Pantone ColorVision PrintFIX Win-Mac Description:

Pantone ColorVision PrintFIX Win/Mac review:
1 stars (Installation problems) - The price is attractive and the kit takes up virtually no space. However, do not buy this kit until you have read Michael Reichmann's review on luminous-landscape.com. There is a severe Micrsoft warning (XP Home) not to proceed with scanner installation. Take it serioulsy. Like Michael I did not. There is also a circular software problem in Photoshop to do with internal communications that you can suffer. Re-insatalltion as recomended by Pantone/Colourvision on their web site can lead you ino a circular need to reinstall. They also claim dual video support for SypderPro 2. But the readme file says Windows does not support mutiple profiles with a dual video output video card. How many folks have 2 video cards on a PC?
3 stars (Printfix: A good budget option) - I have been using Printfix for calibrating my Epson R800 and I am running a PC on Windows XP with Photoshop CS (now upgraded to CS2)



I find the results perfectly acceptable especially considering that other products on the market often cost more than double.



I initially did have some problems with the version that was shipped (1.0)and my printer was not supported, but Colorvision technical support sorted the problem and sent me updates in the post.



In summary, probably not the best, but for the price a good buy.
2 stars (Not acceptable for Mac users) - (Note: Rating should be ZERO stars -- not two. Unfortunately it isn't possible to change the star rating when editing a review.)



(Final update: I have retested this product using Adobe PhotoShop CS2, the latest release. It fails exactly as described below, causing PhotoShop to crash during the calibration step and making the product impossible to use. It is inconceivable to me that such a bug-ridden product could have been released.)



I purchased PrintFIX as part of the Pro Suite including the ColorVision Spyder2 and the PrintFIX together, for use with a Mac dual-G4 with 20-in Cinema Display. The software is OS X 10.3.9 and Adobe Photoshop CS.



The Spyder2 screen calibrator performed as advertised but the PrintFIX did not. Indeed, PrintFIX appears to be completely broken and is absolutely not acceptable for Mac users -- perhaps a Windows user will post a different review. I'm in the process of returning the product for a refund -- alas, having bought the suite, my only option is to return the entire suite, including the useful Spyder2 device.



The concept of PrintFIX is attractive; it promises to let you build a custom printer profile that exactly matches the printer, paper, and inks you are using for any job. PrintFIX is basically a small, special-purpose scanner. It takes power from its USB connection (hence it must be connected directly to the computer or to a powered USB hub; it won't work plugged to a keyboard or the Cinema Display). The software side of PrintFIX is not a standalone program, but a set of PhotoShop Actions and plug-ins. You access them through the PhotoShop File menu.



The sequence of operation is as follows. File > Automate > PrintFIX opens a PrintFIX dialog. You use one option of this dialog to select the combination of printer and paper you want to calibrate. The dialog opens a test target as a PhotoShop image. You print this image in a specific way to the printer and paper you want to profile. You trim the printed target to size and let it dry for at least 30 minutes.



While it dries you calibrate the scanner, and this is where for me, the process dies. You open File > Import > PrintFix to get the scanner's import dialog, and you scan a Pantone CMYK target. When this image arrives as PhotoShop's "Untitled-1" front window, you open File > Automate > PrintFix and click a Calibrate button. What is supposed to happen is that the software uses the imported target to calibrate the scanner.



What actually happens is that Adobe PhotoShop CS crashes. Any images you might have in progress are also lost at this time.



When this happened with the software that shipped, I checked the ColorVision website and saw there was updated software, which I requested. A new CD and new CMYK target sheet were sent at no charge and arrived in a couple of weeks. I installed the new software and tried again. Same result. I cannot complete the calibration step because the plug-in causes PhotoShop to crash. I tried building a profile without the calibration step; this resulted in an undocumented text message "can't create file" in a "CS.out" window that cannot be closed. After that appears, all you can do with PhotoShop is cmd-Q to quit, whereupon... it crashes. Again.



In my initial review of this product I criticized the manual (confusing and badly organized as well as printed in about 6-point type) and the interface (confusing and awkward to use). These would be minor objections if the product worked. Sadly, it doesn't work. Avoid it.