HP Laserjet 1600- color quality problem?

[Joe]

I've owed several HP B&W laserjets but this is my first color laserjet. As I
installed it I only have plain copy paper, which was always fine for the B&W
printers but on the LJ1600, the color looks terrible- too blue. Yes, I
realize I can probably keep modifying the colors in the image to get a
decent final print- but obviously something isn't right here- I suspect it's
the cheap paper- so today I'll buy some good inject photo paper.

I bet the paper is the main issue- but is there something else that will
improve the quality of the photo printing?

My previous color printer was a HP Inkjet 970Cse- which printed fairly
decent photos, but took forever to print a full page of color.

I didn't buy this LJ1600 for high quality photo printing- mostly for general
purpose business use- with some colored text and small color images- but it
would be nice to get at least a fair quality photo for the rare time I'll
need that.

Joe

 

[M.H.]

I've owed several HP B&W laserjets but this is my first color laserjet. As I
installed it I only have plain copy paper, which was always fine for the B&W
printers but on the LJ1600, the color looks terrible- too blue. Yes, I
realize I can probably keep modifying the colors in the image to get a
decent final print- but obviously something isn't right here- I suspect it's
the cheap paper- so today I'll buy some good inject photo paper.

I bet the paper is the main issue- but is there something else that will
improve the quality of the photo printing?

My previous color printer was a HP Inkjet 970Cse- which printed fairly
decent photos, but took forever to print a full page of color.

I didn't buy this LJ1600 for high quality photo printing- mostly for general
purpose business use- with some colored text and small color images- but it
would be nice to get at least a fair quality photo for the rare time I'll
need that.

Joe

As it's a laser, not an inkjet (toner is fused on top of the paper, not
soaked into it), the paper shouldn't be changing the color of the
output. Unless the paper itself is some weird non-white color.

 

[The Natural Philosopher]

As it's a laser, not an inkjet (toner is fused on top of the paper, not
soaked into it), the paper shouldn't be changing the color of the
output. Unless the paper itself is some weird non-white color.

Interesting.

Matching print colors is a black art (sic!). No idea, but would expect
the printer to have some color correction in it somewhere that can be
tweaked..or the printer driver. I know that what I see on my screen
bears little resemblance to the color that comes out of my inkjet.

 

[M.H.]

As it's a laser, not an inkjet (toner is fused on top of the paper, not
soaked into it), the paper shouldn't be changing the color of the
output. Unless the paper itself is some weird non-white color.

Should clarify, the color of the toner won't change, only the perception
of it, if you start changing the paper colors. Although I wouldn't
think enough to tell.

 

[Warren Block]

I've owed several HP B&W laserjets but this is my first color laserjet. As I
installed it I only have plain copy paper, which was always fine for the B&W
printers but on the LJ1600, the color looks terrible- too blue. Yes, I
realize I can probably keep modifying the colors in the image to get a
decent final print- but obviously something isn't right here- I suspect it's
the cheap paper- so today I'll buy some good inject photo paper.

That would be a mistake. Inkjet paper can ruin laser printers.

Besides that, the paper should not make a huge difference in color
balance. Saturation maybe, but not balance.

I bet the paper is the main issue- but is there something else that
will improve the quality of the photo printing?

Normally there are color correction adjustments available from the
printer menus.

The LaserJet 1600 is a "host-based" printer (aka Winprinter, aka
"prepare to be frustrated printer"), so color correction may only be
available in the driver settings.

 

[M.H.]

The LaserJet 1600 is a "host-based" printer (aka Winprinter, aka
"prepare to be frustrated printer"), so color correction may only be
available in the driver settings.

If it's host-based, why does it have a 264MHz CPU and 16MB of RAM?

 

[Warren Block]

If it's host-based, why does it have a 264MHz CPU and 16MB of RAM?

Makes you wonder, doesn't it? I'd say that it needed that much RAM to
buffer input; once the paper starts moving, you have to supply four
600x600 DPI bitmaps as they're needed. But here it says there's also 2M
(!) of firmware in a ROM. Sounds like the firmware is copied from ROM
into RAM; it's not explained further.

(very long line, watch out for wraps):

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...0610625&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=1140734

As far as the processor goes, something's gotta move all those bits
around.

 

[M.H.]

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...0610625&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=1140734

As far as the processor goes, something's gotta move all those bits
around.

