HP ScanJet 6250C Professional Series Color Scanner

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Type of Product

The Hewlett Packard 6250C Professional Series Color Scanner is an enhancement of their Series 6200C scanner. The new scanner offers the same functionality and all the advantages of the 6200C series, plus it features an integrated automatic document feeder. With the HP 6200C scanner, and many other scanners on the market, you have to buy the document feeder separately, and it is more costly. The scanner also comes with a 35 mm slide adapter that really works. The 6250C scanner uses HP's exclusive Intelligent Scanning Technology which is comprised of high-quality optics, hardware, and software to give you superior results. This technology automatically optimizes scanned photos, providing photo-quality results. It converts black-and-white line art into infinitely scalable vector files, so you can enlarge or shrink logos right in your application with no worries of jagged effects. It automatically creates editable text from your scanned documents with integrated OCR software. You can do all this in one single step. Or, you can choose the resolution--any resolution for any image. You can change any other settings you'd like. HP Intelligent Assistants can show you what steps are required and what steps are optional so you can choose the results you want. Price: $580.00. Visit the Hewlett Packard Web site for information on other products: http://www.hp.com

User Level

The scanner is so easy to install and use that it would be appropriate for beginning, intermediate, and advanced PC users. Because the software makes scanning an image seem almost automatic, a beginner scanner or PC user would seem as if they were pros. The advanced features will appeal to intermediate and advanced users who like to acquire a quality scan for Web design or artwork.

Features

Increases your productivity by up to four times:

Drag-and-drop capability
Dual Image Scanning (simultaneously recognizes several image types, including photos, line art, and text)
Automatic complex page analysis and preserved page format
Intelligent Assistants: HP ScanJet Coach, Smart Dialogs, and Show Me videos

Ensures exceptional quality:

Unique, high-quality hardware and optics

Automatically enhances photos, line art, and text

Intuitive, easy-to-use advanced controls allow you to adjust resolution, sharpness levels, dimensions, exposure, color, and black-and-white threshold

Fully automated, integrated optical character recognition (OCR) capability

Unlimited enhanced resolution

Offers versatility:

Automatic document feeder (accessory for the 6200C series; integrated with the 6250C series)

Choose standard new Universal Serial Bus (USB) or SCSI capability (SCSI card and cable required)

Included HP ScanJet Slide Adapter

Sharable over your existing network

Review

Installation. It was a snap to set up the scanner. With technology changing so quickly it is sometimes difficult to decide what interface to use. HP has conveniently made the scanner Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) capable. I used the SCSI method: connected the mini 50-pin end of the cable to the scanner and the other end to the SCSI port on the PC; unlocked the scanner and plugged it into an outlet; and turned on the computer. I then proceeded to install the software. This also was very easy. You might want to do a custom install as HP has supplied you with a CD full of various software programs to use with the scanner and you can pick and choose what is appropriate for your needs. (See section on software below for more in-depth discussion of software.)

Interface of HP PrecisionScan Pro Software. The interface is intuitive and easy to use. The Preview command displays an image of the entire scanner glass and all the originals on the scanner glass. You select a portion of the preview image for the final scan by creating a selection area. You can draw a selection border or resize and move the selection area until you are satisfied with the selection area's size and position. There is a Menu bar across the top, with a Button bar below, with the preview section in the middle of the window. There is a Status bar along the bottom to view information about the current activity and the image size. The various tools for adjusting the image can be floating or docked. The Dimensions tool is floating, while the other tools are docked in the image to the left.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR). First, I scanned in a page of text. The HP PrecisionScan software comes with integrated OCR. OCR converts a graphic picture of text into text that can be edited. When you scan text, the scanning software uses OCR to automatically convert the text to appear in your applications as editable text. You can also use other OCR programs such as Caere OmniPage Pro or TypeReader. I used the integrated OCR and then OmniPage Pro and TypeReader's OCR. The HP PrecisionScan OCR worked well. If you frequently use OCR, though, you do get more options and better text conversion with third-party software.

