Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 3/1/2003 5:12:14 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
mh@... writes:

> Are the "Sundance Image Technology, Inc." and the "R9 Corporation" 
> owned by Cone and they just aren't telling anyone
> I think their relationship must be closer than I thought considering 
> the upcoming announcement by Cone and Co. tomorrow and the new rip and 
> inks by the Sundance people.  Are they going to be in the same booth at 
> PMA?
> 
> The new rip (updated old piezo pro rip) is being called PixelPixasso 
> which I think is mighty funny.
> 
> I don't think people are going to want to pay $1500 for the rip when 
> cone is coming out with the system that is just based on ICC profiles 
> (but maybe they are going to be charging $1500 for the 7000-9600 
> profiles, I don't know).  If profiles can do what the piezo plugin does 
> and what everyone does with the roark curves etc (et al) than why 
> didn't someone come up with them a long time ago?
> 
> By the way, I was looking at the cart prices for those larger printers: 
> for the piezotones, it costs $510+ for a set for the 9x00. Is it just 
> me or does that seem like a lot! Can anyone tell me how many square 
> feet a set like that would print?  And why is the selenium and WN more 
> expensive than the CN and Carbon Sepia?
> 
> -mikeH
> 
Sundance R9 and JonCone are two very separate companys now. Its Much like a 
divorce with the usual court battles.
No, they will be in separate booths at PMA. 
The relationship is History and could not be further apart.
Remember Cone and company have only announced a price for Canon desktop 
printers. There is no guarantee that When and if the 7600-9600 Epsons
are supported it will still be priced at 199.00. 
Regarding 510.00 for a large set of Piezotone carts! A full set of Epson 
carts for the 9600 can be 600.00 on a good day, so they are actually cheaper 
than Epson Inks.
These carts will produce hundreds of prints maybe several hundred 16x20's So 
really only a couple dollars per print. The paper is going to cost you more 
than the ink!
Steve Meyers


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

If anyone knows more about this, I would like to know.  From my 
understanding, Jon sold the old inks to R9/Sundance once the piezotones 
were out. A divorce makes it sound like they were together at one point 
which is not what I was thinking but I really don't know at all.

Jon has already said the 2200s etc.. will be supported soon, and it 
looks as though the price may be less rather than more (than what might 
be expected)

As far as the reason for "switching" to the Canons; I think the reason 
is that he can now.  It is purely expansion (more profit) so why not 
right?

Originally, the proprietary system was the way to make the money, now 
that B&W digital printing is becoming more mainstream he realized that 
the new way is a much better business model ("no hassle" ICC based 
printing on many makes of printers). He is a smart businessman which is 
probably what he has to be to make it in that business.

But for us, the end result is not sounding like anything much better 
than what we had. The 4 piezotones are still going to be his feature 
product it looks like. While the ICC system sounds revolutionary, it 
doesn't really help correct the majority of my gripes with the system; 
the plugin was actually the most flawless of the various pieces of the 
puzzle. 

-mh

> Sundance R9 and JonCone are two very separate companys now. Its Much like a 
> divorce with the usual court battles.
> No, they will be in separate booths at PMA. 
> The relationship is History and could not be further apart.
> Remember Cone and company have only announced a price for Canon desktop 
> printers. There is no guarantee that When and if the 7600-9600 Epsons
> are supported it will still be priced at 199.00. 
> Regarding 510.00 for a large set of Piezotone carts! A full set of Epson 
> carts for the 9600 can be 600.00 on a good day, so they are actually cheaper 
> than Epson Inks.
> These carts will produce hundreds of prints maybe several hundred 16x20's So 
> really only a couple dollars per print. The paper is going to cost you more 
> than the ink!
> Steve Meyers
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi MH,

> From my
> understanding, Jon sold the old inks to R9/Sundance once the piezotones
> were out.

Hum.  I believe R9/Sundance developed the software AND the inks, and Cone
merely OEM'd them from R9/Sundance having a two year exclusive.

Austin

Really?  I thought he was supposed to be the big innovator behind it 
all!  If that is the case then why was he getting all the hype?


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Austin Franklin" 
<darkroom@i...> wrote:

> Hi MH,
> 
> > From my
> > understanding, Jon sold the old inks to R9/Sundance once the piezotones
> > were out.
> 
> Hum.  I believe R9/Sundance developed the software AND the inks, and Cone
> merely OEM'd them from R9/Sundance having a two year exclusive.
> 
> Austin

In a message dated 3/1/2003 8:59:36 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
mh@... writes:

> Really?  I thought he was supposed to be the big innovator behind it 
> all!  If that is the case then why was he getting all the hype?
> 
> It could be he Hired Sundance and R9 to develop the system for him. 
R9 had a plugin for quad separation work long before Piezography was born. It 
was a pretty cbscure piece of software back then, going back about 4 years 
ago I think. I beleive it only supported the 3000 as 1160's and such hadn't 
even been made yet.
Steve M.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

MH,

> I thought he was supposed to be the big innovator behind it
> all!

My understanding WAS as yours.  I did believe that the driver and ink
development was led by him, and it was employees of his that actually write
the driver, and that he was the main person who engineered the inks, and
that HE had another company who produces the inks make them FOR him.  From
what has come out over the past year, that appears to have not been the
case.

Austin

Steve,

> > Really?  I thought he was supposed to be the big innovator behind it
> > all!  If that is the case then why was he getting all the hype?
> >
> > It could be he Hired Sundance and R9 to develop the system for him.

Could be, but I doubt it.  If that were the case, then why would Sundance
have kept it and is not selling it, after the two year "agreement" was up?

> R9 had a plugin for quad separation work long before Piezography
> was born.

I believe Piezography is merely a name that Cone used to resell the Sundance
driver and inks under.

Austin