Tübingen, Germany (October 10, 2004) -- GMG today announced that, once again, it performed exceptionally well in independent head-to-head digital color proof tests. Two GMG ColorProof systems, tested during the 4th digital proof forum in Stuttgart, Germany, scored extremely well compared to other, competitive systems. The 4th digital proof forum in Stuttgart was initiated and managed by the organization bvdm/ECI (www.eci.org/eci/en/) and held in Stuttgart Sept 21 and 22 at the University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule der Medien). The shootout test was the focus for the first day of the sold out event, while the second day was reserved for forums and seminars. Themes of the forum included user experiences with the Altona Test Suite Application Kit, latest developments of proofing systems following Drupa 2004, and the hot topic "certification of proofing systems". This year’s shootout was between nineteen systems from twelve participating manufacturers. GMG entered two systems in the competition: GMG ColorProof o4 with an Epson 4000 printer, and GMG ColorProof o4 with a Creo Veris printer. This year’s task was a simulation of a sheet from a web press printed on supercalendered (SC) paper. All vendors received measured values from the press sheet, which had to be met as close as possible within just one hour’s time. A visual and colorimetric test was conducted between the digital proof and press sheet. Every participant also printed an Altona test suite to judge the PDF/X3 capabilities of the systems. On measured colorimetric tests, GMG received the highest scores with an overall average of 0.8 and 0.9 delta E for the CMYK media wedge category. In all other measured colorimetric tests, the GMG ColorProof systems scored exceptionally well, as low as 0.5 delta E in some categories, and never higher than 2.3 delta E. In visual tests, the GMG systems were often assessed the highest possible score (7.0). The GMG/Epson system was the only one to score a perfect 7.0 on a visual judgment of a media wedge, and received the highest score (6.6) on one of the most important categories, visual color. Again, as in previous tests where GMG has participated, both systems interpreted the Altona test suite perfectly.. “GMG takes color, and these tests, very seriously,” comments Robert Weihing, CEO of GMG. “You cannot fool spectrophotometers. Either your results are accurate, or they’re not. As in past tests sponsored by the bvdm, we are pleased that we were able to score outstanding results on measured tests and, perhaps just as important, on visual ones as well. Once again, we were able to demonstrate that GMG systems provide cost-effective solutions to generate accurate contract proofs.”