I just replaced an HP 5490C with an HP 5590, and boy am I sorry.

The 5590's handling of interfacing with other programs is a mess; you
can't start Adobe Acrobat and use the "Create PDF / From Scanner" the
way that you could with the 5490; while the basic function works, there
is no way to set the scanner parameters ... the scan begins IMMEDIATELY
without letting you specify anything ... no profile, not even a way to
specify the type of scan (color, gray scale, 1-bit monochrome).

If you start from within the HP software, things are slightly better,
but the 5590's handling of "profiles" is inconsistent. Even when you
set a "default profile" to be applied to all scans (until changed), it's
only applied to the first page of a multi-page scan from the scanner
glass (although you can manually apply it to subsequent pages .... but
shouldn't be necessary), and it's not applied at all to scans from the
ADF feeder. In fact, I can find no way, at all, to use profiles with
the document feeder. None, period (the program says that it's applying
profiles, but it's clearly not). Also, when doing multi page scans from
the scanner glass, if you have specified a profile to be automatically
applied to all scans, it's applied to the first page, then it's
PARTIALLY applied to the subsequent pages, but not fully applied unless
you manually apply it to each page. [Partially applied means that
exposure settings are applied, but crop settings (e.g. 8.5" x 11" -
Duh!) are not applied (it seems to have a mind of it's own as to the
page size).

Have other people noticed this, and does anyone have a solution or
work-around? HP seems to have really dumbed down and screwed up the
scanning software. PrecisionScan Pro with the 5470/5490 (same scanner
with and without the ADF) was quite good and very professional. Now,
they have "integrated" scanning into the "HP Solution Center", which
they use with all of their products (including the multi-function
products and all printers), and it's totally "dumbed down" for
non-professionals (the histogram and precise setting of exposure are
almost unusable, not to mention the above issues and the matter of
interfacing properly to programs like Adobe Acrobat). Problem is, this
isn't a multi-function printer where scanning is almost an
after-thought, this is a $400 professional stand-alone scanner.

Unfortunately, however, there will be no Vista support for the
5470/5490, which leaves me "up a creek without a paddle".

My other bitch with the 5590 is that they turned it "sideways", and it's
"front" is now along the 11" edge of an 8.5" x 11" page. Except for the
fact that the 5590's ADF duplexes, the 5490 was very similar to the
5590, but it's software was far more professional.

Help!!! Someone tell me that I'm doing something wrong and that there
really isn't a problem.

"Barry Watzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:45cea01b$0$8959$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I just replaced an HP 5490C with an HP 5590, and boy am I sorry.

I have one which I use with paperport.
I use the "commercial TWAIN driver" and not the solution center.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...os=228&lang=en

It works fine for document scanning and is OK as I only paid £45 for it in a
Staples clearout.