PRS-650 best way to scan novels for reading on 650

zoobiliezoo · 10-28-2010, 03:24 AM

Hi, I have a scanned book, about 9 inches wide by 6.5 high. two book pages per scanned page. so when I read it on the 650, and wish to highlight without playing with zoom functions, the best choice for reading for me would be to fit one of the pages onto the reader. the way i did this was choose page layout 2-column. but the problem is that it also makes two rows. so instead of clicking once to get to the other page, i click twice, even if the page is 6 inches or lower, and isn't offscreen. any suggestions for this? one idea would be to have a two column one row page layout option. the only other way as far as i know would be to split the original scans of the book so it's one book page per scanned page, with the size of each page being about 4.5 wide by 6 high.

another way of putting this question: how best to scan books for reading one page at a time on the 650? has anyone else found an ideal way?

zeb · 10-28-2010, 04:32 AM

If I were you, I would do OCR on the text, so that you transform it into a text file, and use Calibre to format it to ePub. There are many OCR software that are free or/and open-source that could do a good job as long as your scanned pages are of good quality. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCR_software for a rather comprehensive list.

Note: Tesseract seems to give excellent results on bitonal image scans, as seen on this article: http://www.mscs.dal.ca/~selinger/ocr-test/

Hope this helps.

zoobiliezoo · 10-28-2010, 04:39 AM

great. i didn't know about calibre, am new here. thanks very much. the text is already ocr, so i am able to highlight it, my issue is mainly fitting one page (1/2 a scanned page) onto the screen, without having to mess with zoom functions or swipe twice. + to be honest i like looking at the scanned page rather than clean (feels more like a book :P); and while the scan was done at 300dpi im afraid there are too many errors in the ocr text to do that. but i will use this method for other books. thanks again zeb!

zeb · 10-28-2010, 04:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoobiliezoo

great. i didn't know about calibre, am new here. thanks very much. the text is already ocr, so i am able to highlight it

You're welcome. However I don't follow: if your text is ocr'ed, then your file is not an image, it is a text, therefore there are no columns anymore. Am I misunderstanding what you are calling OCR here ? Did you create a PDF ?

zoobiliezoo · 10-28-2010, 04:51 AM

i scanned a novel, then in acrobat clicked ocr, searchable image. processed it. so now it's a searchable/highlightable pdf. what i realized is that it's better to split the scanned book pages into two, so you have one (book) page per pdf page. that way there is no need to adjust page layout in reader to 2 column layout (which is a problem because it splits the scan into four parts, two columns, two rows, and no option for two columns, 1 row). sorry i might be using ocr term incorrectly; it says ocr in acrobat when i convert an image only pdf into a searchable pdf.

zeb · 10-28-2010, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoobiliezoo

i scanned a novel, then in acrobat clicked ocr, searchable image. processed it. so now it's a searchable/highlightable pdf.

Ah ok I see. Regarding the searchable PDF option, it is indeed obscure. It seems to me this means they create a PDF with OCR'ed text, but with the same column structure.

I could not help very much about the handling of PDFs in the Sony (which I have not bought yet), but it seems that the Sony has good PDF features (reflow, 2-column reading etc). However, keep in mind that 6" ebook devices are not very good with PDFs anyway. If your book has only text and no images, it would be more suitable to convert your PDF into a ePub. It will certainly be easier to read. I highly recommend you to try Calibre, that will allow you to convert the PDF to ePub, very easily.

zoobiliezoo · 10-28-2010, 05:24 AM

thanks zeb. i have to say, i just got the 650 today, and i am very impressed with its pdf functionality. reading pdfs of scanned books is much easier than i thought it would be. page turn seems just as fast as the epub books i've uploaded; initial loading of book is very fast as well, only a second or two; searching/bookmarking/page browsing seems just as fast, or is at least fast enough to not be noticeable; and space isn't really an issue considering internal and external memory. this is my experience at least, with a 40 mb 70-page pdf. and since there's not much of a difference, i'd prefer to keep the book looking like it does in print: the fonts, the layout etc.

appreciate your thoughts

zeb · 10-28-2010, 05:29 AM

Thanks a lot. I am myself interested in this device, which I saw in demo at Waterstones (in the UK). In term of PDF handling and collections, it seems to be better than the K3. Unfortunately, there is no special offer at the moment like in the US, and £199 is rather steep. I am hoping this will happen before Christmas (or just after?)

zoobiliezoo · 10-28-2010, 08:19 AM

i have to admit one thing though; now that i have the reader, i keep getting this feeling as i'm reading books that it would be nice if the screen was bigger. i spend a bit of time with each book i open resizing etc.; so it would just make sense to have a bigger screen. then again, maybe this is the real downside of pdf scans on such a device; the few books i have that are epub on the other hand fit very nicely on the screen; large fonts and very clear, and no feeling of wanting a larger screen. anyway, great devices. time to read proust on the train. at night when im about to sleep i see that flashing screen in my head when u do a page turn lol. hope that goes away -_-

elcreative · 10-28-2010, 09:26 AM

Waterstones are or will be doing a VAT free offer which will knock 17.5% off the price...

