Poor PDF printing to new Epson_but not old HP

[phkhgh]

Printed from several PDF files, from various sources to a new Epson inkjet. On draft mode, the quality is terrible.
Used Foxit, Sumatra, Evince - all w/ same results.

Printing the same PDFs to an older HP inkjet - also on lowest quality draft - look pretty acceptable, as always.

But, printing other non PDF format files, from several apps to the Epson - in DRAFT - look fine. So only PDFs are a problem for the Epson in draft mode. All other files types printed in Draft on the Epson are OK.

Printing PDFs on the Epson in Standard mode look fine. As said, all other formats printed on the Epson in Draft look OK. That rules out the possibility that HP's Draft mode is just better.

I've heard of general PDF print problems, but not for one printer only, while another prints fine. Is it realistic that Epson drivers could have problems w/ PDFs AND Draft, but not w/ other files & draft?
Suggestions?

 

[The Hat]

There are two types of Printable PDFs, one is web a PDF suitable for on screen viewing
and can be printed but maybe not in draft mode.

The other is the Standard (Commercial) PDF that's meant for quality prints and it can be printed in any mode
which would include even very fast mode and still be readable and acceptable to the eye.

I reckon that HP does print better than Epson in draft mode; but its in higher quality modes that Epson excels and shots HP down;
you could try a PDF from another source to see if it will print better for you, or better still made one yourself..

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

So what? You're on the refilling forum. Ink is cheap. Why bother with draft mode if it doesn't work? Problem solved, the easy way.

 

[phkhgh]

Thanks Hat. I get what you're saying about different qualities of PDFs. Reconsider what I've tried.

You're statement that this HP is far better in Draft mode than this Epson (for any / all file formats) is NOT true - as I stated.

all other file formats printed on the Epson in Draft look OK. That rules out the possibility that HP's Draft mode is just better.

NON - PDF files -.odt or .doc, etc., printed in Draft, look OK on either the HP or Epson. It's only for PDFs that HPs draft quality is substantially better.

I've no idea why, other than an Epson driver issue affecting PDFs & Draft mode? I guess anything's possible.

Printed from several PDF files, from various sources to a new Epson inkjet.

Also printed those same PDFs to the HP.

Other than Epson driver issue that only affects PDFs AND Draft, seems far fetched that all other formats print OK in Draft, on both printers.
If a PDF wasn't "Commercial" - then it'd print poorly on both printers - short of some very weird Epson driver issue (guessing here). There could be some other strange reason.

Haven't tried Adobe Reader. Would rather not, but... Only if Adobe had unique print setting(s), or if it "handles" PDF printing differently, would it make a difference over the other readers.

 

[The Hat]

As I said some PDFs will print poorly as it just did on your Epson, HP obviously can handle web PDFs better,
so why dont you make a PDF in Photoshop and forget about doing in Acrobat..

 

[costadinos]

Which readers are you using exactly?
Adobe Reader has an option to "print as image" before sending to printer. Try that if there is something similar with your reader.

Can you upload or provide a link to one of those pdf documents so we can give it a try with other Epsons and readers?

 

[phkhgh]

The Hat - tried suggestion & scanned a text doc to PDF from Epson scanner at 720 dpi. Then printed in Draft on both printers. Result was very similar on both. HP is a tad better, but Epson's print of the scanned file was FAR better than from any downloaded PDFs I'd tried.

Then printed the same .odt file in Draft, directly from OO Writer to both printers. Gives essentially same results - quite acceptable. So there's something about printing avg PDFs in Draft that the HP understands, but the Epson doesn't.

T.M. - to an extent, you're correct. Refill ink may be cheap(er), but it's not free. However, time is VERY expensive. The time to print a lot of PDF "avg stuff" in Standard mode is as important, if not more so, than ink cost. For a lot of stuff we print, it's just not necessary to print in standard mode (fairly high quality) - other than because right now, the Epson doesn't print avg PDFs well in draft mode.

 

[phkhgh]

EDIT: Bingo! costadinos wins the prize (until further testing. Please allow 8 to 10,000 weeks to receive your prize). Sumatra had option on its initial print page > Advanced - for "print as image," which improved Draft print quality easily 100%, for a couple of test files. I'll test a few others, but that setting made the PDF Draft prints close to the same quality as printing a .doc or other files on Draft - which are quite acceptable.

Odd why the HP doesn't need that setting for PDFs, but I'll take it. I'll look at couple of other readers to see if there's an improvement. Sumatra improved Epson PDF draft quality tremendously - still not as good as HP's; & it should be, since other files printed on draft look same from both printers.

I need to exchange this Epson for an identical one (has slight problem * sometimes * loading paper / printing a bit misaligned on pages; others I tested don't). This issue w/ printing PDFs was a concern whether to get a different printer.
END OF EDIT.

costadinos - used Foxit reader, Sumatra, Evince. All had essentially identical poor results (w/ downloaded "web" PDFs) in Draft on the Epson. Not tried PDF-Xchange Viewer or Adobe reader.

Yes, I can u/l a sample file that doesn't do well in draft on the Epson WF 3540. Can't u/l PDF files here - can you suggest a free file hosting site(s), where I won't need to put on 3 layers of anti viral suits?

I'll double check - don't recall setting for "print as image" in the readers.

 

[Lucas28]

So what? You're on the refilling forum. Ink is cheap. Why bother with draft mode if it doesn't work? Problem solved, the easy way.

The draft setting is usually not choosen for the lower ink consumption. The printer just prints much quicker in the draft setting.
My B40W printer shoots out the prints so fast in draft, the user better keep away from the output tray!

Costadinos: Good idea to use another reader. Maybe I'll uninstall Adobe.