Rating: 
Summary: The S20 ***WORKS*** with Windows XP
Review: I am not rich and I paid a lot of money for this product.
Thankfully, it was worth every penny and I have been using it happily for over 3 years.
There are better scanners out there, but for the dollar, this is a fabulous machine: thus, the five star rating.
That said, please note that this unit ***DOES*** in fact work with Windows XP. At one point I thought it did not work either, but it does. HP released an XP driver/software for it.
At 70 MB, it's a hell of a download, but worth it for those of us that have moved into the 21st century.
You can download it from the HP website.
- Go to HP.com.
- Select 'Home & Home Office.'
- Type 'S20' into the Search field.
- The HP Photosmart S20 and a photo will appear.
- Select 'Download drivers & software' from this screen.
- Select 'Microsoft Windows XP.'
- Select 'PhotoSmart Scanner (SCSI) and S20/S20xi Photo Scanner (USB) Software.'
- Click 'Download now' to being downloading ps804en.exe.
- Follow instructions (or common sense) to install the software.
- A Windows-based message will appear during installation that recommends stopping installation because the HP Photosmart software has not passed Windows Logo testing.
- Despite your usually better judgement, ignore this and click 'Continue Anyway.'
I was terrified to do this, but I called and e-mailed HP directly and was told in both instances that HP had tested and verified compatibility of the HP Photosmart software with Windows XP.
My Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart S20 scanner now works like a charm on my Windows XP.
Hooray for HP.
Rating:
Summary: The S20 ***WORKS*** with Windows XP
Review: I am not rich and I paid a lot of money for this product.Thankfully, it was worth every penny and I have been using it happily for over 3 years. There are better scanners out there, but for the dollar, this is a fabulous machine: thus, the five star rating. That said, please note that this unit ***DOES*** in fact work with Windows XP. At one point I thought it did not work either, but it does. HP released an XP driver/software for it. At 70 MB, it's a hell of a download, but worth it for those of us that have moved into the 21st century. " I was terrified to do this, but I called and e-mailed HP directly and was told in both instances that HP had tested and verified compatibility of the HP Photosmart software with Windows XP. My Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart S20 scanner now works like a charm on Windows XP. Hooray for HP.
Rating:
Summary: So Cheap But Sooo Good !
Review: I cannot imagine how HP can sell such a great scanner so cheap. Excellent scan quality and ease of use. Bundled with real helpful softwares. I was in the scanner market for last three months, and finally bought this scanner few days ago. There is simply nothing out there that can beat the price, performance or features. Thanks HP. Hopefully you will reduce the price of the P1100 PhotoSmart printer so I can afford one.
Rating:
Summary: great but
Review: I recently purchased a new sony computer with usb options and found the scanner could not recognize the usb capabilities , this problem may be caused by a the microsoft millenium operation system.hp has no information on microsoft millenium on their web site and I cant figure outhow to make my favoite device work.
Rating: 
Summary: Best bang for the buck
Review: I've been using the original PhotoSmart S10 for about four years to scan lots of negatives and an occasional slide. While I agree with everyone here that it is a good product, I would point out that it has a few weaknesses. If you are a serious photographer, you may want to keep reading... SOFTWARE The software that comes with it (v1.0) is laborious to use if you are trying to scan more than a couple of images. It does annoying things like spit out the negative after one scan, and you have to reinsert the negative to scan the next image. It also resets all of the image controls you set by hand (contrast, gamma, color balance). Fortunately, there are some good shareware scanning applications that work with the PhotoSmart that fix these problems... I have also found the automatic settings do not set the color balance correctly in many cases. It may be close, but try one of these sharewares I mentioned, and you will see a huge improvement in image quality. HARDWARE Other gripes come from the corners HP cut to make this scanner more affordable, but if they are important to you, you may want to consider a higher-end scanner: Doesn't work very well with dense slides. Its limited dynamic range is evident when trying to scan a dark slide, and you get nasty moiré patterns in the dark areas (compare to Nikon LS2000 or Minolta Dimage Elite). No scratch/dust removal (compare to Nikon LS2000 or Minolta Dimage Elite). Lack of a slide feeder (compare to Nikon LS2000). It appears to be a fixed-focus design because sometimes you have a slide or negative that has a little curve to it, and the image won't be very sharp. Some of the more expensive scanners will actually auto-focus before each scan. This is probably more of a problem for film you develop yourself (e.g. B&W) than the stuff you get back from you 1-hour lab. CONCLUSION The PhotoSmart is a great product for the casual user, but if you're going to do any volume scanning, you may want to consider a high-end scanner...but be prepared to pay $1500 for one! For that kind of money, you can get a really nice digital camera!
Rating:
Summary: Works fine for me!
Review: I've owned this unit for a couple of years & love it. Very handy, dependable, easy to use, never had any problems & love the results. I do not work for HP nor do any of my relatives or friends & I do make money from my photos. That out of the way, I must confess that I resent "reviews" which take to task other users and arbitrarily classify us as "professionals" or "amateurs" based upon our level of agreement with the author. Most of the gripes I've read about seem to fall into 2 categories: (1) the Windows 2000 incompatibility: Hey, boxes are cheap - why not get a dedicated PC with compatible platform (e.g. W98)? - that's a common "professional" solution, or (2) the dust/lack of ICE software syndrome: Hey, try a little old-fashioned housekeeping! ICE is nice, but you also get degradation of detail with it, the usual technological trade-off...or maybe that doesn't matter when you're just doing wedding photos.
Rating:
Summary: Works fine for me!
Review: If you want this scanner buy the plain s20 and do not buy the s20xi. The difference is in the software that comes with it and, for approximately 100.00 more you get to be the proud owner of software that is 2 years out of date and, in general, junk The scanner works fine
Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy the s20xi
Review: If you want this scanner buy the plain s20 and do not buy the s20xi. The difference is in the software that comes with it and, for approximately 100.00 more you get to be the proud owner of software that is 2 years out of date and, in general, junk The scanner works fine
Rating:
Summary: Great Scanner but not yet for Windows 2000
Review: Love this scanner: easy setup, high quality. Unfortunately, bought new computer with windows 2000 as operating system. HP scanner web site says HP will have W20000 drivers out in Spring, try NT 4 drivers in meantime. Don"t work for me, miss my scanner very much, hope they mean Spring 2000!
Rating: 
Summary: Decent for the Amateur, but not for the advanced amateur/pro
Review: My first film scanner was the HPS20. It "did okay", and that's the best I'll give it. Basically, if your'e at all serious about film scanning, you MUST go to something better, and yes, that means spending a bit more money. I went up to the far, far superior Nikon Coolscan 2000, and might try the 4000 soon, and my results were out of this world better. In todays market, I'd look at doubling my investment and get maybe the Nikon Coolscan IV or find a used Coolscan 2000 or something. The major problems with the HP are color correction on chromes, low dynamic range, it gathers dust like a maids broom, and the shadows are definitely noisy. For the once in a while amateur who just wants to move a few slides or negs to digital and absolutely doesn't expect to get "into" digital darkroom work, then it's probably a steal for the money. But be warned, if you even think there is a slight chance you might move onward to more digital darkroom work, skip this entirely and get something real the first time out, and you'll save the money over the long haul. Recommended with definite restrictions.
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