Dual Image Scanning. With this technology you can scan an entire page and capture everything on it--photos, text, and color or black-and-white line drawings. The software automatically optimizes each photo on the page separately, providing AutoExposure, AutoSharpen, and gamma correction to optimize for the printer in use. With black-and-white line art, the software automatically "vectorizes" the image and you get a clean image with no "jaggies". You can scan in a page and not lose your page format. Text retains its font size, italics, bold, and underline characteristics; and text is converted to an application-default font such as Times. I scanned in a page from a Photo/Graphic Edges User Guide that had graphics and text. Both the text and images scanned in great. The text on the image for this review is somewhat unclear because I reduced the image for Web viewing. I wanted to see how the scanner performed using an older or imperfect image. I scanned in an old original watercolor drawing, still within the framed glass and produced the blue head image. I was amazed at how well it scanned through the glass. (See image to the left.)

HP Intelligent Assistants. HP PrecisionScan Pro's Intelligent Assistants help make scanning tasks even more efficient. They include:

HP ScanJet Coach--an interactive wizard that shows you how to scan, set image type, resize, adjust, and finish. Plus the HP ScanJet Coach details the advanced controls available, including output resolution, sharpening, exposure, color, and black-and-white adjustments.

Smart Dialogs--flag you when you mistakenly execute something you may not want, such as creating an unnecessarily large file seeking high resolution for a low-resolution printer.

Show Me Vidoes--these audio-visual tutorials help you reduce your learning curve by showing key scanning concepts unique to the scanner, such as drag-and-drop and dockable tools.

Drag-and-Drop. It's easy to create a document using a scanned logo, photo, and text. You can just push the scan button, click the elements you want, and drag them to your favorite application that supports drag-and-drop, such as Microsoft Word. HP PrecisionScan Pro automatically drops the image in the appropriate file type and format.

Advanced Controls. HP PrecisionScan Pro provides easy-to-use controls if you want maximum control over your scans.

Resolution--You can set a custom resolution with the "Output Resolution" tool--up to 999,999 dpi. And you can dock this tool to the tool bar.

Sharpen--With the "Sharpen level" tool, you can set the amount of sharpening for the selection area. This tool can also be docked to the tool bar.

Dimensions--The "Dimensions" tool sets the size of the selection area, the percent scale, and the width and height of the output image.

Exposure Adjustment--Using the "Exposure Adjustment" tool, you can set the highlights, shadows, and midtones in the selection area as well as display the pixel distribution and pixel color.

Color Adjustment--With the "Color Adjustment" tool, you can set color balance (hue) and color saturation in the selection area.

Black and White Threshold--Use the "Black & White Threshold" tool to set the threshold for black-and-white pixels and the color channel for the selection area of images with a black-and-white bitmap (rastor) output type.

Image Detail. There are two types of detail that a scanner needs to see; one is small features (capturing fine detail in the image) and the other is subtle changes in color or grayscale (staying true to small gradations and shadow detail). In this scanner, low noise electronics and high-quality optics optimize both types of detail. The low noise electronics include a color converter and low-noise amplifier, which provide a better and broader electronic signal range of what is sampled from the page. The superior optics include a high-quality, 4-element lens (versus the more typical 3-element lens) which, like a higher-end 35mm camera, provides better results. These technologies in combination allow the scanner to represent more colors and provide greater detail in shadowy areas without introducing streaks, graininess, jagged edges, moire patterns, or aliasing.

Accurate Grayscale Scanning. Much of the output from scanned images is still printed on black-and-white printers, so it's important for a scanner to be able to accurately convert a color original to a grayscale image. Ideally, a scanner should model how human vision converts color to grayscale. HP's Intelligent Scanning technology uses full-spectrum light--that is, light from all three color channels--to capture images, instead of the industry-standard green channel only. Using full spectrum light results in a more accurate grayscale rendition of the image.

1200 dpi Hardware Super Sampling. HP's Super Sampling technique looks at more pixels in the surrounding data area of your selection, which provides more robust calculations and a more representational look at the data--resulting in finer detail and virtually eliminating "clean-up" time.

Color Processing. The scanner can provide 36 bits/pixel of color image data to the scanning software, which enables the scanning system to refine the data to a more superior color image with increased depth and clarity. Each image pixel is individually processed to remove noise, streaks, jagged edges, and aliasing while sharpness, dynamic range, and color accuracy is simultaneously boosted. The entire process is executed in the scanner's hardware, so your PC is not burdened with heavy processing.

Supports Color Definition With sRGB. sRGB (standard red/green/blue) is an industry-standard color/space definition, which provides a standard way to describe color, so that peripheral devices and software applications can talk the same color language. sRGB provides a consistent color standard across storage platforms through printing and display. With this technology, you can get reliable color across different devices without any special knowledge.

