Aplux Reviews

if it were possible i would not be unfavorably rating this specific product, but would be venting my dissatisfaction with the range of manufacturers who settled on the incompatable formats of dvd-rw and dvd+rw. call me naive, but i imagined that there was only one dvd rw and that plusses or minuses were simply a matter of the graphic designers preference.

the idiocy that would give rise to this incompitability in functionality is surprising; to have it hinge on a + or - is baffling. it makes one wonder if it is somehow connected to a gatesian effort to thwart open standards.

anyway, i suppose there will always be stupid people making stupid decisions. i'll throw myself in for buying on faith.

scott

Yes, the standards can be confusing and compatibility with older DVD players a problem for either the +RW or -RW standards. Nearly all of the newer DVD players will play +R and -R, the +RW and -RW are more questionable because they are designed for use by a PC as a rewrittable media. The +RW/-RW standard is a great way to back up your PC since you can rotate and rewrite on the disks. There is a way for both standards to exist well into the future, unlike a standard for tapes (e.g. VHS vs. Beta). Even if your PC doesn't natively support +RW, there are drivers or software that will support the format. Most who are writting something more permanent (e.g. home video) should use the +R or -R. The +R and +RW are the newer standard which has some technology advantages (e.g. less problems with buffer underrun) and faster. A new HP internal DVD writer supports all four formats (-R, +R, -RW, +RW). Don't be surprised if the different standards stay in place and all new players support all the standards. We may not be done with the standards either, a third standard could come in to play using a higher spectrum light (blue) which would allow allow a higher capacity media.

I received a blank HP DVD+RW as part of the package when I bought the HP DVD writer 200i. I had also bought a new hard drive and wanted to transfer all my data from my old drive. I decided to test out this blank DVD....used HP's simple backup software (came with the DVD writer)...and in a few mouse clicks, I had my data backed up and ready to be tranferred. The DVD media performed beautifully. I transferred data, erased and copied again, and each time it performed beautifully. Have always used HP's products and will always recommend it.

First, you can get better looking prints with the HP Premium Plus Glossy Photo Paper than with any other photographic paper I have tried, and I have tried all the HP papers and many others. The color is as rich, true and deep as professional photo lab prints. I print with a HP Photosmart P1000.

However, prints on this paper are very sensitive to being smudged, even days and weeks after being printed. If you touch the prints, you can leave fingerprints. If you put the prints in a frame or CD case, the prints will often stick to the glass or plastic. If you get a print wet, forget it, the color will run. I have not found this to be true, or as bad, with lower quality papers.

Also, although color photographs look exceptional on this paper, I have found that printing fine white text on a color background to be a problem with this paper. After a few days, the color will seep onto the white text, obscuring the text. Other papers seem to hold the color better, but the color is not as rich.

In short, I have found a huge tradeoff in using this high quality paper.

without actually being a photographic print...

This is, as others have mentioned, the best quality photo paper (and the matte finish premium plus is just as good) that is available (that I have discovered). The colors are brilliant, the paper feels like very close to the same as good photographic paper, and, for all intents and purposes, the final prints will have everyone convinced that it's a "real" photo, not a printed photo.

However, I agree with statements from others - the HP inks, when printed on this paper, can be smeared. Absolutely in the first couple minutes after printing it is very easy to smear the inks. Be careful taking the prints out of the printer, and don't let one print land on top of another in the printer tray or you might see some of the ink of the first print end up on the back of the other. Since we are all probably used to having prints with wet ink for a minute or two after printing, this doesn't really bother me, but even hours (days, maybe) after printing, the ink on the paper can still be smeared. I have not been able to smear the ink on the cheaper HP photo papers, so this surprises me.

But, if you are careful, I don't think you should have any smearing problems. And let's face it, if you really need to have a photograph that is going to last a long time, you shouldn't be printing it with an inkjet anyway.

You do have to weigh the advantage of a really sharp, really color-perfect photo-like print with the disadvantage of having a print that is possbily smearable and runny, though. Hopefully HP can fix this problem, and give us super-paper that holds the ink *and* has super-high color rendition.

Like others have said, this paper prints great pictures BUT as soon as you put the printed pictures in a photo album the ink "sticks" to the plastic. This happens especially with darker colors (mostly any black areas in your picture). Considering my wife has black hair and wears a lot of black clothes, this creates some problems and ugly photo albums.

However, I don;t believe this is an issue just with the HP paper as I tried switching to Kodak and experienced the same problem, though not as bad as HP. I will try a fixative spray as others have recommended and see if that works

I wasted a whole bottle of ink trying to refill this thing. I refilled it, waited about 15 minutes, then put it back in the printer. Overnight all the ink leaked out. I got it all over the inside of the printer, me, and even on the floor. It's a special "anti-refill design" by HP. Search the internet well before trying to refill this as it's very difficult.

I have had my Deskjet 540 for over 10 years and it still works great. I'm just glad HP still makes the cartridge for it. How can someone review the cartridge and complain about not being able to refill it. It was not designed for that so why blame the cartridge for it?

I can never let go of my Desk Jet 500 series because I so love this printer cartridge. None like it anywhere in the world. I have three other printers, high-end, and their cartridges don't even come close to giving me the same quality end product.

The picture quality is decent from this paper, but I have lost a few pictures from handling.

They bend much easier than standard photopaper, and scratch easily. Best thing to do is let them dry and put them in an album or separated by soft paper in a photobox right away.

I absolutely love this paper. It is virtually identical to the look and feel of commercial lab stock. I use it with my HP P1000 Photo printer and am thrilled with the results. The quality is actually better than what I was getting with the photo lab, thanks to a good camera and my ability to crop and fix the image before printing. I have gone completely photo-crazy and go through several packages a month. The 4x6 size is ideal for me because there is no waste and no need to crop images. Can't say enough good things about it, and Amazon's price is fantastic!

i get great results using this paper in my photosmart p1100 printer. but i use 4x6 size paper less than i used to. i'm switching to 8x10 photo paper because i usually print several photos at a time, and not necessarily all are the same size. seems that i get overall better pricing by printing multiple photos on the larger paper. i use a paper-trimmer to trim my photos. it's not as much trouble as i first thought. i use fiskars brand paper trimmer (rotary trimmer) and love the results. no one knows that the photos didn't come from a professional photo finishing company.

This is the kind of camera you may want to take with you instead of a disposable. Pros:It's light, small, a no-brainer inexpensive tool to catch snapshots, and, last but not least, has a wide angle lens with reasonable sharpness for a focus-free camera. Cons: Film loading must be carefully performed away from light to avoid marks on your shots (but that's true for most cameras), and, obviously, image sharpness cannot match an autofocus P&S. Overall, a cute little thing.

fairly easy to use ,it is a pretty good cheap camera,takes good pictures, flash and shutter cover

This camera takes crystal clear photos and is cheap too! The only thing I don't really like, is the manual rewind, but hey, for the price I can live with it!