XnView Software

I scanned a book cover twice, once with XnView on my new laptop and again with HP Document Viewer on my old laptop using an HP scanner/printer. The scan I got using XnView was poor in quality compared to the scan using HP Document Viewer. I was wondering if there was any way to improve XnView's quality.

rondus18 wrote:I scanned a book cover twice, once with XnView on my new laptop and again with HP Document Viewer on my old laptop using an HP scanner/printer. The scan I got using XnView was poor in quality compared to the scan using HP Document Viewer. I was wondering if there was any way to improve XnView's quality.

How that "poor quality"??

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7727/scancomapre.png

The XnView scan is too sharp and picks up too much white pixel noise.

rondus18 wrote:http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7727/scancomapre.png
The XnView scan is too sharp and picks up too much white pixel noise.

The picture is seen at 100%?

Yes.

rondus18 wrote:Yes.

Strange, i don't know why. There is no change on the picture received from the TWAIN driver...

Looks like a common moire pattern which is typical for most polygraphic imprints. HP's software could have some embedded functions for automatic image enhancement (e.g. descreen).

orion wrote:... HP's software could have some embedded functions for automatic image enhancement (e.g. descreen).

Yes, looks like some graphic manipulation in HP's software. When using XnView's Blur filter (Filter > Effects | Blur > Blur) one can get close(r) to HP's result.

So is HP compensating for a problem that XnView doesn't know how to handle, or has HP made it so their hardware works best with their software?

xnview wrote:There is no change on the picture received from the TWAIN driver...

Should I try a new driver for the printer or something?

rondus18 wrote:So is HP compensating for a problem that XnView doesn't know how to handle, or has HP made it so their hardware works best with their software?

The Dust and Scratch Removal setting might be enabled in the HP software.

My understanding is that the TWAIN interface used by XnView and other imaging programs (to drive and control scanners and the scanning process) does not provide the same level of scanner control as does the scanner manufacturer's program. A scanner mfgr can make a new hardware-based feature, like spec/dust removal (which is a relatively new feature on many HP scanners), but that feature can only be activated by the mfgr's own software, because either (a) there is no TWAIN standard for this new feature, or (b) programs like XnView haven't yet implemented the TWAIN calls for the new feature. Keeping XnView (or any other TWAIN-based scanning program) up to date with all the latest developments in scanner technology is not, I believe, a very realistic objective.