HPZ3100 Gamut Current Position

[Colourcurve]

The HPZ3100 currently has a red gamut performance through the windows / mac driver which is slightly less than the machine is capable of producing.

Top-line RIPs - Onyx, Wasatch etc can drive the printer natively and achieve the same full red gamut as the Canon ipf printers.

The current firmware for the Z3100 addresses the red issue to a great extent and it is now much improved.

Anyone using the older firmware is encouraged to upgrade.

HP are aware of the issue and are working on a final firmware upgrade which will bring the reds to the same level as that achieved by the big RIP companies.

If you are looking at RIPs be aware that most do not drive RGB printers properly as they do not provide a true 700% ink limit despite showing CMYKRGB patches in the profiling software.

This may be interesting: http://www.onyxgfx.com/news.pl?cmd=view&nid=49

Onyx have a new low-cost RIP which has the full-on colour engine of the main product.

It may be an answer to running the Z3100 at full gamut without spending another fortune!

[Jim Cole]

Two questions:

1) Will this SE RIP use the built in spectro of the Z3100 or is the Onyx RIP like ImagePrint which uses downloaded profiles?

2) Have you seen any published prices yet? Nothing seems to beon the Onyx site other than the announcement ofthe two new RIPs.

Thanks,
Jim

[Colourcurve]

Hi Jim

The new RIP comes in two flavours - the  Pro version comes with the full Media Manager which is what you need to build profiles and can utilise the on-board spectro of the Z series. The SE version will use standard Onyx downloaded / imported profiles.

No idea of cost yet I'm afraid.

Thanks

Two questions:

1) Will this SE RIP use the built in spectro of the Z3100 or is the Onyx RIP like ImagePrint which uses downloaded profiles?

2) Have you seen any published prices yet? Nothing seems to beon the Onyx site other than the announcement ofthe two new RIPs.

Thanks,
Jim
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[Jim Cole]

Thanks for the info. I will be very interested in the Pro version depending on the price. It looks like it will be the first RIP available to take advantage of the onboard spectrometer.

Forgot to ask...any idea of a release date?

Thanks again,
Jim

Hi Jim

The new RIP comes in two flavours - the  Pro version comes with the full Media Manager which is what you need to build profiles and can utilise the on-board spectro of the Z series. The SE version will use standard Onyx downloaded / imported profiles.

No idea of cost yet I'm afraid.

[Colourcurve]

Hi

The current standard Onyx RIP can already utilise the onboard spectro but I still prefer the hand-held version!

No idea of release date either I'm afraid.

I've had the pre-release version for a while and it seems fine so it won't be long I'm sure.

[adiallo]

I've had the pre-release version...
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You've uttered the magic words now  
Media Manager is the RIP's built-in profiling engine? Is this the same technology used in Production House? Is the GammaPrint Pro version building RGB or CMYKRGB profiles? If the calibration and profiling is happening through the on-board spectro, are the targets unique to Onyx? Does the Onyx driver print equal RGB values using only the black and gray inks?
This sounds very promising. A nice middle ground of control between ImagePrint and StudioPrint. Who is the best person to reach for technical info? I called Onyx but the sales rep wasn't too familiar with it and passed me off to the regional sales rep whom I'm hoping to hear from next week.
Oh, and thanks for sharing the info...

[Colourcurve]

Hi

The one I've seen didn't have Media Manager unfortunately.

However, I understand it will be the same as the standard version with the same technology - including the new Colour engine unique to Onyx.

It builds true CMYKRGB profiles with full control over the ink restrictions, ink limits, linearisation, icc etc.

Onyx controls the spectro like a normal eye-one, producing Onyx CMYKRGB targets and profiles - the spectro just happens to be hidden in the printer rather than in your hand. Think of it as a very big DTP70!

To this end theoretically you can use the Z3100 to build profiles for other printers.

I'll try to glean what info I can next week as no-one seems to know much about it at present, as you also found out.