ProGrade, makers of memory cards, memory card readers, and SSDs, has introduced a new media hub accessory aimed at streamlining the media backup process. Find a first impression below.
PG20 Pro Thunderbolt 4 Hub (North America Power Cable)
all prices excluding sales tax/VAT
Tracking hours in production is important. However, small and independent productions often forget to account for the most important part of what keeps a day’s schedule intact: media management. These are also usually shoots that don’t have personnel dedicated to that very important task.
The ingloriously named media “dumping” process feels like an afterthought to many companies for whom I’ve worked. Long after the day should be done, someone is left with cards, laptops, and drives, while everyone else wraps up or heads home. Without the forethought to account for this vital process, the amount of time spent transferring footage can and usually is greatly impacted by the tech on hand. As we all know, delay usually comes down to some type of hardware bottleneck in and around the drives, cables, or readers being used. All this to say, we’ve all been there – the headache that is “We’re just waiting on this last card. ETA 30 minutes… Oh, now it’s saying 45.” I know I’m not alone in even opting to upload, offload, or transfer media at home so I can be with my loved ones sooner. No matter where you are, though, this part of the job can be a real drag when you don’t have the support of a DIT or other media pro.
Media management hardware has struggled to keep up with the huge file sizes produced by the leaps forward in image making. Clearly, there’s room for advancement. Dozens of high-capacity memory cards collide with slow USB cables and hard drives. On top of it just being a drag, most people are tired from a full day of shooting at this point. What does that lead to? Human error. Those errors can be mitigated by software like ShotPut Pro. (Quick shout out to them for being a phenomenal software solution for footage backup for added peace of mind.) Yet, even with those safeties, do you really want mistakes at this part of the process? You do not. GBs of footage equate to money, time, and shots – some of which can never be filmed again.
Over a decade into my career, I’ve started to insist on speedy hubs, SSDs, and card readers because the time saved is invaluable. The question to pose to producers or the keepers of the company credit card is not: “Why don’t we buy these expensive drives and card readers?” It should be: “Let’s avoid overtime in the following ways for our media managers.”
My point is that this often overlooked part of the shoot day needs to be valued from the planning stages. Therefore, let’s talk card readers and media handling from the folks over at ProGrade, and for me, it all revolves around the ‘Hub’.
The $169.99 ProGrade Digital PG20 Pro Thunderbolt 4 Hub is fast. (Going forward, I’ll call it simply “the hub” in the name of brevity and cuteness. It also pairs well with my ProGrade Digital 8TB PG10 USB4 External SSD, which I’ve enjoyed using since October 2024.
Quick Stats on the PG20 Pro:
- Three Thunderbolt 4 (15W) Ports
- Up to 40 Gb/s Transfer Speeds
- Thunderbolt 4 (85W) Host Connector
- Single USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 Port
To use the hub, you’ll need to make sure your computer has Windows 11 or macOS 11 installed. Of course, to get the most speed out of this, you’ll want a Thunderbolt 4 capable computer. For Mac users, Apple started introducing Thunderbolt 4 in their MacBook Pro line in 2021, and it was added to the iMac and Mini in 2022 and 2023 for the Mac Pro. In 2024, Apple started adding Thunderbolt 5 ports to the MacBook Pro and Mini lines, respectively.
Design
I work on a variety of travel-intensive network and streaming shows. Having something portable that doesn’t add a mess of wires to my desk is important. The hub is self-contained because of a few smart design decisions (provided you use ProGrade card readers).
In particular, you can mount the hub itself to the back of your computer using an included sticky magnetic mount. ProGrade USB 4 readers for CFexpress Type A and CFexpress Type B also connect neatly side by side to the top of the hub using a magnetic system. Obviously, I wouldn’t suggest connecting the magnet mounts to a spinning hard drive. ProGrade has various warnings in their packaging to remind you of that fact during setup.
ProGrade makes short USB 4 cables (pictured above) that fit perfectly between the reader and the hub when the readers are affixed to the top. These two cables are available separately, but they further streamline the design.
Incidentally, the $99 ProGrade USB 4 readers clock a speed of 40 Gb/s, which is nothing to scoff at. Unfortunately, the USB 4 ProGrade readers only have a single slot (no second UHS-II SDXC slot like with the slower ProGrade USB 3.2 readers). In total, you can mount two readers to the Media Hub USB 4 ports, with a third port available for an SSD or another accessory at the same time.
This has evolved somewhat over the years, but on longer format documentary series, we end up being handed a variety of cards:
- CFexpress Type A (for a Sony project) or
- Type B (for something more Canon intensive)
- a mix of SDXC audio cards
- perhaps some MicroSD drone or action cam cards
The hub provides an easy portal for managing all of that media using computers that seem to have fewer built-in ports with every new model.
Testing
For testing, I wanted to explore a simple head-to-head speed comparison while transferring 172GB of CFexpress Type A data on a ProGrade card (advertised 900R, 600W MB/S) using the USB 3.2 ProGrade Reader, while using a 2024 MacBook Pro and then again using a ProGrade USB 4.0 single card reader using the hub. In both cases I’ll send the footage to a ProGrade Digital 8TB PG10 USB4 External SSD mounted to the hub with the same MacBook Pro.
We are looking for a % speed improvement between tests:
Test A (USB 3.2 Reader without Hub):
- 172GB of Footage (Type A CFexpress to SSD) – Time to Drive: 4 minutes, 43 seconds
Test B (USB 4 Single Card Reader + Hub):
- 172GB of Footage (Type A CFexpress to SSD) – Time to Drive: 3 Minutes, 38 seconds
Test Conclusion:
There you have it. A 23% improvement in transfer time spread out over many terabytes of footage translates to lots of time saved.
Final thoughts on the ProGrade Media Hub
The $169.99 ProGrade Digital PG20 Pro Thunderbolt 4 streamlines the footage management process while keeping everything contained with a smart magnet-based design. It’s perfect for travel projects, too.
Yes, we miss the other UHS-II SDXC port on the newest generation of USB 4 Pro Grade readers, but it is a small price to pay for the welcomed speed increase. Yes, you get gently nudged into ProGrade’s reader ecosystem with the ridged/magnet-based design atop the media hub, but I’m okay with that given that the readers are speedy and self-contained in their own right – especially with the shorter USB 4 a la carte ProGrade cables.
I often change my equipment lists dramatically from project to project. It is rare to see carry-over (beyond the camera body or optics, perhaps), but the ProGrade Media Hub is landing a permanent spot on my equipment lists for the foreseeable future. I feel safe calling the hub a new staple. It’s that good.
What do you think? Will you be adding the ProGrade Digital PG20 Pro Thunderbolt 4 Hub to your kit? Let us know in the comments below!
