HP 10PS printer
HP 10PS printer
- Subject: HP 10PS printer
- From: Dan Reid <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 07 Nov 2001 12:43:41 -0700
Hey folks,
Last week I finally got to work with the new 10PS printer. The 10PS
includes a single user ScanVec Amiable Mac/PC RIP software. The 20PS is
designed for multiple users connecting over a network. The 50PS includes a
Heidelberg RIP instead of ScanVec Amiable.
Firstly I was very impressed by the design of printer. Large separate
ink cartridges, separate user replaceable print heads, support for B size
printing, and on-board colorimeter for linearization/calibration of media
all for under $1,000 makes the 10PS a heck of a deal.
The calibration process is simple. Merely select the calibration command
from a pulldown menu and then select the HP paper you want to calibrate.
Interestingly enough when I calibrated one HP paper stock other paper stocks
were also listed as being calibrated too which I found odd. The calibration
process prints a target of series of percentages of each primary and LT
primaries. Instead of 4/C printout the calibration chart had seperate ink
percentage calibration for the LT cyan and magenta. Weird. After the
printing the printer sucks the print back into the printer and reads the
printed values with the internal colorimeter. The calibration process was
easy and produced good results.
After I created a profile I printed the PDI.jpg file with all of the
color corrections defeated in the RIP from Photoshop, converting to the
custom profile on printing. The output was nothing less than gorgeous.
The 10PS does not support proofing scenarios. You can load an output
profile and designate seperate input profiles for RGB and CMYK. I didn't
check but it doesn't appear to support embedded profiles in docs either. The
10PS would be ideal for a photographer wanting high quality non-archival
output. If your needing proofing workflow look instead at the 50PS with the
more robust Heildelberg RIP. At $3,500 list you can't beat the quality of
output and sophistication of Heildelberg RIP and that's includding the
printer too!
O.k. now the bad news. The ScanVec Amiable RIP tested on Dual 500 G4
with 500+MB of RAM and was a real dog. It took forever for the RIP to begin
RIPing the file. Normally the postscript file is spooled to the desktop
printer and then handed off to the RIP. The spooling of an 8x10 print at
200ppi took several mintues to get it to the RIP to start RIPing the file.
Another couple minutes was needed to acutally RIP the file. No RIP and print
and same time support. All in all it took 10mins to get an 8x10 print out.
The 10PS prints fairly quickly once it gets the file but all the spooling
and processing is really quite sluggish. The dual G4 was unresponsive and
sluggish while all this processing was happening -- i.e. you couldn't do
other tasks without a signifant wait.
To get around this sluggishness I increased the memory of the RIP
substantially from the recommendation. No change in performance. I turned on
virtual memory. No change still. I removed Adobe PS virtual printer and
watermark files from the printer descirption list in the extensions
recommended by HP's online. No difference. I even disabled spooling to get
the file directly to the RIP but there wasn't an appreciable difference in
time saved too.
Any thoughts or comments of other things to try would be appreaciated.
Soooo, the output is fantastic but the software, at least for the 10PS
and potentially the 20PS too, leaves a lot to be desired. I would lean
towards the 50PS which includes the better Heidelberg RIP instead of the
ScanVec Amiable.
--
Dan B. Reid
RENAISSANCE PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGING
Color Imaging Solutions Provider
http://www.rpimaging.com | email@hidden
Toll Free: (866) RGB-CMYK [ 866-742-2695 ]
Local: (505) 471-4126