Thank you for the reply.
I have to say that it doesn't make sense to me that SMB would be implemented in a way requiring the IP address, since this requires an extra step that not everyone will know how to do and must be done everytime the DHCP assigns a new address. That would be a truly bizarre implementation, and very un-Apple like.
I also believe that the hostame is known to all devices on the network, not just Apple devices.
After working with an Apple tech support person yesterday, it appears that there may be a bug in the HP embedded web server that is used to set up the folder locations. The utility seems to have a format checker that is excluding the required incancation, while not working with the specifications that it accepts. From a few different sources I'm told that
smb://hostname/pathname
should work, but it isn't accepted by the embedded webserver. I'm told that this notation should work going either way (mac looking at pc, or pc looking at mac.) Can anyone confirm or deny this?