Advice on RIP Software

[OCiliberti]

We are purchasing a Epson 7900
and would like some advice on wether
to purchase either Colorburst or Imageprint 7 Software
Our work consists of 60% CMYK proofing for print
and 40 Photos

thanks in advance

[teddillard]

My money is on Colorburst for a few reasons.  

First, it's an integrated product with Epson, so, in my experience, you get support from both Epson and Colorburst.  Colorburst runs a great online forum-style help, and they're on it.  You often get answers immediately.  

Second, it simply works great.  The newer versions are much improved, give you a lot of control, but also allow you to run it out of the box very well.  

Ideally a RIP is an appliance- you want it to run like a toaster, so the root of it is reliability and support, whether you're using it for proofing, fine printing or just ripping PS files.  Ironically, many RIPs lack just that, websites are bad, no support, no customer service, whereas ColorBurst has always been right there.  In theory, too, you'd expect because of their relationship with Epson they're going to continue that effort, although that's not how EFI went with HP, IMO.

As far as quality of the print goes, I'll just say I've seen no discernible difference between prints made by both, but it was hardly a scientific comparison.

[jareddimartine]

Ted makes a lot of strong arguments for colorburst.

I've only used imageprint, and it's so good it has made printing a thoughtless process.  I actually think I may be dumber because of how well the profiles perform and how easy it is to get exactly what you want.

Hell, i can't remember the last time I needed to print a test strip.  I pick the profile for the paper i'm using, set my print dimensions and hit print.  It's right, every time.

However, their customer service is leaving me high and dry right now, and I work in IT for a college with over 40 active medium and large format licenses, so I can imagine they're not much use to an individual user....

I have never tried colorburst, but when it comes time to make some choices about what technology we use in the school, I'll have them on my shortlist to test out for possible replacements of imageprint.  If their quality, ease of use and available paper profiles can compete....