Here are the main problems I see. Only to Compact Flash? Why wouldn't
you just buy two Sound Devices 702s. It'd be about the same size, well
under half the price, would give you the ability to separate the
recorders in instances where you wanted to record simultaneous
perspectives, and batteries are about $30, and not $150 like Lithium-
Ion NP1s. Not to mention I doubt the Zaxcom preamps are as good as the
7 series. They're probably good enough, but...
Zaxcom's stuff is way overpriced. I remember playing with a Deva, and
that thing was massive, not to mention in the years we had one, Zaxcom
never figured out to offload it's files, and so instead you had to
transfer from it REAL TIME! It was incredibly clunky to use and
navigate their menu structure, and nearly everyone who used it hated
it. I wonder how easy to use the Fusion is.
And a dual 702/722 rig would actually be smaller than a Fusion in
width and depth by a noticeable amount, except for height, where it
would be a half an inch taller. And again, you'd have ability to split
recorders apart if you wanted, useful for planting one and carrying
the other. The dimension comparison:
Fusion = 10.6 x 7.7 x 3.2 and 5.0 Pounds without battery
2 722s Stacked = 8.2 x 4.9 x 3.6 and 4.2 Pounds without battery
There IS some benefit to a single recorder, but $4000 worth?
And I'm sorry, but let me get this straight, for $8000 you can have a
four channel version. For $1000 more, they'll UNLOCK the last four
channels? So NO change in hardware, they're charging you $1000 to turn
on the hardware you already bought? That's about the dumbest thing
I've ever heard. That's like SD saying, well there is a 40 gig hard
drive in your recorder, but we're only allowed you access to the first
20 gigs. But for just another $200 we'll unlock the remaining 20 gigs.
That's ridiculous and insulting.
I've never been impressed with the Zaxcom stuff, and especially with
their prices. I'm still hoping to see a all in one 4 channel Sound
Devices recorder at some point, who knows, maybe NAB will be the time
and they'll release something new.
Tim
On Feb 9, 2008, at 12:37 PM, oryoki2000 wrote:
> The Sound Devices 744t recorder and 442 mixer have new competition for
> multi-channel field recording. The new Zaxcom Fusion is smaller,
> lighter, and has more channels than the 744t and 442.
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