My prints are coming out with faded blacks. Anyone know how to fix this?

[bender3455]

Here, let me start with a picture:



Notice that Hulk and Justice League have a different color saturation for black than the 'real' PS2 covers?  I printed those using an HP printer onto Red River high quality paper using their recommended settings.  I also seem to get dull blacks on regular paper as well.  I'm signed up for HP's ink program, so the ink itself is genuine.  How do I get the black to come out blacker?  Any ideas?  Or, is it a printer problem?

[TDIRunner]

I'm not sure if this is part of the problem or not, but my old HP printer would continue to print even if there wasn't enough ink to properly get the correct color.  In other words, that was the indicator that you ink was ready to be changed.  When the colors came out faded, put in a new ink cartridge.  Not a good system, but it was an old printer.  My new Cannon will not print anything unless there is enough ink to get the proper quality.

Are the other covers in the picture original PS2 games, or are they printed as well?  I'll have to take a picture of some of my PS2 prints next to origninals to see how much of a difference there is. 

The only other thing I can think of is double check your print settings.  When I switched to Windows 10, I lost a lot of my modified settings in my print and scan programs.  They all went back to default and I have to figure out how I had everything setup before.  I didn't loose all settings however, which I thought was odd.

[bender3455]

All of the other ones are real except for Baldurs Gate.  I'll try sticking in a new cartridge, reprinting, and see if that helps.  I only really noticed the severity of it after switching to the Red River paper.  Not saying anything bad about the paper, it made the colors VIBRANT! it just may have made an existing issue more noticeable.

[TDIRunner]

Did you change your settings to "matte photo paper?"  Make sure it isn't set to glossy or anythign like that.

If you have any other paper, try and use it to see if you get similar results.  If you do, then you know it's the printer.

[palmer6strings]

I had the same thing going on. Wait for it... It was an HP printer also. When I printed on plain or legal paper, it would be a nice black but it would smear if you touched it like it wasn't being absorbed by the paper. But if I printed on glossy or photo paper, the blacks would look like a grayish/greenish black. But the paper would absorb it better and it wouldn't smear. All while having the correct settings applied for each situation.

I hate to tell you but I'm sure it's just the brand of printer.

After I switched printers, (I now use Kodak) my prints come out looking just as good as the originals.

[wiggy]

Clean the print head(s). There should be a utility for it in the printer properties menu.

[bender3455]

Images coming shortly.  First off, I replaced the ink cartridge and performed a head cleaning as suggested.  I did a print under my current settings; still hazy on black.  Next, I changed paper type to 'matte' under the print settings.  (Red River suggests 'Photo Paper' for HP printers).  Bam, the blacks came out nice and black.  Goes to show that you can't always trust recommended settings for best quality when printing covers.  Thanks guys!

[palmer6strings]

I'm glad you got it working. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get good prints with my HP that I had.

[TDIRunner]

Glad you got it workingl. 

[wiggy]

Good to hear it's working!

On a side note, HP printers aren't very good, and that's me being polite.  If you want decent prints consistently, then go Canon or Epson

[Too Beaucoup]

Good to hear it's working!

On a side note, HP printers aren't very good, and that's me being polite.  If you want decent prints consistently, then go Canon or Epson

Not that it adds anything to the thread, but I think your mileage may vary on this. I currently have an HP printer that I got about a year and a half ago for $59.99 and it prints phenomenally. I had a $200 Lexmark printer before it and this HP blows it away.