HiTi Digital, Inc., is a designer and manufacturer of professional, commercial and consumer dye-sub printers. The company recently rolled out a line of printers that feature greener, faster technologies. They also output superior quality prints at a significant cost savings.
While dye-sublimation printing is a cleaner process than traditional photo developing methods, it’s associated with higher consumable costs. Moreover, its print times average 10 seconds per 4×6-inch photo—compared with about 2 seconds for an average silver halide print.
“Therefore, we are very proud to introduce our X610 high-speed tandem printer and breakthrough photo paper formula,” says Charlie Lin, HiTi’s vice president of Global Sales. “The HiTi X610 prints at 1.5 seconds per 6×4 photo and also prints panoramic photos up to 56 inches. Our new photo paper eliminates the use of toluene, a toxic chemical used in photo paper manufacturing. And it cuts production and material costs. We also updated our ink ribbon formula for our new generation of commercial and consumer printers.”
The dye-sub printing process conventionally requires a photo paper to run through four passes—yellow, magenta, cyan and an overcoat or YMCO—for a finished photo print. This four-pass process is time consuming, and the ribbon has length limitations and is more expensive to manufacture. Creating a ribbon to print metallic greetings or hologram snowflakes on holiday card photos, for example, is even costlier. However, HiTi has shaken things up.
“The X610 high-speed tandem printer is one of the first commercial dye-sub printers that prints with just one pass,” explains Lin. “The new printer accommodates four separate ribbons, allowing the paper to run through the machine at 1.5 seconds per photo. Without the limitations of a four-color ribbon, the X610 prints standard 4x6s and panoramic photos up to 56 inches.”
With the X610, which sets up easily with a computer, photo lab professionals no longer have to wait for orders to accumulate to a certain amount. Nor do they have to be concerned about the time or manpower required to prepare the machine. Its compact size—29x16x14 inches—and 1,000-print capacity make the X610 an ideal wet lab substitute or addition to any photo lab, mid- to large-size storefront or theme park. “It is the ultimate machine to deliver pro-quality photos, of any quantity, to consumers,” adds Lin.
More HiTi Dye-Sub Solutions
In addition to the X610, HiTi introduced multiple dye-sub solutions for photo labs, professional photographers, retail chain stores and small storefronts.
The X620 S—equal to the X610 in printing speed and capacity—is less than half its size. More transportable, the X620 is ideal for on-site locations requiring high volume in a confined space.
The P525L is HiTi’s best-selling compact photo printer. The robust printer is powered by a computer or any Android/iOS mobile device. At an event, it can be remotely controlled with the Prinbiz app to print, adjust color and saturations, add logos, apply personal designs and frames as well as produce ID photos.
HiTi’s P750L is a high-volume printer with the same capabilities as the P525L. But it doubles its capacity, so it’s perfect for high-volume customers. Fewer consumable replacements mean less downtime, making it an economical solution for stores and events with higher foot traffic.
The HiTi Photo Kiosk can be customized to meet retail partners’ needs. Options range from a full setup with a touch screen, multiple printers and multiple print sizes to small, single-unit mini kiosks with self-service capabilities. Retailers can choose from small- or large-touch panels. The kiosk printers come in various speed and print capacities, based on store size and foot traffic.
In addition, HiTi develops its kiosk software in house, providing customization as requested. The customer interface and backstage kiosk data software are readily available to kiosk retail partners. It is easy for store customers to operate and for managers to control the stations and supervise sales and repair data. The system also runs management reports by store and region on a monthly, daily and hourly basis.
At-Home HiTi Products
The Prinhome P461 is a wireless consumer printer. The lunchbox-size printer features the same dye-sub technologies and produces the same quality photos in the comfort of a user’s home. The sleek, petite Prinhome can be connected to a computer or used wirelessly with a tap on the machine’s NFC tag with any compatible Android device.
In addition to enabling users to edit and print photos, the Prinhome app is a communication platform from HiTi or retailer partners to members. Users can track their print count and receive benefits like updates of calendar or Christmas card templates. The O2O tool also enables managers to send users promotional messages via the Prinhome app. They can include paper and ink promotions at their local Radio Shack.
HiTi Cloud
With this free, unlimited service, users can upload their digital photos to the HiTi cloud. They can access them from their accounts on HiTi’s website (www.prinfan.com), via Prinhome and HiTi Photo Kiosk apps, or directly on retail kiosks.
Users can pre-upload an album with the app or a computer to print at a HiTi kiosk. They can also pick up printed photos at select stores without waiting in line. Unlike social media platforms that reduce the file size of uploaded photos, the cloud network lets members save and share photos without decreasing file size, preserving photo quality.
Moreover, commercial clients can use the cloud service to obtain software updates and track print counts and maintenance data. This allows them to produce reports to better manage their businesses. Furthermore, on an aggregate basis, HiTi uses the service and maintenance data to improve its products and provide fixes before customers report a problem.
“HiTi focuses on producing innovative quality products with greener and more cost-efficient solutions,” says Charlie Lin. “Our multidimensional approach to improving software, hardware and materials surrounding dye-sub technologies establishes HiTi as a leading market innovator.”
