Hi Everybody - New with questions

[Andy]

Hey everyone. I'm newly registered but have known about this site for quite a while. I registered today (can't believe my name wasn't taken!). Instead of filling this topic with total fluff I'll cut straight to the point here.

I tried printing a few covers for the first time tonight and to my shock and horror (or just slight disappointment really, it wasn't that dramatic) things didn't turn out too well. The prints looked "okay" but just not anywhere near where I would accept it. A lot of the colors were washed out looking and it just looked like I had printed off of an early 2000's printer in certain areas. I know these covers should look better for sure! I compared the printed images with the source material and knew for a fact the prints should look much better than the end result. So I changed a setting in the printer and tried again..slightly better, by maybe 10%, but it still looked pretty "eh" and I just wasn't thrilled.

So here's my set up. I'm using High Gloss paper (one sided), at first I didn't have the printer setting for High Gloss enabled, it was just set on Plain Paper. So I changed that and, well, I explained up above what happened there! My next setup piece is the printer itself. Currently I'm using Epson's new EcoTank printer
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/epson-workforce-et-4500-ecotank-wireless-all-in-one-printer-black/4212804.p?skuId=4212804.
I'm still new to using this printer so I'm not exactly sure if there's a setting or a way to load the paper I wasn't doing right. But I suppose my question here is: is this printer capable of doing really good prints? It's a pricey printer, but it's not exactly advertised for making amazing prints. I don't want to try a bunch of different paper types if the printer itself is the issue here. I'm wondering if I should try another printer? A regular inkjet printer isn't terribly expensive but of course the ink is, so again, I'd hate to buy everything for that if it wasn't needed.

I'm open to trying something like a Staples or other printing service but I know the issue of copyright can crop up and ruin everything. I know I, in most likely scenarios, would not be hauled off to prison for trying to print a video game cover at a Staples and the worst that could happen is to be told "no, we can't print that" but if I can avoid the hassle of going there and trying my luck it would be nice. Although, how likely is it to be turned away? This is the cheapest option so it is the most attractive by far, but I like the convenience of being able to print from home too. So I'm not sure which route to go about here.

Anyway, that's enough for the post I think. Any help or advice would be much appreciated here! Thanks

P.S. In general I hate having to ask a question as a first post on a forum, makes me look needy and like I'll blow the joint as soon as my problem's solved. But I promise to stick around, for better or worse!

[Arseen]

Asking questions is OK, the real assholes start by demanding whole cover catalogue in one file for easier sellling printing, don't say thank you and bitch if we don't do that within 5 minutes... So you're OK.

Only thing that comes to mind is that your printer can't produce enough ink for high-gloss paper, try going with semi-gloss photopaper, or even high quality normal paper.
Here is topic tht gives good hints: http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=19196.0

Altough printer at that price range should work well as my 50Euro Canon does.

[Andy]

Thanks for your input! Something I considered and you had made reference to, was the printer simply not putting out enough ink to really get the image looking like it should. I'm thinking because the printer is specifically marketed and manufactured to use low ink that that's exactly what's going on. I did try your suggestion though this morning and used regular copy, nice quality copy paper. It did look different that the glossy paper but still quite subdued, the blacks were very light and the overall quality was a bit blurry. While the printer itself is a pretty good printer I don't think it's going to make these prints look close to what an actual retail cover would look like which is what I'm after.

I also just realized today that we don't have a staples anywhere near me. In Massachusetts I lived in the same town of a Staples store but here in Texas none of those are anywhere around me. We do have an Office Max and an Office Depot but I'm not sure if they do prints. I've also heard of people using Kinkos/Fedex Office (whatever they're calling themselves nowadays) and someone also mentioned they go to the UPS store which I had no idea they did prints. One thing that is attractive about using the retail store location is the cost, I could get a ton of prints over the course of several months and still not spend as much as I would for a stack of really nice paper. The downside of course if the copyright trouble that comes with that and being turned away.

[Andy]

I think I finally got it figured out! I played around with my printer settings more this morning while I had some time. I'm still new to this printer so I wasn't sure where to find certain settings, after messing around with them and printing from a different source (I couldn't figure out how to get photoshop to print high quality), I tried one more time with another glossy sheet of paper. The printer printed the page way slower which already told me I got it right that time. All the other attempts it would spit the sheet out within 10 seconds, which I knew the end result was going to be crap if it printed that fast. This time it took about 2 or 3 minutes and when it came out it looked really good. It's a Wii Sports cover, so I don't have an official image to compare it to but I'm looking at it in comparison to other covers and I do think it looks pretty good.

So now I can hopefully avoid the hassle of Staples and the like! Hooray!