Software

HP PrecisionScan Pro scanning software with fully automated Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capability from Caere.
HP PrecisionScan LAN scanning software for network sharing.
HP ScanJet Copy Utility.
Caere PageKeeper Standard document management software.
Adobe PhotoDeluxe Business Edition.
FaxSav Faxlauncher Pro Internet faxing software.
Illustrated online help, HP ScanJet Coach, "Show Me" video clips, online user's guide.
Adobe Pagemill Web page creation software.

Personal Comments

I have had a variety of Hewlett Packard scanners over the years, from just black and white to color, and they all have been easy to set up, problem free, and easy to use. To use hardware like this, you need good software and tech support, and you get it with this scanner. The quality of scans is excellent from line art to photographs. You can scan just about anything, even objects, and it is fun. I scanned in two rocks from the Berlin Wall. (See image to the right.) Also, there is additional software that comes on the CD that allows you to use the scanner as a copier. And just like HP printers, they last and last and last. There are cheaper scanners on the market, but you won't get a better quality scanner for your money than the ScanJet 6250 or the other various Hewlett Packard scanners.

System Requirements

Processor: Pentium and above (133 MHz recommended)
Operating System: Windows 95 Version B or above; Windows 98; & Windows NT 4.0
Memory: 16MB RAM (24 MB recommended)
VGA Monitor (256 colors or greater)
USB port or SCSI-compatible PC
Hard Disk Space: 40MB (110 MB recommended)
2x CD-ROM drive

Technical Support

The scanner comes with a 90-day free phone support backed by HP Customer Care Promise to answer your call in under three minutes. There is a 1-year hardware warranty and you get free HP Express Pickup and Delivery Service for 1 year. HP has extended hours and Saturday support for online technical support. You can also purchase a HP SupportPack for two years of additional Express Pickup and Delivery. There is 24-hour electronic support available free at http://www.hp.com/go/support

Graphics: Web Spice, Adobe Illustrator & Adobe Photoshop
Web Page Editor: Macromedia Dreamweaver 2.0
Scanner: Hewlett Packard ScanJet 6250C Professional Series


Click on a thumbnail to enlarge it. Use your browser's "BACK" button to return to this review when done.


Type of Product
The Hewlett Packard 6250C Professional Series Color Scanner is an enhancement of their Series 6200C scanner. The new scanner offers the same functionality and all the advantages of the 6200C series, plus it features an integrated automatic document feeder. With the HP 6200C scanner, and many other scanners on the market, you have to buy the document feeder separately, and it is more costly. The scanner also comes with a 35 mm slide adapter that really works. The 6250C scanner uses HP's exclusive Intelligent Scanning Technology which is comprised of high-quality optics, hardware, and software to give you superior results. This technology automatically optimizes scanned photos, providing photo-quality results. It converts black-and-white line art into infinitely scalable vector files, so you can enlarge or shrink logos right in your application with no worries of jagged effects. It automatically creates editable text from your scanned documents with integrated OCR software. You can do all this in one single step. Or, you can choose the resolution--any resolution for any image. You can change any other settings you'd like. HP Intelligent Assistants can show you what steps are required and what steps are optional so you can choose the results you want. Price: $580.00. Visit the Hewlett Packard Web site for information on other products: http://www.hp.com

User Level
The scanner is so easy to install and use that it would be appropriate for beginning, intermediate, and advanced PC users. Because the software makes scanning an image seem almost automatic, a beginner scanner or PC user would seem as if they were pros. The advanced features will appeal to intermediate and advanced users who like to acquire a quality scan for Web design or artwork.

Features
Increases your productivity by up to four times: Drag-and-drop capability Dual Image Scanning (simultaneously recognizes several image types, including photos, line art, and text) Automatic complex page analysis and preserved page format Intelligent Assistants: HP ScanJet Coach, Smart Dialogs, and Show Me videos Ensures exceptional quality: Unique, high-quality hardware and optics Automatically enhances photos, line art, and text Intuitive, easy-to-use advanced controls allow you to adjust resolution, sharpness levels, dimensions, exposure, color, and black-and-white threshold Fully automated, integrated optical character recognition (OCR) capability Unlimited enhanced resolution Offers versatility: Automatic document feeder (accessory for the 6200C series; integrated with the 6250C series) Choose standard new Universal Serial Bus (USB) or SCSI capability (SCSI card and cable required) Included HP ScanJet Slide Adapter Sharable over your existing network

