Converting PDF to Sony format

estral · 03-23-2009, 12:39 PM

Hi all,

I am sure that this has been covered; however, I would like to suggest a "sticky" to cover converting non DRM PDF files to "lrf" or "epub" format.

On my own I have tried Calibre and Lib2Go and cannot get file to comvert and display in an acceptable manner. I do have Acrobat 9 professional and checked that the source files functioned properly.

I am sure that there are some tricks or techniques that I have not been able to devise on my own. Hopefully a "sticky" would be helpful to all.

Thanks to all!

Uncle Eric

JSWolf · 03-23-2009, 01:13 PM

The first think you would need to do is strip the DRM. Then convert. Then check the poorly converted file against the PDF to fix all the errors and then you have a good conversion. Overall, it is not worth the hassle.

HarryT · 03-23-2009, 01:28 PM

If you look around, estral, you'll find innumerable discussions of this subject.

Basically, a PDF file is not a "book"; it's just a series of page images. It does not contain "text" - it knows nothing about paragraphs, lines, or even words. All that is in a PDF file is a series of instructions of the form "draw this shape at these coordinates".

The result of this is that a PDF file can rarely be converted into any other format very satisfactorily. All the information about the original "document" was "thrown away" during the process of creating the PDF.

frabjous · 03-24-2009, 02:03 AM

PDFs display on a 505, so I'm not sure why you necessary want to change formats. Sometimes it's enough just to strip the whitespace with something like SoPDF.

Try the following tools with various kinds of PDFs and see what you like:
PDFLRF
Rasterfarian
PDFread
SoPDF
PaperCrop

(Some of these convert to LRF; some leave as PDF but make the PDF more readable.)

Personally, I can get most PDFs that start from already published material to display just fine, though some of these, by converting to images, take up a lot of file space.

sn123py · 03-24-2009, 03:44 AM

I usually do these Steps to read PDF on my Sony:
- remove DRM
- open the PDF with newest Acrobat Reader, select all, copy to clipboard
- open Word, copy from clipboard
- with some macros, fix hyphenation, remove page numbers, Chapters and so on.
- save as HTML
- import into calibre
- convert to lrf

all together, it takes me about 10 Minutes each book.

regards,
macfly.

BlackVoid · 03-24-2009, 05:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you look around, estral, you'll find innumerable discussions of this subject.

Basically, a PDF file is not a "book"; it's just a series of page images. It does not contain "text" - it knows nothing about paragraphs, lines, or even words. All that is in a PDF file is a series of instructions of the form "draw this shape at these coordinates".

The result of this is that a PDF file can rarely be converted into any other format very satisfactorily. All the information about the original "document" was "thrown away" during the process of creating the PDF.

This is just not true, all that information (paragraphs, lines and words) are there to see. Even your brain can identify them. A good software can identify them also.

EG: BOOKDESIGNER.

BlackVoid · 03-24-2009, 05:30 AM

I really do not understand the ignorance on these boards towards BookDesigner. Calibre - which is quite bad at conversion - is popular and recommended. People even defend it: it is not possiple to convert PDFs, hence Calibre cannot do it either.

But this is just plain bullshit. There is a program out there - BOOKDESIGNER - which is perfectly capable of converting most PDF documents to LRF with minimal fuss. True, it is no longer supported and only runs on Windows, but it WORKS.

USE BOOKDESIGNER TO CONVERT PDF TO LRF. And do not listen to naysayers.

HarryT · 03-24-2009, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackVoid

I really do not understand the ignorance on these boards towards BookDesigner. Calibre - which is quite bad at conversion - is popular and recommended. People even defend it: it is not possiple to convert PDFs, hence Calibre cannot do it either.

But this is just plain bullshit. There is a program out there - BOOKDESIGNER - which is perfectly capable of converting most PDF documents to LRF with minimal fuss. True, it is no longer supported and only runs on Windows, but it WORKS.

USE BOOKDESIGNER TO CONVERT PDF TO LRF. And do not listen to naysayers.

Considering the fact that I have created something over 1000 books with BookDesigner, BlackVoid (as you can see from the "Book Uploads" forum here), your accusation is a little misdirected

.

