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Piezography BW Print Quality Settings
Please report errors or omissions to Bill Bergh - bill@cone-editions.com

Piezography BW version 6.x.x and above:
Piezography BW version 6.0.0 added new features to the interface for the plug-in. One of the main changes was to move many of the selections previously made in the Epson Page setup dialog boxes to the Piezography BW window. The Piezography BW modes of GOOD, BETTER, and BEST are now selected directly on the Piezography window, and the Epson page setup DPI settings of 360, 720, and 1440 are now ignored. Further information is available in the updated manual that is found on the version 6.x.x CD ROM disk. Selecting the "Good", "Better" and "Best" modes still perform the same functions as the latest version as detailed below.

Piezography BW version 5.x.x and below:
The Piezography BW driver uses the settings in the Epson Page setup dialog to determine what printing algorithm to apply when printing. Though there are slight variances in the layout of the Epson page setup dialog boxes, they all have the same features. PiezographyBW applies it's own unique printing algorithm's and does not use the Epson print driver. In general the Piezography BW modes of GOOD, BETTER, and BEST, are triggered using the Epson page setup DPI settings of 360, 720, and 1440 respectively. There are slight differences between the printer families, and changes have occurred as PiezographyBW has matured through our and our customers experiences.

PRINTER FAMILIES:
1 - 1160/860/760 Piezography driver (ver 5.1.0)
2 - 1160/860/760 Piezography driver (ver 5.1.1 and above)
3 - 1200 Piezography driver (ver 5.1.0)
4 - 3000/1520/850/800 Piezography driver (ver 4.0.4 to 5.1.2 beta)
5 - 3000/1520/850/800 Piezography driver (ver 5.1.3 beta and above)

1 - The 760/860/1160 Piezography driver (ver 5.1.0)
GOOD - If you select 360 dpi for any media selection in the Epson page setup dialog, Piezography will print using a fast ink saving algorithm, sacrificing quality for speed. This method produces a low quality print that may exhibit banding.

BETTER - If you select a media like PhotoQuality Inkjet paper @ 720 in the Epson page setup dialog box, then we print at approximately 2160 dpi - BI-directionally. The original idea was that even though most printers will not print as well BI-directionally, if a user feels that his printer does so, then they can make use of the faster printing mechanism.

BEST - If you select a media like PhotoQuality Inkjet paper @ 1440 in the Epson page setup dialog box, then we print at approximately 2160 dpi - UNI-directionally. This typically produces the highest quality print the printer is capable of.

2 - The 760/860/1160 Piezography driver (ver 5.1.1 and above)
GOOD - If you select 360 dpi for any media selection in the Epson page setup dialog, Piezography will print using a fast ink saving algorithm, sacrificing quality for speed. This method produces a low quality print that may exhibit banding.

BETTER - If you select a media like PhotoQuality Inkjet paper @ 720 in the Epson page setup dialog box, then we print at approximately 2160 dpi UNI-directionally. This is the old 1440 setting.

BEST - If you select a media like PhotoQuality Inkjet paper @ 1440 in the Epson page setup dialog box, then we print at approximately 2160 dpi UNI-directionally. A different pattern of dots is used to help solve a problem some users reported with the original driver. The symptom would be a slight crosshatch pattern that was visible to the naked eye. This method attempts to be more forgiving of printers that are not of the best quality, yet produce the highest quality print possible.

3 - The 1200 Piezography driver (ver 5.1.0)
GOOD - If you select 360 dpi for any media selection in the Epson page setup dialog, Piezography will print using a fast ink saving algorithm, sacrificing quality for speed. This method produces a low quality print that may exhibit banding.

BETTER - If you select a media like PhotoQuality Inkjet paper @ 720 in the Epson page setup dialog box, then we print at approximately 2160 dpi - BI-directionally The original idea was that even though most printers will not print as well BI-directionally, if a user feels that his printer does so, then they can make use of the faster printing mechanism.

4 - The 3000/1520/850/800 Piezography driver (ver 4.0.4 to 5.1.2 beta)
The printhead is an older technology with less options - (it has a single droplet size).

GOOD - If you select 360 dpi for any media selection in the Epson page setup dialog, Piezography will print using a fast ink saving algorithm, sacrificing quality for speed. This method produces a low quality print that may exhibit banding.

BEST - If you select a media like PhotoQuality Inkjet paper @ 720 or 1440 in the Epson page setup dialog box, then we print at approximately 2160 dpi - UNI-directionally. This typically produces the highest quality print the printer is capable of.

5 - The 3000/1520/850/800 Piezography driver (ver 5.1.3)
GOOD - If you select 360 dpi for any media selection in the Epson page setup dialog, Piezography will print using a fast ink saving algorithm, sacrificing quality for speed. This method produces a low quality print that may exhibit banding.

BETTER - If you select a media like PhotoQuality Inkjet paper @ 720 in the Epson page setup dialog box, then we print at approximately 2160 dpi - UNI-directionally. This typically produces the highest quality print the printer is capable of. This is the same as the old 720/1440 selection.

BEST - A lot of work has gone into this release to try to solve banding problems on the old 3000 printer. If you select a media like PhotoQuality Inkjet paper @1440 in the Epson page setup dialog box, then we print at approximately 2160 dpi - UNI-directionally. The print head has been slowed down, which helps solve many of the problems with this printer that were due to paper feed problems. The dot patterns have been changed to take advantage of this slower speed - resulting in a perfect print on many marginal machines. The trade off is quality for a slower print speed.