Hey Travis,

The image in your post is in 256 colors - even though the image thinks it is in RGB (or true color or millions of colors...)

Computers are wonderful things - and there are a lot of programs that try to make life for the user very easy. Yet since computers aren't human (contrary to what most people think...) they can make errors in judgment - such is in the case of scanning. When the HP software (either Deskscan or Precision Scan) tries to determine the image type (Black & White, line art, grayscale, color - 256 colors, or true color - millions of colors).

With this in mind, I would suggest that whenever one tries to acquire a scanned image, to verify what the scanning software thinks it is, and if it isn't to make the required corrections (in this case - make sure it is in true color or millions of colors...)

The other thing that can change to image quality - either on the monitor or printer is a little jewel called the color palette. The image below shows the different effects that a color palette has on an image. (Yes, I grabbed one of Rich Hanover’s images for this illustration – THANKS RICH!)

Note that on the top right image, I used the color palette from Travis' JDM chip. See how the image is different (yet close) to the original. If the color palette is close to the actual chip images (in 256 colors) then there really isn't that big of a change.
There is also another color palette that can affect things - the color palette of the imaging software (Photoshop, PhotoDelux etc...). So the three color palettes can be (and usually are) different.

There are programs to help "calibrate" these color palettes, yet the price is usually beyond most mortals - well may be not Susong!?! (It is out of my price range...)

I hope this helps...

Dick