Yes, BookDesigner can - sometimes - produce reasonable results with PDFs, but that does not alter the fact that PDF is a poor choice of format to convert from, unless one has no alternative. Pretty much any other format is preferable. Generally one will need to do considerable "cleaning up" of a PDF conversion, whereas many other formats will convert "losslessly".

BlackVoid · 03-24-2009, 11:58 AM

That sounds much better, I was feeling alone as a BookDesigner fan.

And yes, PDF is about the worst format to convert from, I personally prefer other ebook formats which convert very nice. Too bad BD does not handle all of them.

frabjous · 03-24-2009, 12:40 PM

I agree that Calibre doesn't do a great job at converting PDFs to other formats. I think it's a great piece of software for all sorts of other purposes, and I'm still a fan, and greatful to Kovid for the countless hours he puts into it with no real recompensation, but I admit it does have its limitations.

I've never tried BookDesigner, though. I have, however, tried Acrobat Pro's export as HTML/RTF feature, with mixed results.

Does anyone have a sense of the relative quality of output of BookDesigner for PDF > X conversions vs. opening in Acrobat Pro and exporting to rtf/html? I'm sure either way a lot of cleaning up will be necessary afterwards if you want a professional looking result.

jefferson_frantz · 03-24-2009, 04:48 PM

If you obtain poor results with BookDesigner converting to pdf, then try Mobipocket Creator to convert pdf to html.

frabjous · 03-24-2009, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefferson_frantz

If you obtain poor results with BookDesigner converting to pdf, then try Mobipocket Creator to convert pdf to html.

That generated worse results than Calibre, and much worse than Acrobat... at least in my experiments with it.

doreenjoy · 03-24-2009, 05:56 PM

My biggest problem when converting PDFs to *any* format, be it HTML, RTF, or LRF, is that the line breaks are lost. I end up with 300 pages that are all one continuous paragraph.

Cutting the white space doesn't give me a readable file on the Sony -- the font is still way too small for nearsighted me to read.

frabjous · 03-24-2009, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

Cutting the white space doesn't give me a readable file on the Sony -- the font is still way too small for nearsighted me to read.

Even in landscape mode, with any columns separated?

Exactly how wide are the lines of text in the PDF?

doreenjoy · 03-24-2009, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frabjous

Even in landscape mode, with any columns separated?

Exactly how wide are the lines of text in the PDF?

Yeah, even in landscape mode. The lines of text in the most problematic books are about 8.5" wide when I trim the margins. I should probably add that I am extremely nearsighted. I need a bigger font than most people in order for it to be legible.

Some PDFs are readable with the margins trimmed, but there are a few I have that aren't, and the books are still in copyright but not in print in other e-book formats.

03-23-2009, 12:39 PM	#1
estral Just trying to survive Posts: 53 Karma: 210 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Nexus 7 2013, Galaxy Note 10.1 2014	Converting PDF to Sony format Hi all, I am sure that this has been covered; however, I would like to suggest a "sticky" to cover converting non DRM PDF files to "lrf" or "epub" format. On my own I have tried Calibre and Lib2Go and cannot get file to comvert and display in an acceptable manner. I do have Acrobat 9 professional and checked that the source files functioned properly. I am sure that there are some tricks or techniques that I have not been able to devise on my own. Hopefully a "sticky" would be helpful to all. Thanks to all! Uncle Eric

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
perseving table format when converting PDF to Mobi	jimbbq	Calibre	1	09-24-2010 12:28 PM
PRS-600 NewB Needs Help Converting HTML to Sony reader format	SharkDivingDiva	Sony Reader	7	01-12-2010 06:01 PM
Converting PDF Books to an easily readable format for PRS505	DaveC	Sony Reader	3	10-01-2009 12:13 PM
Converting e-reader secured books to sony format	Eliab	Sony Reader	5	06-26-2009 11:13 AM
Problem converting LIT to Sony Reader format.	alophind	Sony Reader	4	08-27-2007 11:31 AM

03-23-2009, 01:13 PM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,896 Karma: 128597114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	The first think you would need to do is strip the DRM. Then convert. Then check the poorly converted file against the PDF to fix all the errors and then you have a good conversion. Overall, it is not worth the hassle.

