Since last year, Media 100 has been shipping one of the handiest pieces of digital video gear yet, the Remote Field Editor (RFE). Now, the Marlboro, Massachusetts company has improved the popular turnkey unit ($24,995), slimming it down by ten pounds and adding some great new features along with a new aluminum case. Buoyed by the fact that they were able to sell every unit they made for the past year, Media 100 saw an urgent need for these tiny broadcast-quality editors and improved upon the already-successful concept.

Users wanted more power, more options and a smaller size. So, the fact that Apple bumped up the speed to 500 MHz in its line of Mac G3 PowerBooks helped out a bit, along with the 256 MB of RAM and 72GB of hard disk space placed in the unit. And, this is not some stripped-down offline system, either. Take a look at the features list below, and you'll see that all the attributes of the Media 100 xs system are all there. It includes the DV Option and RealTimeFX option, so you and your cohorts won't have to stand around watching a render thermometer.

I could use a unit like this. For example, if I want to plug in a component video camera on-site, shoot some video and record it right into the unit, then edit it then and there, I'm in business. It's tapeless production. Sometimes, if you're at a tough-to-get-at location, you really don't want to have to return there for more shots. This way, you're able to edit or rough cut your piece as you go, with the client right there breathing down your neck (ugh, on second thought, that could be undesirable!). Want to run some SDI data into the unit? Can do. Film shooters like to feed the video assist into the RFE, then edit their dailies right there for approval. The unit is also popular with trade show attendees who are shooting and editing video packages on-location -- they're shooting in the morning, editing in the afternoon, and serving their video on the Web that same night, all on-site.

The unit is considerably smaller than the first iteration of the RFE. As you can see by the photo above, the guts of this system fit nicely underneath the PowerBook, making for a pleasantly compact package. It all fits into a new Zero-brand aluminum case, a welcome sight for plane-bound producers who already have a carryon and need to safely check this editing system into the baggage hold. The previous unit weighed 30 lb. without its case, now the unit weighs 20 lb. and in the sturdy aluminum case weighs a total of 30 lb. That's not much heavier than a notebook computer, and certainly lighter than most trade-show-bound suitcases.

The Remote Field Editor consists of a Media 100 system featuring: