Poor photo quality in Photosmart All-in-one B209a

Hello All,
I purchased a HP Photosmart 8150 printer back in 2005 for the sole purpose of making prints. Recently the thing crapped out to the extent that the repair would cost more than the printer did. It was recommended that we purchase a new printer. We bought the HP Photosmart All-in-one B209a. Most of its use will be printing photo too. 
The main issue I am having is in the noticeably poor quality in the prints compared to the 8150. I was shocked since it is advertised as a good photo printer, but I can't believe that in 5 years this the quality has gone down? Can anyone confirm that this is the case: Is it just that the previous 8150 model was a better printer for photos or is there something wrong with the B209a. The quality in the shadows is especially disturbing and true black is never achieved, rather a very grainy shade of grey comes up. I have gone through the Print - Quality Toubleshooting guide online here, but the problem persists.
Any recommendations? 
-Ronan

Hi
i have just bought the same printer and when i printed some photos using the paper supplied the pictures actualy seemed dark. I am not happy with this as you would expect the print quality to improve. does anybody know why the print quality is not as advertised?
Thanks
ronesyzf wrote:
Hello All,
I purchased a HP Photosmart 8150 printer back in 2005 for the sole purpose of making prints. Recently the thing crapped out to the extent that the repair would cost more than the printer did. It was recommended that we purchase a new printer. We bought the HP Photosmart All-in-one B209a. Most of its use will be printing photo too. 
The main issue I am having is in the noticeably poor quality in the prints compared to the 8150. I was shocked since it is advertised as a good photo printer, but I can't believe that in 5 years this the quality has gone down? Can anyone confirm that this is the case: Is it just that the previous 8150 model was a better printer for photos or is there something wrong with the B209a. The quality in the shadows is especially disturbing and true black is never achieved, rather a very grainy shade of grey comes up. I have gone through the Print - Quality Toubleshooting guide online here, but the problem persists.
Any recommendations? 
-Ronan

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