Difference between Hot-Folder and Color Server

[noreen]

I downloaded a demo version of SilverFast HDR Studio to find out how it would work. I cannot, however, find out the difference between the Hot-Folder and the Color Server versions, although they differ by 200 Euro.

The SilverFast download page is not too helpful: "For testing the Hot-Folder feature please choose a version including ColorServer. Both versions just differ in some limitations that will not affect your testings."
The SilverFast website says:
- Hot-Folder: SilverFast Hot-Folder feature makes scaling, sharpening, color separation and optimization of image data a much easier task ... Regardless of what kind of images have to be post-processed, optimized or converted into other color spaces, these images can now be automatically processed
- Color Server: the processes of color conversion, scaling, sharpening, separation, and optimization of image data can be automatically performed

Could someone briefly explain the difference between the two versions? Specifically what the Hot-Folder version does not. Will the Hot-Folder version be sufficient for my "project":

- I am in the process of scanning the dia collection of my now-extinct father. I have much more than 10.000 slides dating from the 1930s until early 2000s that differ in film type (Kodachrome and others), format (landscape, portrait, and squared 36x36 mm), and framing (from old taped glass squares, through all types of glassed and non-glassed frames to simple paperboard frames.
- I must, thus, automate the scanning as much as possible. This is problematic for several reasons:
a) Kodachrome and other slides behave differently but there is no way I can determine beforehand which slides are which. The simples solution would be to batch scan all slides in both ways.
b) My Reflecta DigitDia 5000 is capable, but not sufficiently to handle all type of frames, especially not old types. Since the scanner feeding mechanism gets stuck by some frames, I need to be close to the scanner for some type of magazines/frames that I know are problematic. I need to minimise this stand-by time, especially since my Ai Studio also gets stuck in these situations and requires a series of steps to be restarted (among them the nuisance of saying "no" every time Microsoft wants me to report on the problem).
c) Many slides have colour casts, which are normally handled well with SilverFast Ai Studio. An irregular number is, however, aged and faded so I need to go back to these and give them individual treatment (histogram adjustment, selective colour correction/ACR, possibly also neutral colour adjustment).
d) I will share all the scanned images with my relatives. They will not be interested in very high-resolution archive files but will do with pictures of "sufficient" quality, looking good at a TV or computer screen. I would thus like to process 2 (or possibly 3) versions of the same raw image.

Can I do this with Hot-Folder or do I need the Color Server?

[LSI_Moeller]

Dear Noreen,

Hot-Folder and ColorServer have the same function. They differ in the number of In- and Output-folder. The number of these folders is limited to ten in Hot-Folder and unlimited in ColorServer.

Best regards
Artur Möller