EPUB->KFX conversion and first word "flickering"?

[sabymammamia]

Hi!
I've converted some epub files to kfx using Calibre on Windows (with Kindle Previewer 3), so I can read them natively on my Kindle (it is without using KOReader) and they work, but:

1 - time left in chapter. It's totally wrong, eg. it says time left in book 5h 20min and time left in chapter is almost always the same (while there are many chapters left and that value should be different). It recognizes "chapters" correctly if that matters - I mean I can go see "book contents" and select through 1-20 different chapters and their names.

2 - pages. In my Calibre application I've added count pages plugin and it's downloading pages from goodreads, then they are displayed in the custom "pages" column. When I was uploading them as epubs and reading using KOReader pages were correct and now they are different. What I did when converting was epub input kfx output (I have KFX INPUT and KFX OUTPUT plugins installed too) and I checked under kfx output tab "create approximate page numbers" and here are 2 options. Either "(auto)" or "#pages" and both of them provide the wrong output (or at least I think so?)

And the last question is about my Kindle device in general. When I change page there is a "flickering/flashing" of the FIRST WORD ONLY at each page. It doesn't happen all the time, but it does it often. For example I can read 5 pages and that first word on every page will "flicker" about 3-5 times (very fast) and then for the next 10 pages I won't have that issue, but then again it happens. It's very annoying and I weren't able to find any information about that problem online, so maybe it's a faulty device?

[Quoth]

azw3 is a better format for Kindle. Doesn't need Amazon SW. Closer to epub.

[sabymammamia]

Hmm... I've read that KFX is newer and should be used instead of azw3 when possible because supports some features that azw3 does not. Anyway I can't read any of them (azw3 and kfx) in KOReader, so the options for native Kindle reading are mobi, azw3 and kfx. Will azw3 support that pages/chapters etc.? And what about mobi (it also works with KOReader, so it's possible to read mobi both via native Kindle and in KOReader app, but KOReader doesn't show book covers with mobi files)?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sabymammamia

Hmm... I've read that KFX is newer and should be used instead of azw3 when possible because supports some features that azw3 does not. Anyway I can't read any of them (azw3 and kfx) in KOReader, so the options for native Kindle reading are mobi, azw3 and kfx. Will azw3 support that pages/chapters etc.? And what about mobi (it also works with KOReader, so it's possible to read mobi both via native Kindle and in KOReader app, but KOReader doesn't show book covers with mobi files)?

Forget Mobi exists. It's a very obsolete format. Also, if there is any issue with Mobi in KOReader, chances are it won't get fixed. You really do need ePub for KOReader.

You can use KF8 (AZW3) and add in soft hyphen with calibre's polish or use the Hyphenate This! plugin. So that would take care of hyphens in KF8.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by sabymammamia

1 - time left in chapter. It's totally wrong, eg. it says time left in book 5h 20min and time left in chapter is almost always the same (while there are many chapters left and that value should be different). It recognizes "chapters" correctly if that matters - I mean I can go see "book contents" and select through 1-20 different chapters and their names.

A multi-level table of contents with chapters within parts or a TOC with entries not in the same order as the book's contents can mess it up. When you go to the TOC view you should see the chapter you are currently reading highlighted. If not, something is wrong. Without the actual book to examine I can't tell what might be going wrong in this specific case.

Originally Posted by sabymammamia

2 - pages. In my Calibre application I've added count pages plugin and it's downloading pages from goodreads, then they are displayed in the custom "pages" column. When I was uploading them as epubs and reading using KOReader pages were correct and now they are different. What I did when converting was epub input kfx output (I have KFX INPUT and KFX OUTPUT plugins installed too) and I checked under kfx output tab "create approximate page numbers" and here are 2 options. Either "(auto)" or "#pages" and both of them provide the wrong output (or at least I think so?)

How wrong are they? The exact points in the book where the page number changes will definitely not match up, but the overall number of pages and their relationship to how far you are into the book should be close. Do the page numbers associated with each chapter in the TOC view look reasonable? Again, I can't tell any more without an example.

Originally Posted by sabymammamia

And the last question is about my Kindle device in general. When I change page there is a "flickering/flashing" of the FIRST WORD ONLY at each page.

I have never heard of anything like that before.

[sabymammamia]

They are a bit different, but like you say - they are reasonable. I just thought it's possible to have exact number of pages like in epubs with KOReader, but it's not really a big deal anyway. They are reasonable like you said and the relationship with book % read is alright.

Regarding that flickering, I also didn't find any information about it online, so probably my Kindle is not working correctly

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sabymammamia

They are a bit different, but like you say - they are reasonable. I just thought it's possible to have exact number of pages like in epubs with KOReader, but it's not really a big deal anyway. They are reasonable like you said and the relationship with book % read is alright.

Regarding that flickering, I also didn't find any information about it online, so probably my Kindle is not working correctly

It could be something funky with the code. We cannot tell unless we see the HTML and CSS code that paragraph.