Direct Smile & PrintShop Mail What machine do you use?

[fourpaula]

We have been round and round with trying to run Direct Smile & Print Shop Mail on the same machine & seperate. Is anyone running both software on a PC that can tell me your systems specs?
Currently we have a system with = duel core Intel i5 3 Ghz, 4G RAM, Raid 1 (465 GB), running windows 7, 32 bit. To send a 10K piece PC to our Richo C900 it errors out on page 25 saying out of memory. It takes about 30 minutes to get to that point. It took 5 hours to get the job to the C900 when we place Print shop Mail on a seperate system. I would like to know what other printers are using that works.

 

[pcmodem]

I think you should look at Windows Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and look at Performance. This will show you the amount of CPU and Physical Memory being used. If these numbers are not very high, you should pull up Resource Monitor which is in the same tab. Look at your Hard Drive and network usage.

Perhaps you are saving the file to the network and the network is slow. It could also be a slow hard drive on your computer. One way to solve the slow hard drive would be to get a Solid State Drive (SSD) with a fast read and write speed. By fast I mean having the Sustained read and the write above 200MB/s you can get them for under $150.

 

[Shaja]

I've used PrintShop Mail in my work functions for eight years (disclosure - I do purchasing and marketing for an independent Konica Minolta dealer, and I help support our PrintShop Mail installations with our clients). I've played with Direct Smile but don't actively use it. Just wanted to pass along two thoughts, both along the lines that it may be a software issue and not a hardware issue.

1) PrintShop Mail often rips slow for me (both on Konicas and back in the day when we were a Ricoh dealer, too. It didn't matter who the manufacturer was or what the speed of the engine was.) I was taught by a former Atlas Software technical support staff member to print my job as a pdf first, then send the merged pdf to the machine to print. Don't know why, but the processing time was always faster doing it that way.

2) Objectif Lune (who bought Atlas several years ago) has a support forum for questions like these. They are monitored daily by their technical staff. Objectif Lune Tech Support Self Help - Forums powered by UBB.threads™. Objectif Lune has a partnership with Direct Smile, and I would expect that a post on the forum would be the quickest way to get the issue in front of their technical staff. Or, if you have a current OL Care maintenance contract, I'd recommend opening a ticket with them.

 

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Direct Smile & Print Shop Mail Running Slow

Direct Smile & Print Shop Mail Running Slow

I'm not familiar with the Ricoh 901, but does it have an external RIP device such as Fiery, or is it an internal controller?

We run these software packages on a Xerox 7000 with Creo RIP & have no speed issues.
The Creo is built for variable data which is the reason we got that RIP. The Fiery has closed the gap, but I think in general, the Creo is still considered more robust for VDP.

The processing should be taking place on your RIP, not on your desktop PC.

Dave

 

[fourpaula]

There is a Fiery attached to the C900. The processing of the file does take place at the printer but we have to send it to the printer first. Print jobs bottle neck both places that is why we are having such a hard time. We have Direct Smile, Print Shop Mail, & Ikon all trying to work it out.
What I want to know is there anyone out there successfully using both programs on the same system & if so what are your system specs. Just trying to narrow down the potential issues.

 

[pcmodem]

fourpaula,

Are you printing directly to the printer? If you are, have you tried making a PDF as Shaja suggested? This would narrow down the issues of where to point the finger at.

 

[fourpaula]

Let me just say that normally we deal with large quantity of records around 10K, so making a 5K page PDF isn't practical.
Ok, after conversations with PSM, Direct Smile, Richo, our I T people, & anyone else I could get a hold of we have part of the issue taken care of.
We got a test PC (HP Z600 with 2 six core processors, Raid 1, 3GB RAM) & the difference is AMAZING! We had a file of 10K records that used PSM & DirectSmile. On our original system it took 5 hours to get to the printer, on 2 system together one running each program it too 2 hours to get to the printer, Finally on the new system ALONE running both programs it took 15 minutes. If that isn't progress I don't know what is. THat took care of problem #1.
The issue came when we did a "process & hold" at the fiery. It processed for 36 hours then crashed. We ended up sending it in small batches. Now that we know the bottle neck is at the printer, I have been hearing alot about Creo. Here is my question, is Creo better equipped to handle these files? how is it better? Could someone who has worked with both let me know the difference & possible learning curve?

 

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Direct Smile & Print Shop Mail Running Slow

Direct Smile & Print Shop Mail Running Slow

We have some familiarity with both Fiery & Creo as well as with Xerox Doc USP RIP. We currently have all three in our shop.

The learning curve from one to the next is not difficult.

When handling large variable data files, we do usually break it into sections or pieces to reduce processing time & to simplify interruptions in the event we need a machine to handle another small project while processing a large VDP job.

My understanding is that CREO has historically been built for VDP & as such is more robust & often faster, although as proviously mentioned, Fiery has closed the gap in recent years.

Dave

 

[fourpaula]

Dave, VERY helpfull, thank you! Do you use Direct Smile & PSM? or maybe something else?

 

[llavero]

Hi fourpaula,

I hope these remarks help:

- As Shaja recommended, use temporal pdf.Rip very big files could create out of memory/space problems. You could rip faster using smaller files. Using split option and hotfolders, it shouldn't be too hard.

- In Print Shop Mail, Edit -> Preferences -> Print Job -> Technology . Check this setting is using a compatible technology with your controller (Fiery). If "Creo VPS" or "Standard Postscript" setting is set and you are using a Fiery, any improvement will be reached. "Fiery Freeform 2" is a good option to print directly to a new Fiery system. Anyway, my personal opinion is set this setting to "Adobe pdf" and create small pdf's (aprox 1000-2000pages, it depends of complexity of your data). In DSM Generator, you have similar settings to take into account.

- Check images resolution is according to your printer device. Unnecesary images resolution will need more time to be ripped without improving printed results.

- For Ricoh C900 there are 2 different Fiery systems, with very different performances. Check updated specifications with your dealer. If your Fiery is a grey box hanged at back of your machine, then you have the standard one (I think Ricoh calls it, E-41). By other hand, the external Fiery (E-81) has improved deeply performance compared to the standard one. Creo controller is another option in Ricoh portfolio. Standard fiery controller is slower than High performance Fiery and Creo. I'm sorry but, I don't have results for perfomance between Fiery E-81 and Creo.

Best Regards.

 

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Hi fourpaula,

In response to your question, we have been using Print Shop Mail for about 8 years. Have looked at other software suchas Fusion Pro which is less expensive but do not want to go through a new learning curve. We have played with deom versions & test versions of Direct Smile, but do not currently have a license to use it.

Dave