Interesting laser printers are using DDR now. I'd think they wouldn't
need the speed, but perhaps it's cheaper. My laser uses FPM, and the
CPU is just a 66MHz SPARC.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Laserjet printers work very differently from Inkjet printers. Laserjet
use dry plastic based toners which are melted onto the paper sheet, just
like a black and white laser printer.

The paper type is much less critical to the color output compared to
inkjet printers.

Whatever you do you DO NOT want to use any type of coated inkjet printer
paper in a laser printer. A regular bond inkjet paper is safe, but any
coated inkjet paper can potentially melt on the fuser and ruin the laser
printer.

For a color laser printer, for glossy prints, you must buy paper
designed for the laser printer you own. Some glossy laser paper can
melt at higher fuser temperatures, and each laser printer uses different
temperatures.

There are special bond papers sold specifically for color laser
printers. They usually have high opacity paper with a smooth surface so
the toner sticks well.

Again, do not use any type of coated inkjet paper in a color laser
printer, and be careful with laser glossy paper, making sure it is
compatible with your printer.

Art

 

[Joe]

Previously I mistakenly said I'd go out and buy some high quality inkjet
paper- I didn't mean that, I meant good paper meant for a color laser
printer. I didn't buy HP paper as it's usually too expensive, but I did buy
some Staples "color laser & copier paper- white- heavyweight". It's
brightness is 97 and it's 32 lb.

Photos look terrible. I've been trying different adjustments in the print
driver but so far no luck. By default, it was printing RGB- but I saw that
there is an option for photo- that looks somewhat better, but no acceptable.

For one thing, HP in its print drivers doesn't make it easy to pick from the
list of papers. The driver indicates grammage for some papers, not weight.
sheesh.... Doesn't HP understand we Americans are too stupid to use the
metric system? <G>

Something else- the HP Toolbox icon on my desktop fails to locate and load
the Guide- I've created a shortcut to load it from the desktop and I can
find in Start/HP..... But this seems lame to me.

I can see that printing pages which are mostly text with some small logos
and other non photo colored items will probably be just fine- and I don't
expect this printer to print lab quality photos, but what I'm seeing so far
are washed out or with one color too dominate.

I shouldn't have to struggle so hard to get a printer to do what I want,
should I? I didn't have any trouble with my ancient HP 970Cse inkjet
printing decent photos- much better than this laserjet. A friend has a cheap
Epson inkjet that produces near lab quality photos (I'm sure a pro
photographer wouldn't agree, but for the casual user- that Epson is pretty
good).

It would be nice if some HP guys were here. I suppose I'll now have to call
HP or see if they have their own discussion forums on their web site. I have
better things to do- maybe I'll just bring it back.

Joe

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

If it's host-based, why does it have a 264MHz CPU and 16MB of RAM?

I really don't know, but here's my best theory. Way back "in the day", HP
sent me a $50 off coupon for a DeskJet 820CSE. I thought that was a very
good deal, so I bought one instead of the 870C that I'd been eyeballing. The
difference was in the 820's being a Winprinter, while the 870 worked with
both PC and Macintosh and included a 33MHz RISC processor (!!!). PC Magazine
had recently reviewed the 820 and 870 at the time and said that the 820 had
a little better output quality. So I bought a DeskJet 820.

The 820 and I got along for ages under Win95, 98 and 98SE. I printed
everything and then some with it. Both ink cartridges delivered excellent
yield. Finally I bought a new computer, upgraded to Windows 2000 and that
was when the 820 started showing its limitations. It pulled the computer (a
1.1GHz Athlon box that performed very well in all other regards) down hard
with 95%+ CPU utilization when printing. This experience is why I'd believe
HP included RAM and a processor on their new host-based LaserJets...to help
alleviate the print job rendering load from the computer. (I know--I find it
hard to believe that this roundabout approach would be cheaper than just
making a good old PCL printer, but there you go...) Samsung does the same
for their host-based printers, although they aren't really host based--they
have a complete onboard processing system, just not one that can accept PCL
or PostScript output.

I finally decided to get an 870 and found a decent 870Cxi at a nearby
hamfest for $5 with good ink cartridges. The performance difference was
night and day compared to the old 820, and I noticed no difference in print
quality. To this day I still have and use the 870, and it still works great,
even with a USB to parallel print adapter. (My OfficeJet 500 insists on
having the parallel port to itself...)

