Prinect vs. Prinergy

[JCPenfold]

Hello all,

I'm new here. In the course of trying to teach myself Preps, I'm reading lots of negative comments on version 6. I'm about to go through a major update, i.e. new server and Prinergy/Preps updates so I am investigating my options.

What are the pros & cons of Prinergy/Preps vs. Heidelberg Prinect Signa Station. I was also looking into Metrix, but I don't like the fact that it is not stand alone and would have to integrate with another workflow. I'm interested in migrating to a Mac based workflow, and even though the Metrix website claims it's OS X compatible, when I emailed a Fuji rep listed as a reseller he said the Mac server and RAID were discontinued and Metrix has never supported the Apple server, so XMF and Rampage both mean sticking with PC. Anyone have any ideas on pricing, features, ease of use, etc?

Thanks in advance,
JC

 

[akalaray]

We have Heidelberg Prinect prepress manager P - Two Signastations running on Mac - Meta dimension and Cockpit running on two dell towers - Signa is the only way to go! I have used preps.

 

[WharfRat]

I agree about Signa. I was on Preps for 6 years and now on various versions of Signa for 7 years. Signa is just more intuitive - nice visual previews and quick.
I just set up Signa on 2 workstations and a server (I would not go the server route - just install on a powerful workstation (event hough it requires little power).

MSD


We have Heidelberg Prinect prepress manager P - Two Signastations running on Mac - Meta dimension and Cockpit running on two dell towers - Signa is the only way to go! I have used preps.[/QUOTE]

 

[JCPenfold]

Adding on to my original question, if I switch from Prinergy to Prinect would I be able to import all the saved templates that were created in Preps? I can't even begin to contemplate recreating all those, that would definitely keep me with Preps/Prinergy if I couldn't import them into Prinect.

 

[rmac2125]

I also contemplated the move from prinergy to either prinect or XMF, but decided to stick with prinergy.
According to Heidelberg you can import the pjtf's into Prinect, but they CANNOT be edited.

 

[KodakPrinergy]

Hi there, there are many enhancements between preps 5 and 6, and because of the differences we've had some users express some concern about upgrading. For an overview on Preps 6 vs 5 please checkout the following video:

KODAK PREPS Software 6 Job Creation Overview for Version 5 Users - YouTube

We'd also encourage you to checkout the upcoming Prinergy 6 - we announced it at Drupa this year, and showed it at Graph Expo - it's received
many positive reviews. If ANYONE would like to schedule a private demo of the new platform please let me know via PM. Otherwise ask your Kodak Representative and they can arrange.

 

[TJ-421]

I started learning imposition in Metrix with a Prinergy workflow (OSX), and have since spent the last year and a half working in Prinect/Signa, also in OSX. On the imposition end, I find Signa to be a little too "helpful" in telling you how many pieces up will go on a given press sheet size, requiring you to back up and create a montage or a one-off custom imposition scheme if your needs differ from Signa's proposed layout. Metrix is on my shop's wishlist for the coming year, and I found that program to be a little more flexible in allowing you to gang together multiple piece sizes on a sheet and allowing the operator to decide how many up will go on a sheet based on your particular situation.

On the workflow end, I seem to remember Prinergy being pretty equivalent to Prinect...Prinect can be a little hit-or-miss in determining which color seps to plate if you have, say, three-color art but four-color marks in a file, but when I was working in Prinergy, I had more explicit instructions of which separations to plate from the CSR (the tickets I get now call for four-color, specified spots, or 4C plus spots, regardless of the actual process colors used in the job).

As far as IT is concerned, all I can say is that both workflows gave us their share of headaches and server restarts, but I was never involved at high enough levels to say more than that.

For what it's worth,
-TJ