PRB: HP Photo & Imaging 2.0

[George Neuner]

Hi all,

I'm using HP Photo & Imaging v2.0 with a Scanjet 3570c. I'm having
difficulty with the "scan document" applet (v1.3) which is launched
from HP Director.

I need to scan a large number of documents (text+graphics) and store
them as PDF. My problem is that I need to scan the paper edge to edge
(8.5x11). The scanner will physically do it, but the software won't
allow it.

The preview function seems to auto select an output size based on the
printed area rather than the paper or the scanner bed - unfortunately
it guesses wrong most of the time.

The source and output width and height and the scale factor can be set
manually, but there are problems. According to the help, the source
size is limited by the output size, and in fact the output size can be
"locked", suggesting that it is the master. But locking the output
size also locks the scale factor - at whatever idiotic value it
happens to have when the lock is activated - and then the source limit
is inversely scaled to the output so it can't be set 1:1.

If the output isn't locked, then the output is scaled to the source as
expected. But adjusting any of the source width or height or scale
factor immediately recalculates all the rest of the settings so you
can never get all the values set properly at the same time.


I can get edge to edge scanning if I use the "picture" scan rather
than the "document" scan, but the picture applet can't output to a PDF
printer and can't string multiple scans together - every page would
end up as a separate image file and have to be aggregated later.

I checked HP's web site and I have the latest version of the software
and all the updates/bug fixes for it. Does anyone know a fix or work
around for this problem?

Thanks,
George

 

[CSM1]

Hi all,

I'm using HP Photo & Imaging v2.0 with a Scanjet 3570c. I'm having
difficulty with the "scan document" applet (v1.3) which is launched
from HP Director.

I need to scan a large number of documents (text+graphics) and store
them as PDF. My problem is that I need to scan the paper edge to edge
(8.5x11). The scanner will physically do it, but the software won't
allow it.

The preview function seems to auto select an output size based on the
printed area rather than the paper or the scanner bed - unfortunately
it guesses wrong most of the time.

The source and output width and height and the scale factor can be set
manually, but there are problems. According to the help, the source
size is limited by the output size, and in fact the output size can be
"locked", suggesting that it is the master. But locking the output
size also locks the scale factor - at whatever idiotic value it
happens to have when the lock is activated - and then the source limit
is inversely scaled to the output so it can't be set 1:1.

If the output isn't locked, then the output is scaled to the source as
expected. But adjusting any of the source width or height or scale
factor immediately recalculates all the rest of the settings so you
can never get all the values set properly at the same time.


I can get edge to edge scanning if I use the "picture" scan rather
than the "document" scan, but the picture applet can't output to a PDF
printer and can't string multiple scans together - every page would
end up as a separate image file and have to be aggregated later.

I checked HP's web site and I have the latest version of the software
and all the updates/bug fixes for it. Does anyone know a fix or work
around for this problem?

Thanks,
George

Quit using HP Photo & Imaging v2.0.

Try scanning using the TWAIN interface via Irfanview.
You can set the scanning area in TWAIN.

You can save the images as Multipage TIFF.

Get the plug-in also it is needed.
http://www.irfanview.net/

I assume that you have a PDF application that can create a PDF from Tiff
images.

If only humans need to read the scanned documents, you do not have to do
OCR. Just make a image PDF.

 

[Barry Watzman]

The HP scanning software really sucks. Which is unfortunate, because
once upon a time they had good, professional level scanning software
(Precision Scan Pro), and they trashed it for what is really
unprofessional, dumbed-down "toy" software.

If you use Genuine Adobe Acrobat to do your scanning, the problem will
likely disappear, although perhaps not.

HP's software is a reason why I will likely not buy an HP product when
and if I ever replace my 5490C scanner. However, although HP says it
won't work, I've managed to install Precision Scan Pro and the 5490C
successfully under Vista. Perhaps they will come to their senses before
I have to give up on the 5490C, but I've bought a spare 5490C. I also
have a 5590, brand new in box, that I will probably never use. I
installed it for about a week and found it unusable, due totally and
entirely to the software.

 

[George Neuner]

The HP scanning software really sucks. Which is unfortunate, because
once upon a time they had good, professional level scanning software
(Precision Scan Pro), and they trashed it for what is really
unprofessional, dumbed-down "toy" software.

Well, its never given me much trouble before - using the copier
function and reducing the page usually works. This time, though, I am
scanning a lot of stuff that has text printed very close to the right
edge and/or hand written notes in the margins.

If you use Genuine Adobe Acrobat to do your scanning, the problem will
likely disappear, although perhaps not.

Cool. I have Acrobat but I didn't know it could scan directly. I'll
give it a try.

Thanks,
George

 

[Barry Watzman]

It's not a question of "giving you trouble" .... the problem is that for
the PROFESSIONAL user, who wants precise control of exposure including
gamma based on histograms, the tools to do that are no longer available.
HP also messed up the way that scanning of double sided documents is
handled by 3rd party applications using the TWAIN interface, and the
handling of "profiles", again, when the scanning is done with 3rd party
applications using the TWAIN interface.

In general, they turned a perfectly working truly professional product
(which they had with Precision Scan Pro) into a bad joke with "toy"
software designed for the masses that don't even know what TWAIN, gamma
and Histograms are. That's fine for $49 (or even $100) multi-function
unit that shouldn't ever be used for serious scanning. But it's an
abomination on a product like the $400 HP 5590 scanner (JUST a scanner
for $400).