Aura HD page refresh and font rendering

[Mr.Toad]

I recently acquired an Aura HD because I very much like the screen.

However, I soon noticed that on the default screen refresh of 6, the fonts are not rendered consistently: the line thickness varies slightly so that some words are heavier than others.

Setting the refresh to 1 fixes the problem but anything other than a complete refresh on every page is less than satisfactory. This happens regardless of the font selected. It's not the end of the world since refreshes are fast, but it seems like an odd problem.

Any one else notice this?

[Haesslich]

I usually use 4-5 pages before refresh for that reason - it's an issue that also exists with the Mini and Glo, and to some extent with the Kindle Touch, which also had a 'refresh every few pages' option.

At the default six, if there's a lot of text, I find that the fonts suffer a lot, especially in the smaller sizes.

[dmapr]

One other reason I use Charis SIL, it seems less susceptible to the problem. I actually went back to 6 page refresh cycle after loading this font.

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by Mr.Toad

I recently acquired an Aura HD because I very much like the screen.

However, I soon noticed that on the default screen refresh of 6, the fonts are not rendered consistently: the line thickness varies slightly so that some words are heavier than others.

Setting the refresh to 1 fixes the problem but anything other than a complete refresh on every page is less than satisfactory. This happens regardless of the font selected. It's not the end of the world since refreshes are fast, but it seems like an odd problem.

Any one else notice this?

I use 1 page refresh as I like my reading font to be crisp and consistent throughout the read. The trade off is that the KA uses more power but a minor consideration for ease of reading.

regards

Jack

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Mr.Toad

I recently acquired an Aura HD because I very much like the screen.

However, I soon noticed that on the default screen refresh of 6, the fonts are not rendered consistently: the line thickness varies slightly so that some words are heavier than others.

Setting the refresh to 1 fixes the problem but anything other than a complete refresh on every page is less than satisfactory. This happens regardless of the font selected. It's not the end of the world since refreshes are fast, but it seems like an odd problem.

Any one else notice this?

Hello, Mr. Toad.

This is one of the tradeoffs of the e-Ink technology.

Every refresh uses battery life. On the other hand, less refreshes use less battery life, but the tradeoff is what you are seeing.

Simply adjust the number of refreshes to suit your personal needs


Don

[GeoffR]

I find a little bit of ghosting less distracting than a frequent screen refresh. I have my Glo set to refresh every 12 pages now, but up to 20 pages seems to work well for most normal text. If there are images, headings, or bold text I will sometimes refresh the next page manually by double tapping the centre of the screen.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

I find a little bit of ghosting less distracting than a frequent screen refresh. I have my Glo set to refresh every 12 pages now, but up to 20 pages seems to work well for most normal text. If there are images, headings, or bold text I will sometimes refresh the next page manually by double tapping the centre of the screen.

Interesting tip

Helen

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

I find a little bit of ghosting less distracting than a frequent screen refresh. I have my Glo set to refresh every 12 pages now, but up to 20 pages seems to work well for most normal text. If there are images, headings, or bold text I will sometimes refresh the next page manually by double tapping the centre of the screen.

How do you get 12 page refresh I thought the max was 6 pages.

JAck

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by jackastor

How do you get 12 page refresh I thought the max was 6 pages.

If you change the refresh from the default of 6, you'll find a line in the Kobo eReader.conf file under the reading heading:

[Reading]
numPartialUpdatePageTurns=10

You can set values there that are not settable from the GUI. Of course, when you check the GUI, you'll see "OH THE HUMANITY!" instead of a number for the screen refresh setting when you set a non-standard value.

Kobo eReader.conf lives in the Kobo directory below the .kobo directory.

Regards,
David

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by DNSB

If you change the refresh from the default of 6, you'll find a line in the Kobo eReader.conf file under the reading heading:

[Reading]
numPartialUpdatePageTurns=10

You can set values there that are not settable from the GUI. Of course, when you check the GUI, you'll see "OH THE HUMANITY!" instead of a number for the screen refresh setting when you set a non-standard value.

Kobo eReader.conf lives in the Kobo directory below the .kobo directory.

Regards,
David

I see. Ok So no worries as far as that goes.

[Mr.Toad]

Thanks for the replies. A few points in response:

To be clear, I am not talking about ghosting on page turns that are not complete refreshes but variations in the font weight (usually heavier).

Some fonts seem to be more susceptible than others. I agree, Charis SIL seems to have less of a problem, also Delima.

I'm not so sure that it's a problem inherent to e-Ink; ghosting certainly is. The Kindle Paperwhite, which I also have, appears to be less affected - maybe it's the algorithm used to generate the fonts on non-refresh page turns?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Mr.Toad

Thanks for the replies. A few points in response:

To be clear, I am not talking about ghosting on page turns that are not complete refreshes but variations in the font weight (usually heavier).

Some fonts seem to be more susceptible than others. I agree, Charis SIL seems to have less of a problem, also Delima.

I'm not so sure that it's a problem inherent to e-Ink; ghosting certainly is. The Kindle Paperwhite, which I also have, appears to be less affected - maybe it's the algorithm use to generate the fonts on non-refresh page turns?

When I noticed an issue similar to what you are mentioning, it was with font that were quite light weight. Looking very closely at the display, you could see the remnants of the previous text. Using either JSWolf's Charis Sil Modified Larger or DejaVu Serif, the issue is still there but the heavier font weight seems to reduce it's visibility. I'd be tempted to refer to Charis SIL Modified as being close to a semi-bold weight.

One of the items I seem to remember Jon mentioning was that Charis SIL Modified Larger was intended to match the weight and size of the Kindle fonts.

One experiment to try is to double tap the center of the page to see if this clears up the font issue by forcing a page refresh (the write white, write black, write white, write page step).

Regards,
David

[Mr.Toad]

Originally Posted by DNSB

When I noticed an issue similar to what you are mentioning, it was with font that were quite light weight. Looking very closely at the display, you could see the remnants of the previous text. Using either JSWolf's Charis Sil Modified Larger or DejaVu Serif, the issue is still there but the heavier font weight seems to reduce it's visibility. I'd be tempted to refer to Charis SIL Modified as being close to a semi-bold weight.

One of the items I seem to remember Jon mentioning was that Charis SIL Modified Larger was intended to match the weight and size of the Kindle fonts.

One experiment to try is to double tap the center of the page to see if this clears up the font issue by forcing a page refresh (the write white, write black, write white, write page step).

Regards,
David

Yes, the double tap at the centre does clear up the problem.

I find that both Charis SIL (not the modified version which is too heavy for me) and DejaVu Serif work fairly well without refreshes; also Delima.

I think the effect is still present with these fonts, but less noticeable.