Review
Installation. It was a snap to set up the scanner. With technology changing so quickly it is sometimes difficult to decide what interface to use. HP has conveniently made the scanner Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) capable. I used the SCSI method: connected the mini 50-pin end of the cable to the scanner and the other end to the SCSI port on the PC; unlocked the scanner and plugged it into an outlet; and turned on the computer. I then proceeded to install the software. This also was very easy. You might want to do a custom install as HP has supplied you with a CD full of various software programs to use with the scanner and you can pick and choose what is appropriate for your needs. (See section on software below for more in-depth discussion of software.) Interface of HP PrecisionScan Pro Software. The interface is intuitive and easy to use. The Preview command displays an image of the entire scanner glass and all the originals on the scanner glass. You select a portion of the preview image for the final scan by creating a selection area. You can draw a selection border or resize and move the selection area until you are satisfied with the selection area's size and position. There is a Menu bar across the top, with a Button bar below, with the preview section in the middle of the window. There is a Status bar along the bottom to view information about the current activity and the image size. The various tools for adjusting the image can be floating or docked. The Dimensions tool is floating, while the other tools are docked in the image to the left. Optical Character Recognition (OCR). First, I scanned in a page of text. The HP PrecisionScan software comes with integrated OCR. OCR converts a graphic picture of text into text that can be edited. When you scan text, the scanning software uses OCR to automatically convert the text to appear in your applications as editable text. You can also use other OCR programs such as Caere OmniPage Pro or TypeReader. I used the integrated OCR and then OmniPage Pro and TypeReader's OCR. The HP PrecisionScan OCR worked well. If you frequently use OCR, though, you do get more options and better text conversion with third-party software. Dual Image Scanning. With this technology you can scan an entire page and capture everything on it--photos, text, and color or black-and-white line drawings. The software automatically optimizes each photo on the page separately, providing AutoExposure, AutoSharpen, and gamma correction to optimize for the printer in use. With black-and-white line art, the software automatically "vectorizes" the image and you get a clean image with no "jaggies". You can scan in a page and not lose your page format. Text retains its font size, italics, bold, and underline characteristics; and text is converted to an application-default font such as Times. I scanned in a page from a Photo/Graphic Edges User Guide that had graphics and text. Both the text and images scanned in great. The text on the image for this review is somewhat unclear because I reduced the image for Web viewing. I wanted to see how the scanner performed using an older or imperfect image. I scanned in an old original watercolor drawing, still within the framed glass and produced the blue head image. I was amazed at how well it scanned through the glass. (See image to the left.) HP Intelligent Assistants. HP PrecisionScan Pro's Intelligent Assistants help make scanning tasks even more efficient. They include: HP ScanJet Coach--an interactive wizard that shows you how to scan, set image type, resize, adjust, and finish. Plus the HP ScanJet Coach details the advanced controls available, including output resolution, sharpening, exposure, color, and black-and-white adjustments. Smart Dialogs--flag you when you mistakenly execute something you may not want, such as creating an unnecessarily large file seeking high resolution for a low-resolution printer. Show Me Vidoes--these audio-visual tutorials help you reduce your learning curve by showing key scanning concepts unique to the scanner, such as drag-and-drop and dockable tools. Drag-and-Drop. It's easy to create a document using a scanned logo, photo, and text. You can just push the scan button, click the elements you want, and drag them to your favorite application that supports drag-and-drop, such as Microsoft Word. HP PrecisionScan Pro automatically drops the image in the appropriate file type and format. Advanced Controls. HP PrecisionScan Pro provides easy-to-use controls if you want maximum control over your scans. Resolution--You can set a custom resolution with the "Output Resolution" tool--up to 999,999 dpi. And you can dock this tool to the tool bar. Sharpen--With the "Sharpen level" tool, you can set the amount of sharpening for the selection area. This tool can also be docked to the tool bar. Dimensions--The "Dimensions" tool sets the size of the selection area, the percent scale, and the width and height of the output image. Exposure Adjustment--Using the "Exposure Adjustment" tool, you can set the highlights, shadows, and midtones in the selection area as well as display the pixel distribution and pixel color. Color Adjustment--With the "Color Adjustment" tool, you can set color balance (hue) and color saturation in the selection area. Black and White Threshold--Use the "Black & White Threshold" tool to set the threshold for black-and-white pixels and the color channel for the selection area of images with a black-and-white bitmap (rastor) output type. Image Detail. There are two types of detail that a scanner needs to see; one is small features (capturing fine detail in the image) and the other is subtle changes in color or grayscale (staying true to small gradations and shadow detail). In this scanner, low noise electronics and high-quality optics optimize both types of detail. The low noise electronics include a color converter and low-noise amplifier, which provide a better and broader electronic signal range of what is sampled from the page. The superior optics include a high-quality, 4-element lens (versus the more typical 3-element lens) which, like a higher-end 35mm camera, provides better results. These technologies in combination allow the scanner to represent more colors and provide greater detail in shadowy areas without introducing streaks, graininess, jagged edges, moire patterns, or aliasing. Accurate Grayscale Scanning. Much of the output from scanned images is still printed on black-and-white printers, so it's important for a scanner to be able to accurately convert a color original to a grayscale image. Ideally, a scanner should model how human vision converts color to grayscale. HP's Intelligent Scanning technology uses full-spectrum light--that is, light from all three color channels--to capture images, instead of the industry-standard green channel only. Using full spectrum light results in a more accurate grayscale rendition of the image. 1200 dpi Hardware Super Sampling. HP's Super Sampling technique looks at more pixels in the surrounding data area of your selection, which provides more robust calculations and a more representational look at the data--resulting in finer detail and virtually eliminating "clean-up" time. Color Processing. The scanner can provide 36 bits/pixel of color image data to the scanning software, which enables the scanning system to refine the data to a more superior color image with increased depth and clarity. Each image pixel is individually processed to remove noise, streaks, jagged edges, and aliasing while sharpness, dynamic range, and color accuracy is simultaneously boosted. The entire process is executed in the scanner's hardware, so your PC is not burdened with heavy processing. Supports Color Definition With sRGB. sRGB (standard red/green/blue) is an industry-standard color/space definition, which provides a standard way to describe color, so that peripheral devices and software applications can talk the same color language. sRGB provides a consistent color standard across storage platforms through printing and display. With this technology, you can get reliable color across different devices without any special knowledge.

