Melville, NY – The SpencerLab Digital Color Laboratory has announced the latest update, version 4.3, to the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite. This update is available for immediate access at www.spencerlab.com/MySpencerLab. If you are a current licensee of the Suite, this update is included with your annual subscription – at no charge. Licensees of the Test Suite will realize significant benefits with use of the 4.3 update.
 
As with previous versions, this update of the Test Suite continues the refinement and expansion of this high-end, quality test tool for the digital printing industry. The SpencerLab commitment to providing users with a comprehensive tool for print quality analysis and printer benchmarking has resulted in 21 new test files in various adaptations, including new Photo Book Print Quality test files and a new sub-suite, the Label Suite of test files.
 
New features and enhancements in the latest version of the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite include:
 
- File updates, including enhanced color correction of memory colors
- Addition of MS Office 2010 Open XML files
- Addition of Label Suite of test files
- Addition of 12'' x 18'' Photo Book Print Quality test files
- Addition of ''Problem Photo'' test files with common consumer photo impairments such as red-eye, poor sharpness and contrast, etc. for the evaluation of image enhancement/correction tools
 
To celebrate the new update, SpencerLab is currently offering special, limited time discount opportunities through 31 January 2011: for current subscribers, 20% off the 2011 annual subscription fee; and for new licensees, 20% off the Test Suite with one-year of tech support and free updates.
 
"With this latest update, SpencerLab takes another step forward in providing the digital imaging community with the most comprehensive and up-to-date set of tools for product testing and evaluation. The updated SpencerLab Printer Test Suite provides manufacturers, channel partners, resellers, and research facilities with upgrades and enhancements – addressing contemporary industry issues such as evaluation of photo correction software and label printing," said Catherine Fiasconaro, Director of the Laboratory and Vice President, Operations. "We strongly encourage licensees to take full advantage of all the new features designed to enhance suite's capabilities and the user experience."
 
The SpencerLab Printer Test Suite consists of over three gigabytes of data, includes more than 80 test files (in over 200 adaptations, printing over 400 pages), and covers the full breadth of market segments, including: Consumer, SMB/Office/Enterprise, Photographic, Graphic Arts, Large Format and Production. The Suite has become a printing industry standard for print and image quality analysis. Files include black-and-white and color; color-managed RGB and CMYK; PostScript, PDF, and application formats; output sizes ranging from 4x6'' through large format; and both U.S. and international page sizes.
 
Availability
The version 4.3 update is available immediately at no cost to current subscribers of the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite – the update is automatically available at their MySpencerLab login page.
 
Background
Assisted by over a dozen key corporate sponsors, SpencerLab has shared its expertise in Print Quality, Throughput Speed Performance, Toner/Ink Yield and associated Cost-per-Print, and Reliability analysis in the development and refinement of the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite. Since its 1990 introduction as the CHQF Test Suite, it has become a generally accepted de facto standard in facilitating evaluation of Print Quality. Test files in the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite complement recent and forthcoming ISO/IEC standards (SpencerLab has participated in their development for nearly a decade).
 
More than a dozen firms sponsored development of Version 4 in order to share access to more meaningful measurement tools and standards. These have included Adobe, Canon, Eastman Kodak, EFI, Hewlett-Packard, Konica Minolta, Lexmark, Océ, Okidata, Toshiba, Xerox, and Ziff Davis Enterprise. Many of these sponsors as well as other major industry firms are using the SpencerLab Printer Test Suite, our testing services or methodology on a continuing basis.