Spectrum VRS 4.0 Plus Upgrades
S006780
Supported Products: 8000C Series, 8000BG Series
List Price: $295.00
The latest image enhancement technology is now available for Spectrum users utilizing VRS 3.x
As of today, VirtualReScan® 4.0 Plus upgrades are now certified by Böwe Bell + Howell and available for all Spectrum users. You can now take advantage of several new features of VRS 4.0 Plus that further reduce document preparation time and improve image quality utilizing the most sophisticated error resolution and image enhancement technology available. Now, more than ever, VRS is the single most cost-effective way of maximizing image quality and OCR/ICR/barcode recognition rates, and reducing labor costs.
VRS 4.0 Plus Upgrade for “Spectrum II Configuration”
Spectrum with onboard Auto Color Detect and VRS 3.5 (currently shipping models)
- Content-Based “Auto Orientation” – The Auto Orientation feature electronically rotates the image based on its textual content (90, 180 or 270 degree for Latin characters and form layouts) so that it can be read right-side up by the scanner operator. Auto Orientation can thereby increase scanning speed by 20% on average by allowing documents with content in portrait orientation to be scanned in landscape mode. The time needed for document preparation is also dramatically reduced.
- Blank Page Deletion or “Auto Duplex” – Blank Page Deletion automatically eliminates blank pages when scanning in duplex output mode. This algorithm determines when a page is not blank based on the detection of a single 9-point character – not based on file size which can be problematic, especially with color images. Any image with even a single character is kept, and those without any characters or other data are discarded automatically. Blank Page Detection thereby can dramatically reduce files size and storage requirements by deleting images having no data. In addition, Blank Page Detection also reduces document preparation, as operators scan both simplex and duplex documents in the same batch, eliminating the need to make any manual duplex/simplex setting changes.
- New Graphical User Interface (GUI) – Those familiar with the VRS graphical user interface (GUI) previous to 4.0 Plus will notice that this new interface mimics the look and feel of Windows XP. In addition, all the tabs are located on the right side of the screen for easier access. General “control panel” settings, such as active brightness, contrast, deskew ON/OFF, cropping ON/OFF functions, are shown at all times on the bottom status toolbar. Advanced settings can be found when users click on the tool icon (hammer and screwdriver).
VRS 4.0 Upgrade for “Spectrum I Configuration”
Spectrum with VRS 3.0, 3.05 or 3.1 (models shipped prior to June 14, 2004)
- Content-Based “Auto Orientation” – The Auto Orientation feature electronically rotates the image based on its textual content (90, 180 or 270 degree for Latin characters and form layouts) so that it can be read right-side up by the scanner operator. Auto Orientation can thereby increase scanning speed by 20% on average by allowing documents with content in portrait orientation to be scanned in landscape mode. The time needed for document preparation is also dramatically reduced.
- Blank Page Deletion or “Auto Duplex” – Blank Page Deletion automatically eliminates blank pages when scanning in duplex output mode. This algorithm determines when a page is not blank based on the detection of a single 9-point character – not based on file size which can be problematic, especially with color images. Any image with even a single character is kept, and those without any characters or other data are discarded automatically. Blank Page Detection thereby can dramatically reduce files size and storage requirements by deleting images having no data. In addition, Blank Page Detection also reduces document preparation, as operators scan both simplex and duplex documents in the same batch, eliminating the need to make any manual duplex/simplex setting changes.
- New Graphical User Interface (GUI) – Those familiar with the VRS graphical user interface (GUI) previous to 4.0 Plus will notice that this new interface mimics the look and feel of Windows XP. In addition, all the tabs are located on the right side of the screen for easier access. General “control panel” settings, such as active brightness, contrast, deskew ON/OFF, cropping ON/OFF functions, are shown at all times on the bottom status toolbar. Advanced settings can be found when users click on the tool icon (hammer and screwdriver).
- Auto Color Detect (software) – “Color when you want it, bitonal when you don’t,” is what this feature delivers. Auto Color Detect works based on the ability of VRS to automatically detect even small amounts of color mixed in with bitonal documents. In most applications, approximately 5-10% of the total number of documents contain important color information. Now, with Auto Color Detect, you no longer have to scan everything in color, scan only color documents separately, or use patch code separator sheets to capture these in color. This saves an enormous amount of document preparation time and effort. Unlike with Spectrum II and Spectrum XF, Auto Color Detect feature runs in VRS software on the PC, which can cause your Spectrum scanner to run somewhat slower than rated speed. The same is true for all scanners running software VRS.
- Color Background Saturation and Dropout (software) – With Color Background Saturation, you can save up to 40% in file space and increase image quality when scanning documents with color backgrounds. VRS does this by saturating or “smoothing” document image backgrounds into one uniform background. Users can also choose Background Color Dropout to turn a document’s background to white so that it is essentially dropped out. While it will not save you as much in file size as Saturation, Color Background Dropout will help increase legibility on difficult images. Unlike with Spectrum II and Spectrum XF, this feature runs in VRS software on the PC, which can cause your Spectrum scanner to run somewhat slower than rated speed. The same is true for all scanners on the market running software VRS.
Upgrade Availability
All Spectrum VRS 4.0 Plus upgrades are available for purchase from the Böwe Bell + Howell web store at webstore.bbhscanners.com for $295.
Known Issues with VRS 4.0 Plus and Spectrum
- Windows 2000 New Installation Issue – For those users choosing to install VRS 4.0 Plus as a new installation while using Windows 2000 as their operating system, you will need to install either install Microsoft Office, anti-virus software, or complete all Microsoft Hot Fixes. This compensates for a file not included in the VRS 4.0 Plus installation procedure.
- Spectrum I ACD/AO Issue – When both Auto Orientation and Auto Color Detect are enabled, Auto Orientation works properly significantly less than 100% of the time. If Auto Color Detect is turned off, Auto Orientation works properly.
Other Notes
- Spectrum XF will ship with VRS 4.0 Plus as a standard feature.
- VRS 4.0 Plus is not compatible with discontinued Böwe Bell + Howell scanners, such as the 8000 Plus Series, the 4040D and the Copiscan II Series.
