So, I explained in a separate video what the Media Locator is, what it does, what the categories are.
But I think really to get a feel for it, we're going to go into a little deep dive here.
What I want to show you is how I use the HP Media Locator as a tool
to effectively use it to find existing presets.
But also, more importantly, if you have a media that's similar to another media,
but your media is not on the Locator, it's very important to use the Locator effectively
to find the best choice that corresponds to the media you have.
There are hundreds of medias on the Locator, but we obviously can't cover all of them.
But if, say for example, you have a 200-gram paper that happens to have a wet strength to it,
there may be a product that's exactly like that paper, or very close to it.
And that would be your optimal choice, as opposed to using a generic or using something
that's, you know, quite different like, let's say, a solvent-coated paper.
What you want to do is use the Locator, and know how to use it,
know how to use its search parameters,
and you can be very effective in finding similar presets
that very closely correspond to the media you have.
So, what we believe is that, you're going to use third-party media; all sorts.
There's hundreds of third-party medias of companies around the world.
We've accepted that that sort of drives the industry.
There's all different kinds of scrim banners and adhesive vinyls and backlit films.
So, we accept that.
And what we tried to do with the Latex, when we were developing it,
is we developed a thing called the HP Media Locator.
The idea was that we're going to support all of these third-party medias for this Latex
printer because the Latex printer is so versatile.
It's the versatility of the Latex printer that gives it so much of its great appeal.
So, the Latex Media Locator allows you to search for presets.
You know, it has all of the settings there.
All you have to do is download it onto the printer.
Your printer is connected, if it's hooked up to the web, it's connected to the cloud.
And it goes to the Media Locator and takes that preset and puts it right into the printer for you.
So, if you search for media, starting by using the Locator, they'll save you a lot of aggravation.
Now there are different categories of media within the Locator.
Probably the most obvious is HP media.
Now, HP media benefits from a very close relationship between our media manufacturing, and our coding,
and our media development, and our printers, and our inks.
You know, this is part of our family.
And HP medias are very reliable.
The second category is going to become what's called Color Pro.
Color Pro is a relationship between a third-party vendor and HP, where we form sort of an alliance
to create medias that are highly tested and evaluated.
The next level is what's called certified media.
And this is where I'm going to focus.
Certified media goes through a very rigorous set of tests and evaluations which we set;
industry standard tests to evaluate that media to make sure it works optimally on the Latex printers.
Certified media carries with it a pretty strong cachet,
that that is an excellent choice to print on.
Certified media will always carry a little HP logo to one side,
and the preset will always be in bold.
Some medias may have a certified choice, and then right below it is a non-certified choice.
It doesn't mean the non-certified choice doesn't work.
It's just, what we're saying is, we're really offering this bold choice, with the logo,
as the best you can do on a Latex printer.
Now, there's a lot of media that works just fine that is not certified.
We know that.
But what we're trying to do is to do the evaluations and the checks on your behalf so that you
don't have to find out later that maybe this isn't compatible with an HP Latex printer.
Now, the last category is called profiled.
In that case, we look at the media, we look at it carefully,
we evaluate it, and we build color work for it.
And it should run just fine.
It doesn't carry all of the evaluative weight of a certified media,
but it still should work just fine on a Latex printer.
And there's an awful lot of profiled media that's on the Media Locator.
So, those are your four primary categories; HP, Color Pro, certified, and then profiled.
And they have a little indication at the end of it that tells you, on the Media Locator,
which one of those it is.
So, the Locator tool and those categories, that's the place to start.
So, if you're looking for a certain type of media,
my recommendation is always start with the Media Locator.
The more you know the Locator, you know how to use it, you know how to do search parameters,
you know how it's structure, the more effective you're going to be to pick the best media
first, right out of the gate.
And that's always the best way to do business.
It's easy, it's quick, and it works every time.
HP Media Locator.
It's a key tool to working with the Latex printers.