designed with a comprehensive set of tools that control
and mitigate the effects of contamination. The result
of extensive research and practical testing led to the
development of a simple contamination strategy for REV
PRO: start clean, stay clean.
REV PRO employs a unique, patented labyrinth-type
design, which features multiple seals for a very effec-
tive barrier to outside contaminants such as airborne
particulates, gasses, and corrosion. A unique two-stage
shutter mechanism does not open until the disk is com-
pletely seated in the drive. This start-clean, stay-clean
mechanism is designed to keep the heads and media in
a virtual clean room environment.
REV PRO incorporates a charcoal desiccant inside each
cartridge to provide additional protection from mois-
ture, corrosion, and out-gassing. Advanced filtration,
automatic head cleaning, and robust two-stage error
correction are employed to ensure high data integrity
and reliability. The media design also includes a robust
recirculation filter on each cartridge to filter the air inside
the cartridge each time the disk spins, effectively remov-
ing any airborne contaminants that made it past the
cartridge seal.
REV PRO TECHNICAL GUIDE
A two-stage shutter mechanism—one in the drive,
the other in the disk—creates a virtual clean room
environment inside the REV PRO drive assembly.
As a comparison, videotape and optical disks are open
media with few safeguards against exposure to outside
elements that can contaminate or optically block record-
ing heads and erode stored media.
REV PRO uses an advanced filtration system and
labyrinth-type cartridge construction to control
contamination.
5

Guaranteed Archival Lifespan
REV PRO TECHNICAL GUIDE
The REV PRO media long-term archival rating is speci-
fied to over 30 years. The engineers designed RRD tech-
nology to ensure long shelf life by identifying the causes
of long-term media degradation and engineered REV
PRO to minimize those specific effects. Normal factors
of long-term media degradation include thermal stability,
self-demagnetization, media corrosion, motor or connec-
tor failure, particulate infiltration, contamination, out-gas-
sing, and adhesive breakdown. All of these factors have
been addressed and dealt with for REV PRO.
Remaining amplitude after 30 years (%)
100
97.5
95
92.5
90
87.5
To prevent issues of adhesive breakdown, REV PRO car-
tridges use only high-quality, HDD-approved adhesives
for mounting the internal desiccant and filter inside the
cartridge housing. The adhesive is rated for continuous
80ºC (176ºF) conditions.
Unlike REV PRO media, videotape can deteriorate rap-
idly over time as a result of exposure to oxygen, atmo-
spheric moisture, and heat—a process called hydrolysis.
70 Gb/in.
2
85
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 0.8
1.2
Thermal decay rate (% decade)
Even at constant 70˚C (158˚F) temperatures, REV PRO media decays less than 1% every
ten years.
6

REV PRO TECHNICAL GUIDE
Summary
REV PRO removable disk-based media offer unprec-
edented durability and performance, in media that can
support video recording, playback, storage, archival and
high capacity transport. It provides a truly open solution
for file-based production workflows.
Technical Features at a Glance
Different capacities to support various workflow •
requirements and pricing
Media data transfer rate to support in the field editing •
and fast ingest
12 msec average seek time•
30-year shelf life•
Two-level enhanced error correction code (ECC)•
7

REV PRO TECHNICAL GUIDE
SALES
Local and regional sales contacts can be found by visiting
www.grassvalley.com/sales
www.grassvalley.com
© Copyright 2009 Thomson. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. Grass Valley and REV PRO are trademarks of Grass Valley, Inc. All other
tradenames referenced are service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Specifications subject to
change without notice. GV-3069M-1
Local and regional support contacts can be found by visiting
SUPPORT
www.grassvalley.com/support