I wish I still had my 820CSE. It was still working great when I parked it,
but a basement flood came along and I know it got tossed in the aftermath.
Too bad...it really was a *great* printer and I'd have used it somewhere
else.

William

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

Makes you wonder, doesn't it? I'd say that it needed that much RAM to
buffer input; once the paper starts moving, you have to supply four
600x600 DPI bitmaps as they're needed. But here it says there's also 2M
(!) of firmware in a ROM. Sounds like the firmware is copied from ROM
into RAM; it's not explained further.

The HP LaserJet 1010 has its own processor and RAM, but must have the
microcode downloaded to it before it will "know" how to act as a printer. So
in a roundabout way, it's "kind of" a Winprinter. Once you get the code
downloaded, it will print any valid LaserJet PCL data.

I'd reckon the ROM is used to store vital product data, factory settings for
the print engine and very basic communications info. Maybe there's also a
hidden self-test program? Or maybe the "ROM" part refers to a file image
that is downloaded to the printer's RAM by the computer at the first print
job after power-on. Someone with one of these printers should check
that...perhaps the printer will function as a PCL capable device after
initialization?

William

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

Photos look terrible. I've been trying different adjustments in the print
driver but so far no luck. By default, it was printing RGB- but I saw that
there is an option for photo- that looks somewhat better, but no

acceptable.

I've got that on an HP Color Laserjet 2500n. Photos look terrible. They're
waxy, greys are not neutral and the whole thing seems somewhat dark.

Meanwhile, my Samsung CLP-550n color laser does a beautiful job of printing
photos on plain old copy paper. You'd have to see them to believe them--they
aren't waxy in the slightest, colors are just about dead-on accurate and the
transitions between different colored areas in the picture are very smooth.
I don't know if you could the output "lab quality" but it is close. I think
you could frame these and get away with it.

William

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Laser printers are more subject to issues like temperature and humidity
levels in terms of how they print than inkjets are. This is because
they rely on the static charges within the printer, drums, transfer belt
and paper itself.

I do not know enough about this specific printer to comment on the
driver and adjustments. Does the printer have any type of calibration
program for color management, or a "ring around" print option that will
print a section of small versions of the image with slight color,
saturation or contract variations on one piece of paper?

Also, what source are you using (file type?) to print from?

Art

 

[Joe]

I called HP tech support and got some good help. The guy had me run the
calibration routine, 3 times- which greatly improved the color- though I
then had some blurriness as if each cartridge was printing slightly off from
the others. He then had me run a routine which reset the printer to default
settings and that solved the blurriness problem.

As of now, I'm getting reasonable acceptable prints. Non photo stuff looks
great and it's fast. The photos don't look quite as good as my old inkjet,
but the speed is much, much faster. I'm mostly going to use it as a business
printer, not for printing photos to hang up on the wall. The only photos
I'll do a lot of are aerial photos- I have several CDs produced by the state
of Mass. GIS office showing the entire state using a special image
formatting called SID. These are great as I can zoom in to any scale I want
in order to get images of properties at whatever scale I want- then I can
print them out. The software isn't very good for framing the print so I
often have to make several prints to get what I want, and that's too
painfully slow with an inkjet printer- with the 1600, I can print several
images before the inkjet would finish with the first- so even if the quality
is not as good, I'm pleased. But, I see that with better paper I'm getting
pretty good results.

Of course when I need to buy more cartridges, I'll be bitching.... but what
can we do about it? I see in another thread about a movement to cheaper
consumables in China- I like that- I'd rather pay double or triple for the
printer, then pay a third for the cartridges- I'd print much more- wear out
the printers quicker- buy more printers- we'd all be happy. <G>

Joe

 

[M.H.]

Of course when I need to buy more cartridges, I'll be bitching.... but what
can we do about it?

Can buy third-party. Glad to hear HP fixed things for you, though.
Yeah, unless you spends oodles, you aren't going to get a color laser as
good at images as an inkjet.

 

[Adriatic]

We have right now an brand new HP LaserJet 1600 on table. But the problem is
some kind of >>cataracta<< all over the white area of paper. These are
microscopic dots of all toners. The problem is changabel by paper settings
and age of HP toner. Or by Tool settings as well, but it can not disapear.
This can be paper issue, but same paper in Lexamark work perfectly. No mist
/ cataracta or call it what ever you like.

So it looks me that is an HP issue. Can you look at somthing like that in
your prints. Just take a loope if you have HP LaserJet 1600 or 2600.

Thanks