Posted by John / FL on 5/3/05 1:52pm
Msg #35560

Laser Printers w/o PCL6

I have read a number of posts now about PCL6, which is specific to HP printers. What I am wondering is whether this is something that is absolutely necessary.

If anyone has a laser printer other than HP, have you ever had any difficulty printing edocs?
If so, how often do you run across the problem? How long ago was the last time? Is it only with specific lenders or only with specific packages? Do documents not print at all, or not print correctly?

Thanks!

Reply by Art_MD on 5/3/05 2:07pm
Msg #35562

In one of the posts I believe it was PAW who gave history of PCL.
It is not unique to HP. They ae "emulated" by several (if not most) printer costing over $200 - Brothers is one.
Some docs which are sent from secure sites, i.e. lynx are internally coded with instructions for the printer. Unless the printer is able to understand the command, it will not print.

I can't answer the last part since I'm PCL comlient.

Art

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 5/3/05 2:09pm
Msg #35564

hi John
The PCL 5 or 6 is necessary for some packages.
Some packages are sent via a document delivery service, whe you get the e-mail and go to the link, you will click on the package and the documents will automatically print out - you can't even view the docs before printing. If your printer does not have the pcl drivers you will not be able to print the package out.

Paul can explain this better than I can though

Reply by PAW_Fl on 5/3/05 2:13pm
Msg #35565

Only HP printers "natively" support PCL within their printer engines. (HP owns PCL!) However, many other printer manufacturers emulate PCL in their drivers. This typically does not cause a problem since the docs are pretty straight forward text documents. I personally do not know of an issue where a non-HP printer that fully emulates PCL 5e or 6, has had a problem printing any documents. But, <disclaimer follows> just because I don't know of any, doesn't mean it hasn't happened or it won't happen. The odds are in your favor though when using a reliable printer by a reliable manufacturer, such as Brother.

Reply by PA Notary II on 5/3/05 3:31pm
Msg #35595

Paul: I have a brother 5170DNLT....is this why it won't distinguish between letter and legal ?
I like the printer...it does a great job, but I have to babysit it if I want to separate docs on letter or legal paper.

Reply by Victoria/FL on 5/3/05 3:50pm
Msg #35600

Try calling Brother

at 800-276-7746 from 9am-7:30pm Eastern Time to find out if your printer will automatically distinguish between letter and legal. Prior to purchasing my MFC-8440, I contacted them to find out if my model would once I added the second tray and they were very helpful.

Reply by Michelle_FL on 5/3/05 7:25pm
Msg #35652

Re: Try calling Brother

Victoria,

What did you find out about your MFC-8840? Will it auto select? I haven't been able to get mine to (after adding the second tray) and when I called Brother, they said it couldn't. Any help would be appreciated because otherwise its great!

Reply by Victoria/FL on 5/3/05 7:46pm
Msg #35656

Re: Try calling Brother

I was told that it could auto-select - that was one of my main concerns before purchasing it. I haven't bought the second tray yet (and am not sure that I will), so I don't know specifically how you would do this. Did you read PAW's post? Try using the same information, it may work. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Reply by PAW_Fl on 5/3/05 3:51pm
Msg #35601

The HL5170 supports PCL6 so that shouldn't be the problem. However, there are some applications that don't switch paper trays, even on HP printers.

Download this little test program (PDF file) and see if it prints properly. If it doesn't, then the set up of the printer may not be correct.

http://www.pawnotary.com/documents/testfeed.pdf

When printing from Adobe Reader, be sure to check the "Choose Paper Source by PDF Page Size" box.

Reply by PA Notary II on 5/3/05 4:15pm
Msg #35608

Paul: That turned the trick. Had I known how to 'choose the paper source' I would have saved myself alot of grief. Thanks!!

Reply by Victoria/FL on 5/3/05 4:02pm
Msg #35607

I have a Brother MFC-8440

and I am extremely happy with it. It emulates PCL6 and I have never had a problem printing any documents. But I guess that doesn't mean that I won't sometime in the future.

Prior to this purchase, I had a Dell 1700 and had problems. 1) it wouldn't print some fonts, however that may have been an iniitial set-up problem. I was on the phone with Dell for hours and they were completely stumped! 2) Whenever I printed on legal, the first page of whatever file I was printing would automatically get jammed. This caused me major stress, especially if a loan was sent in several attachments. Letter paper never jammed. 3) It started collating the paper in reverse. So the first page of the loan ended up being the last and I had to take time to put the documents in proper order. This may have been a user error, but neither my husband or I could figure it out. In any event, I got rid of it even though it was only a couple of months old.

Reply by BrendaAR on 5/3/05 5:31pm
Msg #35623

Re: I have a Brother MFC-8440

I now own a Delll 1700 Printer and it is the worse printer I have ever owned. I bought it, the optional bottom drawer and upgraded the memory and am now on my third printer and second drawer since I received it in January. It jams about every third or forth page continuously. I have yet to print a whole loan package (thank goodness for my old HP stand-by). I have also spent many hours on the phone with Dell and all they want to do is send me a new printer. I does print fine with letter size paper but as you know it needs to print legal size. I guess, I am going to have to eat the cost of that printer and buy another HP. Does anyone have any ideas?

Reply by jay on 5/3/05 6:20pm
Msg #35636

Re: I have a Brother MFC-8440

In my opinion, Dell has the worst tech support in the industry. Stay away from Dell. I have a laptop and no one could help me.

Reply by OnTheGo2 on 5/3/05 8:22pm
Msg #35664

I have a brother laser printer that is not plc6 compatible. I have had problems printing docs twice in 2 years. Both times they were able to send me the docs in a different format that I could print. I have not had to decline any signings to date because of this issue.
Hope this helps

Reply by John / FL on 5/3/05 11:55pm
Msg #35697

Dell Tech Support

I know...most manufacturers do it as well, but one of the biggest problems with Dell's Tech support is that they are in India and essentially reading off a flip chart. If you have a typical problem, they can probably help...anything more and they are in trouble.

Reply by John / FL on 5/3/05 11:55pm
Msg #35698

Thank you to all who responded!!

Reply by OnTheGoInFla on 7/21/05 2:48pm
Msg #53667

I have a brother printer not plc compliant and have had no problems. The key is the memory in the printer.

Reply by CarolynCO on 7/21/05 2:52pm
Msg #53671

**brother printer not plc compliant and have had no problems. The key is the memory in the printer.**

While having sufficient memory is important, it's not necessarily the key to being able to print e-docs.

Reply by BrendaTX on 7/21/05 2:59pm
Msg #53677

Re: Laser Printers w/o PCL6 To - OnTheGoInFla

**I have a brother printer not plc compliant and have had no problems. The key is the memory in the printer.**

You are incorrect either about your PCL compliance or you have had limited experience with eDocs.
Perhaps you have only printed PDFs.

Why don't you try to attempt to print these edocs - there is an edoc practice at
Msg #44429

Let us know.