It is sometimes said that it's a function of the paper transport, but as my blog post on the lead sheet workaround observes, that's not at all clear. There is also micro-banding in the last inch, but if you lie to QTR and give it a custom page size at least 1" longer than it really is, you don't get micro-banding in that last inch and I can't see any artifacts from printing too close to the edge from any paper transport deficiencies that this special last inch algorithm is seeking to prevent.
The interesting thing about this behaviour is that using this trick, you still can't print any closer than about 3mm or 1/8" from the trailing edge - the printer (or at least my R1900) must have a sensor that prevents that, and the image is truncated at that point. But that sensor doesn't trigger the algorithm for the last inch. Go figure.
---In QuadtoneRIP@yahoogroups.com, <roark.paul@...> wrote :
I think the 1400/1430's tendency to microband in the first and last 1 inch with QTR is fairly well documented on the forums and elsewhere. It's a function, I believe, of less than perfect paper transport when only one of the paper transport rollers is engaged. It's probably true of all of these printers, but it seems to show up more on the 1400 family, perhaps because of the small dot size. The Epson driver apparently compensates for the less-than-perfect paper transport with a dithering algorithm that hides the problem. QTR does not, at this point.
Once aware of the characteristic of these printers, there are ways to avoid the issue. I continue to think the 1400 family has been a very cost effective machine, but like most things, it's not perfect.
Paul