Which EFI RIP? Integrated Fiery Sys8 or Ex Print Server

[leegreen]

Hi,

We are looking at purchasing a Xerox 700 and trying to figure out which RIP will best suit our needs... Bustled EFI System 8 Fiery or the EX Print Server Fiery RIP.

Reading the EFI EX Print RIP spec sheet I am unable to find any benefits of any real value, it really just seems to be an external RIP with a bit more power with a lot of optional extras ($).

If anybody has experience with the EFI EX Print Server and can provide any information as to the benefits of this particular RIP it would be appreciated..

[leegreen]

Answer to my question is -

EFI EX Fiery - comes with EFI Impose, Faster processor, due to the need to run optional extras, and thats about it..

The bustled RIP also comes bundled with a EFI ES1000.

[Craig]

I was going to say the same thing, the EX would be my option.

[mattbeals]

Always go external. I'd look at the Creo front ends too before you commit to a Fiery solution.

[leegreen]

Thanks for your response.

I have only worked with Fiery RIPs - how do CREO compare? What features do they have that a Fiery doesn't?

I work in a purely digital environment - which I saw the EX most suited to a digital + offset environment, due to the graphic arts addons.
I do all my imposing and VDP at software level on my mac - which removes the need for a more powerful rip?

Cheers
Lee

[mattbeals]

My experience with Fiery RIP's (external) and Creo RIP's is that they both basically have the same features. But the situation I had we had bought an external Fiery for about $15k or so. We had all sorts of color problems. So we were told to buy the Graph Arts kit for another $5k. At that point we were at the same price point as the Creo DFE and wouldn't have wasted any time or spoiled work with R&D dealing with not having the Graphic Arts kit. We did try the Graphic Arts kit but over all it was just a big pain in the arse. So we scrapped the Fiery, installed the Creo and were up and running. We had finer gradation control, trapping and imposition options in the Creo that simply were not available with the Fiery or were beyond the $21k for the Fiery and Graphic Arts kit.