03-23-2009, 01:28 PM	#3
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	If you look around, estral, you'll find innumerable discussions of this subject. Basically, a PDF file is not a "book"; it's just a series of page images. It does not contain "text" - it knows nothing about paragraphs, lines, or even words. All that is in a PDF file is a series of instructions of the form "draw this shape at these coordinates". The result of this is that a PDF file can rarely be converted into any other format very satisfactorily. All the information about the original "document" was "thrown away" during the process of creating the PDF.

03-24-2009, 02:03 AM	#4
frabjous Wizard Posts: 1,213 Karma: 12890 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Amherst, Massachusetts, USA Device: Sony PRS-505	PDFs display on a 505, so I'm not sure why you necessary want to change formats. Sometimes it's enough just to strip the whitespace with something like SoPDF. Try the following tools with various kinds of PDFs and see what you like: PDFLRF Rasterfarian PDFread SoPDF PaperCrop (Some of these convert to LRF; some leave as PDF but make the PDF more readable.) Personally, I can get most PDFs that start from already published material to display just fine, though some of these, by converting to images, take up a lot of file space.

03-24-2009, 03:44 AM	#5
sn123py Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Sony PRS-T1, Kindle4NT	I usually do these Steps to read PDF on my Sony: - remove DRM - open the PDF with newest Acrobat Reader, select all, copy to clipboard - open Word, copy from clipboard - with some macros, fix hyphenation, remove page numbers, Chapters and so on. - save as HTML - import into calibre - convert to lrf all together, it takes me about 10 Minutes each book. regards, macfly.

03-24-2009, 05:30 AM	#7
BlackVoid Evangelist Posts: 415 Karma: 510423 Join Date: Nov 2006 Device: Sony PRS-505	I really do not understand the ignorance on these boards towards BookDesigner. Calibre - which is quite bad at conversion - is popular and recommended. People even defend it: it is not possiple to convert PDFs, hence Calibre cannot do it either. But this is just plain bullshit. There is a program out there - BOOKDESIGNER - which is perfectly capable of converting most PDF documents to LRF with minimal fuss. True, it is no longer supported and only runs on Windows, but it WORKS. USE BOOKDESIGNER TO CONVERT PDF TO LRF. And do not listen to naysayers.

03-24-2009, 11:58 AM	#9
BlackVoid Evangelist Posts: 415 Karma: 510423 Join Date: Nov 2006 Device: Sony PRS-505	That sounds much better, I was feeling alone as a BookDesigner fan. And yes, PDF is about the worst format to convert from, I personally prefer other ebook formats which convert very nice. Too bad BD does not handle all of them.

03-24-2009, 12:40 PM	#10
frabjous Wizard Posts: 1,213 Karma: 12890 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Amherst, Massachusetts, USA Device: Sony PRS-505	I agree that Calibre doesn't do a great job at converting PDFs to other formats. I think it's a great piece of software for all sorts of other purposes, and I'm still a fan, and greatful to Kovid for the countless hours he puts into it with no real recompensation, but I admit it does have its limitations. I've never tried BookDesigner, though. I have, however, tried Acrobat Pro's export as HTML/RTF feature, with mixed results. Does anyone have a sense of the relative quality of output of BookDesigner for PDF > X conversions vs. opening in Acrobat Pro and exporting to rtf/html? I'm sure either way a lot of cleaning up will be necessary afterwards if you want a professional looking result.

03-24-2009, 04:48 PM	#11
jefferson_frantz Member Posts: 14 Karma: 12 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Lima, Perú Device: Kindle 2 and Sony Reader PRS 505	If you obtain poor results with BookDesigner converting to pdf, then try Mobipocket Creator to convert pdf to html.

03-24-2009, 05:56 PM	#13
doreenjoy 01000100 01001010 Posts: 1,889 Karma: 2400000 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Polyamorous	My biggest problem when converting PDFs to any format, be it HTML, RTF, or LRF, is that the line breaks are lost. I end up with 300 pages that are all one continuous paragraph. Cutting the white space doesn't give me a readable file on the Sony -- the font is still way too small for nearsighted me to read.

Advert

Advert