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Author Topic: Excessive XRite upgrade price to i1Publish software  (Read 2709 times)

jlua001

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Excessive XRite upgrade price to i1Publish software
« on: May 04, 2011, 01:05:24 pm »

I own the XRite iPhoto product, and I just got off the phone with XRite to ask about the upgrade price to the newly announced iPublish software. I was shocked to say the least to hear that the upgrade price is $499!!! Frankly, in my humble opinion, this software upgrade price is way over the top and hugely excessive. I wonder if anybody will fall for it. It has some new features that, frankly, I don´t find particularly compelling, and that I definitely don´t need. I only need the screen module and the professional RGB optput module, which is what I now own.

I would be interested to hear your opinions here.
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terrywyse

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Re: Excessive XRite upgrade price to i1Publish software
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2011, 01:30:50 pm »

I own the XRite iPhoto product, and I just got off the phone with XRite to ask about the upgrade price to the newly announced iPublish software. I was shocked to say the least to hear that the upgrade price is $499!!! Frankly, in my humble opinion, this software upgrade price is way over the top and hugely excessive. I wonder if anybody will fall for it. It has some new features that, frankly, I don´t find particularly compelling, and that I definitely don´t need. I only need the screen module and the professional RGB optput module, which is what I now own.

I would be interested to hear your opinions here.

No sympathy here.....I think it's very reasonable considering that not so many years ago professional level output profiling software cost upwards of $2,000....still does actually. Think about what you originally paid for ProfileMaker or MonacoPROFILER.

If you don't find the software compelling, don't buy it.....but also consider that what you're using now may or may-not work with the latest 64bit operating systems....that might be reason enough to upgrade.

I would contend that if you're a PM5 user, you'll see a marked improvement in the quality of i1Profiler profiles.....if you're a Monaco user, the improvement is questionable but there's other features that might make the upgrade compelling.

REgards,
Terry

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Terry Wyse
Color Management Specialist, Shutterfly Inc.
Dabbler in the photographic arts.

jlua001

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Re: Excessive XRite upgrade price to i1Publish software
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2011, 01:48:18 pm »

Terry:  consider that I payed over $1,300 for my iPhoto setup a little over a couple of years ago that included all the hardware and the iPhoto software modules that I needed.  Also consider that the upgrade is just for a software upgrade, and that all I need is screen and RGB output calibration.  I still haven´t heard one single strong and valid reason why the upgrade would be worth $499.

Needless to say, I respect your opinion, and that´s the reason I asked to hear it, so thank you for it.  But I repeat that I still haven´t heard one single strong and valid reason why the software-only upgrade would be worth $499.  Obviously, I won´t be upgrading.
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terrywyse

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Re: Excessive XRite upgrade price to i1Publish software
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2011, 01:54:00 pm »

All I'll say is that you can't compare the software you got with iPhoto with what i1Profiler brings to the table.

If all you're building are RGB profiles via a print driver, I might agree that you're not going to get a lot of bang for the buck.....but if you're building CMYK profiles for RIP proofing/fine art printing and for offset presses, then it's worth the upgrade IMO.

Trust me, I have more than a few beefs with this new software (no scanner profiling, no batch processing of profiles, ....) but as far as profile quality, I think it's good.

Terry
« Last Edit: May 04, 2011, 02:01:12 pm by terrywyse »
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Terry Wyse
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rasworth

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Re: Excessive XRite upgrade price to i1Publish software
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2011, 03:07:09 pm »

I paid the $500 to upgrade and consider it well worth it, even for only RGB printer profiling.  One aspect of the software that has not received much press is its capability for saturation and contrast control.  In particular one can tailor contrast from mild (actually too flat at the far end) for portrait printing to strong (a notch or two above PMP Logo Colorful) for landscapes.  Obviously one can do this within Photoshop using softproofing; however, I've found it very useful for fine art paper profiles, enabling one to achieve more "snap" without a lot of image tailoring.

A downside - its ability for monitor profiling is very limited, in that it provides little or no control of white point or luminance targeting.  PMP and i1Match are much more useful, and I have not been able to detect any quality improvement with i1Profiler on displays, although there are some who claim otherwise.

In short, IMO it's worth it if for no more than the improved quality and control on RGB printing profiles.

Richard Southworth
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PhilipCummins

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Re: Excessive XRite upgrade price to i1Publish software
« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2011, 10:57:52 pm »

I still haven´t heard one single strong and valid reason why the upgrade would be worth $499.

If you shop around you can get it under $210 US (still waiting for stock to clear on shipping however...)

I find that i1Profiler is a good step up from i1 Match in respect to ambient light profile compensation, the ability to use varying patch targets as well as profile optimisation is worth it at under $210 US. I'm hoping they keep adding the features that are missing (camera, scanner, editor) at no to low cost later on.
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Rhossydd

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Re: Excessive XRite upgrade price to i1Publish software
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2011, 05:54:04 am »

I'd agree with Terry that complaining about the upgrade price on this package isn't particularly fair given the increased specifications and options you should get from it. If you think the price is bad in the USA, have a look at what other territories have to pay.

Where I'd differ from Terry is in describing the differences between the profiles the packages produce as a "marked improvement in quality". There are differences and the newer ones can be slightly better, but it's not really any sort of radical improvement over those generated by PMP5 in my experience so far.

The real problem with this upgrade is the poor quality of the package overall. My experience of it suggests there are lots of problems and results aren't yet as reliable as they should be. Hopefully they'll be addressed, but I'm not expecting a bug-fix for a long time.

Paul
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jlua001

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Re: Excessive XRite upgrade price to i1Publish software
« Reply #7 on: May 08, 2011, 11:06:09 am »

Philip, can you please point me to where the $210 upgrade might be available?  I can´t find it anywhere.  At that price I might upgrade, just to protect my initial investment, since XRite told me that further support in terms of future compatibility for anything other than iPublish has effectively already stopped. 

Having said that, and after reading all comments in this thread, for someone like me who doesn´t need CMYK output, I haven´t yet read anything that might persuade me that a $499 upgrade price is not certainly excessive.  I shouldn´t be forced to buy more than I need (i.e. CMYK output), and the clearly evolutionary-only -and, arguably, modest- improvements mentioned here are not worth that amount, in my opinion.
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PhilipCummins

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Re: Excessive XRite upgrade price to i1Publish software
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2011, 12:32:47 am »

Private message sent to jlua001 re: pricing.
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