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeb

Thanks a lot. I am myself interested in this device, which I saw in demo at Waterstones (in the UK). In term of PDF handling and collections, it seems to be better than the K3. Unfortunately, there is no special offer at the moment like in the US, and £199 is rather steep. I am hoping this will happen before Christmas (or just after?)

zeb · 10-29-2010, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elcreative

Waterstones are or will be doing a VAT free offer which will knock 17.5% off the price...

Can you tell us more about this? Where have you seen it ? If this is confirmed, I will strongly consider it.

EDIT: indeed, thios offer just appear on their website, from the 28th of October to Chrsitmas Eve. This means £30 on the PRS-650. That would pay for the standard, non-lighted cover.

elcreative · 10-29-2010, 10:09 AM

The giveaway to the info was the big pile of leaflets by my work position

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeb

Can you tell us more about this? Where have you seen it ? If this is confirmed, I will strongly consider it.

EDIT: indeed, thios offer just appear on their website, from the 28th of October to Chrsitmas Eve. This means £30 on the PRS-650. That would pay for the standard, non-lighted cover.

10-28-2010, 03:24 AM	#1
zoobiliezoo Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: sony ereader 650	best way to scan novels for reading on 650 Hi, I have a scanned book, about 9 inches wide by 6.5 high. two book pages per scanned page. so when I read it on the 650, and wish to highlight without playing with zoom functions, the best choice for reading for me would be to fit one of the pages onto the reader. the way i did this was choose page layout 2-column. but the problem is that it also makes two rows. so instead of clicking once to get to the other page, i click twice, even if the page is 6 inches or lower, and isn't offscreen. any suggestions for this? one idea would be to have a two column one row page layout option. the only other way as far as i know would be to split the original scans of the book so it's one book page per scanned page, with the size of each page being about 4.5 wide by 6 high. another way of putting this question: how best to scan books for reading one page at a time on the 650? has anyone else found an ideal way?

10-28-2010, 04:32 AM	#2
zeb Connoisseur Posts: 73 Karma: 2634 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: none	If I were you, I would do OCR on the text, so that you transform it into a text file, and use Calibre to format it to ePub. There are many OCR software that are free or/and open-source that could do a good job as long as your scanned pages are of good quality. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCR_software for a rather comprehensive list. Note: Tesseract seems to give excellent results on bitonal image scans, as seen on this article: http://www.mscs.dal.ca/~selinger/ocr-test/ Hope this helps. Last edited by zeb; 10-28-2010 at 04:37 AM.

10-28-2010, 05:24 AM	#7
zoobiliezoo Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: sony ereader 650	thanks zeb. i have to say, i just got the 650 today, and i am very impressed with its pdf functionality. reading pdfs of scanned books is much easier than i thought it would be. page turn seems just as fast as the epub books i've uploaded; initial loading of book is very fast as well, only a second or two; searching/bookmarking/page browsing seems just as fast, or is at least fast enough to not be noticeable; and space isn't really an issue considering internal and external memory. this is my experience at least, with a 40 mb 70-page pdf. and since there's not much of a difference, i'd prefer to keep the book looking like it does in print: the fonts, the layout etc. appreciate your thoughts Last edited by zoobiliezoo; 10-28-2010 at 08:14 AM.

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10-28-2010, 04:39 AM	#3
zoobiliezoo Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: sony ereader 650	great. i didn't know about calibre, am new here. thanks very much. the text is already ocr, so i am able to highlight it, my issue is mainly fitting one page (1/2 a scanned page) onto the screen, without having to mess with zoom functions or swipe twice. + to be honest i like looking at the scanned page rather than clean (feels more like a book :P); and while the scan was done at 300dpi im afraid there are too many errors in the ocr text to do that. but i will use this method for other books. thanks again zeb!

10-28-2010, 04:51 AM	#5
zoobiliezoo Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: sony ereader 650	i scanned a novel, then in acrobat clicked ocr, searchable image. processed it. so now it's a searchable/highlightable pdf. what i realized is that it's better to split the scanned book pages into two, so you have one (book) page per pdf page. that way there is no need to adjust page layout in reader to 2 column layout (which is a problem because it splits the scan into four parts, two columns, two rows, and no option for two columns, 1 row). sorry i might be using ocr term incorrectly; it says ocr in acrobat when i convert an image only pdf into a searchable pdf.

10-28-2010, 05:29 AM	#8
zeb Connoisseur Posts: 73 Karma: 2634 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: none	Thanks a lot. I am myself interested in this device, which I saw in demo at Waterstones (in the UK). In term of PDF handling and collections, it seems to be better than the K3. Unfortunately, there is no special offer at the moment like in the US, and £199 is rather steep. I am hoping this will happen before Christmas (or just after?)

10-28-2010, 08:19 AM	#9
zoobiliezoo Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: sony ereader 650	i have to admit one thing though; now that i have the reader, i keep getting this feeling as i'm reading books that it would be nice if the screen was bigger. i spend a bit of time with each book i open resizing etc.; so it would just make sense to have a bigger screen. then again, maybe this is the real downside of pdf scans on such a device; the few books i have that are epub on the other hand fit very nicely on the screen; large fonts and very clear, and no feeling of wanting a larger screen. anyway, great devices. time to read proust on the train. at night when im about to sleep i see that flashing screen in my head when u do a page turn lol. hope that goes away -_-