505 - picture breakthrough.

[Bokkie]

Of sorts anyway. I reformatted a 256MB SD card I had lying around. I inserted it into the 505 SD slot. I have the Sony eBook library software 2.2.00.18100 but I don't know if that makes any difference but I mention it all the same. I dragged a picture onto it and that effectively created the folder structure on the SD card which I think is necessary for the 505 to locate the pictures.

From that point on I was able to bypass the eBook library software as I could insert the card into my laptop and I was able to drag as many pictures as I wanted onto it directly. The pictures had to go into the relevant folder on the SD card. I then plugged the SD card back into the 505 and voila, all the pictures are available in the pictures menu. I put the SD card back into my laptop and deleted all the XML files it contained. This made no difference to the 505 as it could still list the pictures in the menu.

The next thing was how to get the best out of the 505 when displaying the pictures. I use a screen capture program called SnagIT. I changed its capture settings to a fixed region and set the height to 584 and the width to 754. This lets me do my captures in landscape mode effectively the opposite of Sony's specification for the 505. I then did a screen capture and then converted it into grey scale. I then rotated the image left 90 degrees and saved it as a bitmap. When viewed on the 505 the image is now in a nice landscape orientation which actually looks quite decent. Why am I doing all of this? For no reason other than I want to capture some code snippets and be able to see the maximum content I can on the screen. Obviously I have to hold the 505 in landscape orientation to view the pictures.

I guess this is all probably old hat to you seasoned 505 campaigners but to those who want to do a little more with pictures, what I've described might be of use.

Peter.

[HarryT]

Hi Peter,

A couple of comments:

1. Converting your files to GIF or PNG format will dramatically reduce their size, with no loss of image quality.

2. There's no need to rotate them - the Sony will do so automatically if it finds an image that's in "landscape" orientation (ie wider than it is high).

As you say, it's generally a lot easier to copy files to the SD card directly rather than go through the Sony software.

[Bokkie]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Hi Peter,

A couple of comments:

1. Converting your files to GIF or PNG format will dramatically reduce their size, with no loss of image quality.

2. There's no need to rotate them - the Sony will do so automatically if it finds an image that's in "landscape" orientation (ie wider than it is high).

As you say, it's generally a lot easier to copy files to the SD card directly rather than go through the Sony software.

Thanks Harry. I think SnagIT's default is png so I'll try that out. I think I did experiment with not rotating the image but for some reason it displayed it as landscape but in portrait orientation. In other words the image was reduced by the 505 to fit and was illegible because of the scaling. Then again, maybe that was me rushing the process and not thinking it through correctly. Guilty of bad science, I know. I'll revisit the screen capture later and see if I can minimise the steps I had to follow.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Bokkie

I think I did experiment with not rotating the image but for some reason it displayed it as landscape but in portrait orientation. In other words the image was reduced by the 505 to fit and was illegible because of the scaling. Then again, maybe that was me rushing the process and not thinking it through correctly. Guilty of bad science, I know. I'll revisit the screen capture later and see if I can minimise the steps I had to follow.

I could be remembering the way that image rotation works incorrectly - it's a while since I've owned a Sony. My memory could very well be faulty, so if what you're doing now is working, then please carry on doing it!

[RWood]

I have the 500 with a few pictures on it - some portrait, some landscape. When I display them they will show up in their normal orientation for a moment and then automatically adjust to the to fill the screen including rotation for the landscape photos. (Now, if it was only a color display....)

[dordale]

Bokkie--Not sure about a folder stucture being required to see the pictures. I have pictures directly on the card not in any folder and also pictures in folders and the 505 sees all of them.

dordale

[Bokkie]

Originally Posted by HarryT

...

1. Converting your files to GIF or PNG format will dramatically reduce their size, with no loss of image quality.

2. There's no need to rotate them - the Sony will do so automatically if it finds an image that's in "landscape" orientation (ie wider than it is high).

...

Harry,

1. Thanks. The PNG format is much smaller then the BMP and I can't see any difference in the quality.

2. Unfortunately, I have to rotate it left 90 degress. If I don't the 505 does not do it for me. For example, divide the vertical screen into three equal parts. The image is displayed in landscape mode but only in the middle third. The top and bottom thirds are blank. I have to capture my picture in landscape mode as that's how my screen edit window looks. I'd not be able to capture anything useful if I do it in portrait mode 584 x 754. It's no problem for me to do it that way.

[Bokkie]

Originally Posted by dordale

Bokkie--Not sure about a folder stucture being required to see the pictures. I have pictures directly on the card not in any folder and also pictures in folders and the 505 sees all of them.

dordale

Thanks. I formatted the SD card and dropped the pictures directly onto it and the 505 did detect them. I thought I had to use the folders but on reflection those were created for me by the eBook library software when I copied the images to the SD card using it. The eBook software can be a pain in the a$$ so I'm glad I don't have to use it.

Edit: The same holds true for PDF documents. No need to put them anywhere special on the card. I generated a random PDF file of 500 pages containing nothing but a random number of lines per page. It views perfectly but on occasions page turning was sometimes very slow. But then again, the 505 hardly has a Cray supercomputer on it.