Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Ernst Dinkla 
<E.Dinkla@c...> wrote:
> Isn't this in conflict with the information Roy gave about the 4000, 
> that it is impossible to drive both black lines at the same time even 
> with QTR that doesn't use the Epson driver ? 
> 
> Or could there be a new command in the printer language so far unused 
> that opens that possibility ?
> 
> Ernst

I'm not really sure. I contacted the programmer for the RIP I've been 
using, and he said the same thing, it can be either matte or glossy. I 
wish I had one of these to try. I might also consider sending the 4800 
firmware to the 4000 to see what happens, but that is a bit risky, and 
could cause the printer to stop working, without a cheap fix. Other 
printers that use the same head seem to be able to print all 8 
channels, so I'm pretty sure the problem lies in the firmware. Also the 
4000 is capable of addressing all 8 heads individually, if it couldn't, 
you would not be able to run the nozzel check function. Maybe someone 
needs to contact a really good hardware programmer, and hack the 4000 
firmware. Since both the 4000 and the 4800 firmware are available, 
making the 4000 look and act like the 4800 shouldn't be too hard. At 
least then you could use the new driver, and the new inks. It might 
take something like this to force Epson into releasing an up date to do 
the same.

The thread is here for anyone that wants to keep track of this topic:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1013&message=13551031

I'm wondering if the new driver is driving the black channel, and both 
inks are spraying at the same time, but not independently controllable, 
which would make a big mess.

It still looks like a solution for the 4000 is to just use better inks 
and a RIP. If time allows, I'll work on setting that up. Haven't had 
the time to try and find a discount for the RIP, but things at work are 
finally slowing down, so hopefully I'll get a chance to call. I think 
the better inks are already here, as I've had good luck with them in my 
9500, and they really shouldn't work very well with that printer. In an 
Ultrachrome printer they should work very well. A lot of that has to do 
with the dot gain, and these inks don't have much dot gain, so it's 
harder with the older printers. I did compare the new to the old last 
night, and the new ink does have a slightly "thicker" black ink as 
compared to Eboni. Dmax looked about the same visually, but I think the 
new has slightly better measured dmax. Mostly it just gives you less 
ink on the paper, so that can help when layering with colors (which are 
also much heavier pigment than other inks I've tried).