Hi, New here but there does not seem to be a place to say hello in the forum, I am from the UK but live in Greece, in my 60's so maybe missed a hello part of the forum?
Anyways I am a Lightroom fan and have L/R 5 but by no means an expert.
Rather than keep placing images on the web and see them disappear into that big whole never to be seen again I have decided to give printing a go, now I no that the printer I have is not a super duper up to date bells and whistles one (Epson stylus photo R1400) but we have what we have.
Anyway I am considering the purchase of Qimage Ultimate as it is at a good price at the moment but need a little push. I have searched the web for information about Qimage versus Lightroom but have found very little as far as L/R 5 goes as a comparison all seems to be versus earlier version of L/R so anyone would like to sell Qimage to me as a printing option against L/R 5 print module.
My main interest is Land/Seascape and I am only an amateur or hobbyist if you like so prints are only really for me and anyone who happens to visit my computer room.
Many Thanks in advance for any replies.
Russ
   

Hi Russ,
I'm UK resident, Fred is US 
Fred has said the essentials, if you want to get into technicalities as to why QU is THE best printing program, check out the web site.
http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u/technology.htm
In summary, rather that the program dumping the data onto the driver like all other programs, it re-sizes (pixels) the image automatically to match what the printer needs for best quality. This re-sizing is done with very advanced algorithms (for more sophisticated than LR) and does print smart sharpening.
QU is really neat for raw images, smart processing and a simple interface for any refining required - plus there's an editor for more advanced adjustments, all of which are "non-destructive", ie. the original image is not changed.
I see many LR processed images at my photo club, I may be biased but mine are as good and often better. Just too many sliders in LR that confuses all but the most advanced users.
You may gather that Fred & I are very keen Qimage users but no apologies for our enthusiasm. We are always happy to help and answer questions. If we get stuck, Mike Chaney, the program developer, will get involved here too.
Back to printing ...
I recently bought an R2000 A3 printer after my 7-year old R800 got rather tired. I have just done a few A3 prints ready for competitions and WOW, you would not guess the one that was heavily cropped, sharp as a pin 
Your R1400 is an excellent printer, 6 inks and I know someone who has one - I see great results from it.
Get stuck in with that demo version. 
Terry
Terry