Prinergy vs Printready ..again

[zox]

I know this question have come up before, but I really need some Prinergy users input.

We are on the verge of deciding to go with one of these two systems and upgrade our Brisque shop.
We have shifts and shop is open almost 24/7
We are commercial printer.

At the busy time we have about 5-6 operators accessing the system and ripping, plating, etc..

We want to add 2 more from digital side so it would be 7-8.

From what info I could gather without signing any NDA's, Printready is higher quality system, built on JDF.
I like that it's more ..well rounded, for the lack of better word.
Prinergy is more expensive with many loose pieces bundled together in hot folders (primitive) workflow and anything you want to add, it costs arm and a leg.

Kodak has the marketing on their side, hands down.
Prinergy name is well known and it just looks like they put a lot of resources in PR for Prinergy, while you have to almost dig for Printready info.
There is a lot more Prinergy shops than Printready.

Printready has Heidelberg color management, trapping, screening (their own).

Prinergy has 10 micron, RBA and PDF compare that Printready doesn't.

,etc..

What made you decide on Prinergy system?
Have you compared it with Printready at all?
Can you elaborate on it.

Thank you very much.

[30YearsandCounting]

Don't forget service and support. In my mind that is what often makes the difference. I think that both workflows are good options, but for different reasons. Kodak/Creo has a good product and is outstanding at marketing. But... it's NOT cheap. Everything is an option and anything with the Kodak/Creo name on it is 10X the price of what it should be. As long as you go in with your eyes open and can afford it... great. Make your best deal now... 'cause you're not going to get a second chance. Since you are already a Brisque user... this shouldn't come as a big surprise.

The masters of marketing have done a great job on 10 micron. (But seriously... can you see the difference?) Last time I checked the average customer didn't look at their press sheet with a microscope. I guess my point here is... there are other options that are just as good.

Heidelberg... great product... but word is that they have never made money in prepress. Is the commitment there... only time will tell. Trapping, screening, JDF connectivity... nobody does it better.

The reality is all the big prepress manufacturers have great workflows. But what they really want is to sell you plates. A workflow, a proofing system, a CTP unit... that's a one time deal. Can I drop in my own "box" or does everything have to be "approved". Plates (and consumables) are what they really want... it's the gift that keep on giving. Every month they get a sale. In other words... who is going to support you the best and what is the real cost? How easy are they to deal with? They all say it, but can they demonstrate that they want to "partner" with you?

[akalaray]

When the split came between Heidelberg and Creo, we were left in a bad spot. Heidelberg came to the rescue; the upgrade to print ready was one-third the price.
I must say we were not going to let Signa Station go, and go back in time (Stone Age) with preps
The new system is the TITS.

Print Ready 3.0, Meta Dimension 6.0, Signa Station 2.0,Prepress Interface, CompuCut 4.05, Cockpit 3.0
All floating licenses.

It was a Win-Win

Also their service is second to none, and I've seen them all!

[MarkTonk]

30YearsandCounting stated:

Heidelberg... great product... but word is that they have never made money in prepress. Is the commitment there... only time will tell. Trapping, screening, JDF connectivity... nobody does it better.

The reality is all the big prepress manufacturers have great workflows. But what they really want is to sell you plates. A workflow, a proofing system, a CTP unit... that's a one time deal.

Thank you for stating we have a great product. I have been with Heidelberg since they acquired Linotype-Hell. It seems every year or two, a rumor is started by competitors about Heidelberg not being committed to Prepress. Let's just look back at Graph Expo. We launched the new Suprasetter A52/A74 CtP, our sixth generation CtP. In fact, I am not aware of anyone else launching a new CtP platform at the show. Along with this, we launched a new two up workflow, Prinect MetaDimension 52i. This is bundled with our Prinect Trap Editor and the new Prinect Imposition Editor. Also new were Prinect Printready 3.0, Prinect MetaDimension 6, Prinect Pressroom Manager, Prinect Digital Print Manager, Signa Station 2.0 (remember, the predecessor, Signastation went up to version 9 before we completely rewrote the code to accomplish the JDF concept), Prinect Profile Toolbox. We also had a technology demonstration of the Adobe PDF Print Engine on Meta. Hey, we just announced Delta 8.5 with the latest Adobe CPSI. There is even more but please feel free to view it all at our website. I think that speaks of the commitment to prepress. As you can see, we continue to invest tremendously in R&D for all of the new devices and upgrades. Not many have such a full portfolio and yes, all of the above is designed, developed, programmed and manufactured by Heidelberg.

As for consumables, we do offer a full compliment of plates, for both violet and thermal CtP. We even have press blankets. You can have Heidelberg have ownership not only in the prepress but through out the press and post press. But if you do choose a plate other then ours, we have certified most plates on our CtP engines and you are not locked into one or two solutions.

Once again, thanks for stating we have great product.

Regards,

Mark

PS akalaray , thank you too!

[zox]

Thanks everybody for response, I'll wait for hopefully more posts on subjects.
In meantime, Mark, a quick question.

Since I've noticed in one of your previous posts that Heidelberg upgraded Delta with latest CPSI, is it a 3017?

Forgive my ignorance but I was in Scitex/Creo/Kodak shops for the last 9 years so I look at everything with Brisque/Prinergy comparison in mind.

Would Delta be like a Brisque, PS raster workflow?
Would Brisque with 3017 be equivalent of Delta with 3017?
Does the flatenner gets upgraded too or it's completely separate beast?

Thanks

[MarkTonk]

Hi Zox,


Delta Technology hails back to about 1995 with Linotype-Hell. If you have ever heard the term ROOM workflow, that was coined for Delta. Delta is a raster based workflow where the interpreter would rip until flatten and then generate an internal raster file format, Delta List. This was generated on a page basis. The Delta List were then imposed and sent for proof then film or plate.

We had installed over 8,000 installations worldwide, and we have continued with software updates and upgrades but we do encourage new users to go the Printready/MetaDimension for state of the art JDF based workflow.


Delta 8.5 will have the following:


• CPSI 3017
• PDF Interpreter 1.7
• Adaptation on new Pantone color tables
• Maintenance for Windows 2000/2003
• Bug Fixes

Regards,

Mark

[zox]

Thanks Mark