Software
HP PrecisionScan Pro scanning software with fully automated Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capability from Caere. HP PrecisionScan LAN scanning software for network sharing. HP ScanJet Copy Utility. Caere PageKeeper Standard document management software. Adobe PhotoDeluxe Business Edition. FaxSav Faxlauncher Pro Internet faxing software. Illustrated online help, HP ScanJet Coach, "Show Me" video clips, online user's guide. Adobe Pagemill Web page creation software.

Personal Comments
I have had a variety of Hewlett Packard scanners over the years, from just black and white to color, and they all have been easy to set up, problem free, and easy to use. To use hardware like this, you need good software and tech support, and you get it with this scanner. The quality of scans is excellent from line art to photographs. You can scan just about anything, even objects, and it is fun. I scanned in two rocks from the Berlin Wall. (See image to the right.) Also, there is additional software that comes on the CD that allows you to use the scanner as a copier. And just like HP printers, they last and last and last. There are cheaper scanners on the market, but you won't get a better quality scanner for your money than the ScanJet 6250 or the other various Hewlett Packard scanners.

System Requirements
Processor: Pentium and above (133 MHz recommended) Operating System: Windows 95 Version B or above; Windows 98; & Windows NT 4.0 Memory: 16MB RAM (24 MB recommended) VGA Monitor (256 colors or greater) USB port or SCSI-compatible PC Hard Disk Space: 40MB (110 MB recommended) 2x CD-ROM drive

Technical Support
The scanner comes with a 90-day free phone support backed by HP Customer Care Promise to answer your call in under three minutes. There is a 1-year hardware warranty and you get free HP Express Pickup and Delivery Service for 1 year. HP has extended hours and Saturday support for online technical support. You can also purchase a HP SupportPack for two years of additional Express Pickup and Delivery. There is 24-hour electronic support available free at http://www.hp.com/go/support

Graphics: Web Spice, Adobe Illustrator & Adobe Photoshop Web Page Editor: Macromedia Dreamweaver 2.0 Scanner: Hewlett Packard ScanJet 6250C Professional Series