Proofing Connectivity - HP 8550 DN Color LaserJet

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HP 8550 DN Color LaserJet

Connectivity | Performance | Usage | Limitations | Resources

	NOTES: This printer replaces the HP 8500, which was an incredibly slow printer that caused many complaints among those who used it with a Prinergy system. Fortunately, this printer is much faster: At 300 dpi, it prints out the 8 pages of CreoScitex ITP files in 12.5 minutes. At 600 dpi, it takes 30 minutes. With the old 8500, it took 14 minutes to print out one page! Important Limitation!! This printer is very susceptible to smearing when attempting to print solid colors, especially rich blacks. Better quality stock helps, but does not completely solve the problem. See the Limitations section below as well as the link in the Resources section.
What type of proofer is this?
	This is a cheap A3-tabloid size color laserjet printer with an internal PostScript 3 RIP that runs at 200 mhz. Note that the GN model runs at 300 mhz. Resolution can be at 300 or 600 dpi. The RIP is capable of accepting PDF 1.3 files.
Connectivity
	An Ethernet card is required so that the plotter has its own TCP/IP number. This allows you to make an NT print device using LPD (Line Printer Daemon). Spool EPS CT Raster data to the queue.

Performance
	At 300 dpi, it prints out the 8 pages of CreoScitex ITP files in 12.5 minutes. At 600 dpi, it takes 30 minutes. Printing was done reduced to fit on letter-size pages. This is much faster than the old 8500 model that it replaces. Note that the 8550 DN model comes with 64 MB of RAM, and adding more RAM does not speed up processing time. For example, when printing 2-up of Creo standard ITP files onto tabloid-size paper, the first sheet was timed at printing out at 2:22 minutes. The second sheet was timed at 3:00 minutes. These times were achieved with the default 64 MB of RAM installed. When 128 MB of RAM was installed, the first sheet was timed at 2:24 minutes and the second was timed at 2:54. That is to say, the difference in performance times was negligible.

Usage
	This printer is incredibly cheap (list price from HP is under $8,000) so expect to see many of these in the field.

Limitations
	It's important to set customer expectations with quality. If you can get your hands on the printer, go to the control panel and print out a test page. You can do this by pressing the menu key until "Color-Adjustment" comes up. Then press "Item." The setting "Print test page" should come up. Press "select." Note the skid marks where the tracks hit the paper. Auto-select to different trays doesn't work as well; you have to create a different NT print device for each tray. This proofer connects to Prinergy 2.0.4.x, but ceases to work in Prinergy 2.0.5.x. The symptom is that it will output blank pages instead of nice colored ones. To use this proofer with Prinergy 2.0.5, you must install 2.0.5 minor update 10, which corrects the error.

Resources
	HP web site