Thermal Plates -- The Heat is On

The current visible versus thermal CTP debate is simply a continuation of the old internal versus external drum debate of four or five years ago, contends John O'Rourke, product manager, consumables, at Presstek. "Literally all of the proponents of visible light imaging for CTP are vendors that offer internal-drum CTP hardware exclusively. It's clear that a format debate is vendor-driven. Since a CTP imaging system represents a substantial investment for most printers, any consideration of format should be based on features, benefits and value—not the interest of one vendor or another."