what kind of RIP, hardware or software? I would assume software since a hardware RIP would cost 3-20x more then that printer.
If you just want a software RIP color proofing system, you need to look at solutions on HP's website. They do not make hardware RIPs for their equipment that i know of. Its all partnered mainly with EFI.

The tricky part is that you really should have software that knows and matches your printer. Problem is your printer is considered too low end for RIP support. If there are drivers and RIP/screening software for HP's it's generally 3rd party and usually not cheap. Its also more focused on higher end model printers.

2 questions:
1) what are the key advantages you are looking for from a RIP solution?

2) the all important $... How many are you willing to part with?

Maybe there is some inexpensive solution I never heard of like Epson used to make, maybe they still do, a cheap RIP software for their low end inkjets. It was pretty cheapo at a really low price of about $99-$199. The Epson software didnt really have alot of real screening or dot control or color calibration tools that I recall. It was mainly just so the cheapo printers could handle Post script. Not really what you would be looking for.

Best bet is to check out a place like this.
http://www.rti-rips.com/HPRIPKITS.html

It may be out of the budget though. I dont see why you would spend $2000 for RIP software for a $700 printer.

Boobie Island and Busty!

Epson doesn't seem to be making their Stylus RIP anymore. Tried to get them to call me when we upgraded to 10. Haven't seen it on VersionTracker either. Bummed. You're right on the color stuff but it sure helped printing them Quark files without having to resort to multi-step trickery.

PrintDriver is a large format digital print dude. His advice/opinions may not apply to the 4color/offset/web world of printing

thats why I love PDF's
but that can be a hassle ridden extra step.

btw PD this is right up your ally, what do you use?

Boobie Island and Busty!

'Man when the Internet doesn't work at home I usually put on a piece of animal lether grab a big ass stick and go ape sh!t on my neighbors.' -Benjo

Actually it's not.
I'm only the frontend loader, not looking to be promoted to running the rips or the printers (not sure it's a promotion but it is more money).
They are using Postershop.
Some of my outsources use proprietary stuff.
We're talking big printers here, $250K plus for the machine.
I think Postershop actually came with the HP5500 too.

PrintDriver is a large format digital print dude. His advice/opinions may not apply to the 4color/offset/web world of printing

No i meant the wide format world in general

250k wide format printer? sheesh...
Even expensive Creo's and stuff dont cost that much. Is your stuff inline or just a standalone big ass printer?

Boobie Island and Busty!

'Man when the Internet doesn't work at home I usually put on a piece of animal lether grab a big ass stick and go ape sh!t on my neighbors.' -Benjo

We don't have one of these, but several of my outsource vendors do. This is a 16' solvent inkjet:
vutek.com/products/p_5300.asp
Check out the rip comp on the left for size reference.
I think this guy can run up to close to $500K or more.

Grande format is standalone bigass printers. No inline stuff.

Lambda printing is done in a bigass metal box that looks like a pizza oven. Photo paper is exposed using lasers then developed in a processor. Beautiful continuous tone prints.
www.durst.it/uk/produkte.asp?pid=2&hid=1

I want a durst Rho 160W and/or a PressVu. Will never happen. $500K each.

PrintDriver is a large format digital print dude. His advice/opinions may not apply to the 4color/offset/web world of printing

Thanks for the replies and advice...

I have to admit this isn't really my field - I just deal with graphics, but am going freelance and want a decent cmyk-emulation print setup so that the proofs that I can produce myself to show to clients that are at least reasonably similar to the finished print. The colour profiles that I've tried (although admittedly wiith an Epson stylus printer) don't seem to be good enough for this, and I was hoping that a software RIP might help...

Their website says: 'optional (not included; sold separately) HP software RIP provides Adobe® PostScript® Level 3 support, Automatic PANTONE® calibration, CMYKplus and offset printing emulation.'

I was wondering whether it was worth the £200 - if anyone who had used it could say for sure.

Wellllllll.....
I don't know about the Rip but unless you get a color calibration kit someplace, and I'm not the one to ask where, your prints won't color match with or without the rip.
ICC profiles, paper, ink are what are going to make the difference.
We use rips all the time but color matching still sux. Some of my vendors use color management software, which gets them close to pleasing color but to get an exact match they still have to hand calibrate each color to a pms chip.

PrintDriver is a large format digital print dude. His advice/opinions may not apply to the 4color/offset/web world of printing

I bought an HP CP1700 ps for £175 new on Ebay (Retail £350). Came with HP/Adobe's propriatry RIP software, good enough for proofing upto A3+ and cheap to run.

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