iGen Users with APPE

[Slappy]

Anybody running an iGen 5 (preferably) with Command Workstation & have the APPE module also? We'd dealt with some weirdness last Fall with our setup not handling transparency well, color issues, a whole range of oddness. Finally got that all sorted out after numerous visits from various levels of Tech People then recently another Tech came in to address some issues and decided to blow out ALL of the RIP software, without ensuring a good backup first, thereby taking us back to Shit Central.

So now I've got one of the mid-level field support guys telling me we should be "Optimizing" all our PDFs before they go to the iGen, whatever the fuck THAT means. He's the same one that determined in the Fall that APPE was acting contrary to how it should be and we should just not use it - although I think it was a pretty expensive add-on.

Am I wrong in thinking that a digital press this expensive should damned well be able to handle 99.9% of files we throw at it, without having to do some half-assed "fix" before they get to the DFE?

[Joe]

Anybody running an iGen 5 (preferably) with Command Workstation & have the APPE module also? We'd dealt with some weirdness last Fall with our setup not handling transparency well, color issues, a whole range of oddness. Finally got that all sorted out after numerous visits from various levels of Tech People then recently another Tech came in to address some issues and decided to blow out ALL of the RIP software, without ensuring a good backup first, thereby taking us back to Shit Central.

So now I've got one of the mid-level field support guys telling me we should be "Optimizing" all our PDFs before they go to the iGen, whatever the fuck THAT means. He's the same one that determined in the Fall that APPE was acting contrary to how it should be and we should just not use it - although I think it was a pretty expensive add-on.

Am I wrong in thinking that a digital press this expensive should damned well be able to handle 99.9% of files we throw at it, without having to do some half-assed "fix" before they get to the DFE?

Probably another believer that because flattening everything 20 years ago was the go to fix that people should do it for the rest of time. If you have APPE...use APPE! Don't let any dumbass stuck in the past tell you different.

We priced the APPE module for our Fiery. $25K. Needless to say our Fiery does not have APPE.

[zox]

We have Xerox 700 with Fiery that has APPE module. It sucks. That APPE implementation is worse than PS, totally unpredictable result.
It is older version but results should be way better.

[Slappy]

Thanks fellas, supposed to have a sit-down with them in the next week so - I'll report back!

[Joe]

We have Xerox 700 with Fiery that has APPE module. It sucks. That APPE implementation is worse than PS, totally unpredictable result.
It is older version but results should be way better.

Must not be the same APPE as what is in the major workflows....maybe a stripped down version????

[zox]

We have Xerox 700 with Fiery that has APPE module. It sucks. That APPE implementation is worse than PS, totally unpredictable result.
It is older version but results should be way better.

Must not be the same APPE as what is in the major workflows....maybe a stripped down version????

Possibly, but not stripped down price for sure.
We have Nexpress with APPE rip and that implementation is far better and closer to our offset workflow, with occasional screwup that is addressed by settings in rip.
We also have Versafire (Ricoh machine) branded with Heidelberg logo and driven by Heidelberg prinect workflow, same APPE, no difference from Offset and no surprises.

[Slappy]

We have Xerox 700 with Fiery that has APPE module. It sucks. That APPE implementation is worse than PS, totally unpredictable result.
It is older version but results should be way better.

Must not be the same APPE as what is in the major workflows....maybe a stripped down version????

Oddly, the Fiery also has a version of Pitstop installed but it's "Lite" or something. It can use Actions I create on my version, but it can't make its own. Likewise it's also missing some useful features of the full version, so I suppose Xerox licensed it but had to be crippled.