In a nutshell
The Zaxcom Fusion is similar to its elder the Deva 5.8: twelve track digital recording (while Deva 5.8 records on ten) with eight mic/line inputs on eight XLR connectors on the right panel ; touchscreen display which gives a quick access to all setup menus ; digital sound processing ; eight rotary buttons for trims (they could also be affected to the track faders) ; NP battery internal powering ; backlighted push buttons (shortcuts are different from those of the Deva 5.8).
The main difference is the recording media. Deva 5.8 records on an internal harddrive (not so easy to extract and to copy) as a primary media, and uses Compact Flash or DVD-Ram as secondary media. Fusion has two Compact Flash slots, one for primary, one for secondary (both over 8 GB).
Sounds on primary media are recorded in MARF (Mobile Audio Recording Format), a fault-tolerance file format, which allow to save and restore sound even in the case of a power failure. Sounds on secondary media, mainly for post, are recorded in monophonic or polyphonic BWF on a FAT32 file system which is readable on any operating systems Mac, Windows, Linux...
Our recommendations
Mixing with the Fusion, as with the Deva 5.8, is much easier with the MIX-8, a remote control with eight real Penny & Giles 100 mm faders, and eight rotary for trims. The MIX-8 has to be powered by itself (using any external power source 8-16V DC).
The main difference is the recording media. Deva 5.8 records on an internal harddrive (not so easy to extract and to copy) as a primary media, and uses Compact Flash or DVD-Ram as secondary media. Fusion has two Compact Flash slots, one for primary, one for secondary (both over 8 GB).
Sounds on primary media are recorded in MARF (Mobile Audio Recording Format), a fault-tolerance file format, which allow to save and restore sound even in the case of a power failure. Sounds on secondary media, mainly for post, are recorded in monophonic or polyphonic BWF on a FAT32 file system which is readable on any operating systems Mac, Windows, Linux...