The dye sublimation printer market is still reeling after the sudden exit of Sony printers and print media from the photo industry.  For many years, Sony's dye sub printer line has had a huge presence in amusement park photo operations worldwide.  They were a reliable vendor with some nice machines.  Now, photo operators everywhere who have relied on Sony's photo quality printers for their high volume business are forced to purchase new printers.  Consequently, it appears to be a good time to ask who remains in the dye sublimation printer market and how good are their printers?

  

With Sony gone, there remain five viable dye sub printer manufacturers: DNP, Mitsubishi, Kodak, Shinko and HiTouch (HiTi).  Of these five, HiTouch is probably the weakest manufacturer.  This is a shame because their print quality is beautiful.  Unfortunately, print speed is slow and print media is difficult to get.  The remaining vendors are co-dependent at various levels.  For instance, DNP has a long history of providing print media to other printer manufacturers and some of the current Kodak printers are actually made by Shinko.  Apparant competitors are actually interbred.  So, ultimately, who's the best?

  

When considering which manufacturer is best for you, you should first consider your location (i.e. country) and who has a strong presence (i.e. distributorship) in your area. Often a local provider will provide better service, for example, being able to quickly repair broken printers.  If you go with someone outside your country, you may find that shipping costs and import fees are prohibitely expensive (and shipping costs are skyrocketing right now).  Then again, if shipping costs are simply incorporated into the pricing of your local vendor, the value of having a local supplier may become less relevant to you.  Some manufacturers may not service your area at all.  For instance, Kodak produces an excellent dye sub printer, the 6850, with the best print head capacity in the industry, but finding sources for this printer and its media are difficult.  We are told that this is because Kodak plans to leave the professional market.  Nevertheless, the 6850 has a strong following with many operators willing to pay the extra costs to purchase Kodak media from other countries so they can keep using these printers.

  

DNP, Mitsubishi and Shinko are all Japan based manufacturers.  Given the recent disaster in Japan, it would be unsuprising if any or all of these businesses experienced disruptions.  However, with respect to overall stability, it appears they are all firmly committed to remaining in the dye sublimation printer business.  Mitsubishi recently filed to restructure the division of their company which includes photo imaging.  Restructuring is frequently accompanied by streamlining operations which may include changes to the product line.  JDI observed a decrease in quality in Mitsubishi machines in recent years.  It may be that restructuring may actually result in needed improvements in their product line. The consequences of this restructuring remain to be seen.

  

DNP has assumed responsibility for Sony's professional digital photo printer business (excluding the manufacture of printers) and will be supplying Sony printing media to its customers henceforth.  It was reported that no disruptions in print media delivery would occur, but with the disaster in Japan and "issues" associated with the transfer of business from Sony, shipping of new print media is delayed by approximately six months.  This has resulted in disaster for many Sony printer users.  Though DNP has been in the dye sub ribbon manufacturing business for many years, they only began producing their own dye sub machines fairly recently.  However, they put their long experience in this industry to work when they built their printers.  The DNP printers have very good print head capacity, inexpensive media, and they are light weight. 

  

Shinko's presence in the photo printer business is long standing and the quality of their printers is well established.  Their print speed is excellent though the cost of their media is slightly higher.  However, if a Shinko dealer is locally available, the higher cost of media may be superceded by the decreased cost of shipping.  Shinko dye sub printers are worth consideration.

  

For additional information on Shinko, Mitsubishi, DNP and HiTi dye sub printers, please contact Laura at +1 928 757-8837 extension 29.  For specifications on the Kodak 6850 printer, go to Kodak 6850 Printer.

  

  

  

Increasing numbers of Thrill-Pix clients are finding JDI's on-line support services a valuable feature.  In recent  months, locations in Singapore, Istanbul, Blackpool, U.K., Honolulu and Phoenix have received on-line support to adjust settings after an unexpected power outage or other incident occurred which caused configuration settings to be in error.  This service, available seven days per week, enables a JDI technician to log on to a Thrill-Pix PC, review its configuration and make adjustments.  Debbie Moore, retail supervisor at Wet 'n' Wild Hawaii, has relied upon on-line support numerous times because they no longer maintain a technical person on-park who can take care of this kind of stuff.  "Internet support has saved our life a number of times" Debbie reports.  This service requires a broadband internet connection for each machine to be accessed and remote software such as "TeamViewer", "Log Me In" or "Microsoft Remote Desktop".