Calibre and book covers to Sony reader

[sethfeinberg]

...this thread highlights my exact my problem. I spent a few hours each of the last 2 days going through all my books and downloading metadata/covers. I'm pretty OCD and like my stuff in order.

It worked well and I thought I had gotten things in order but after sending all the files to the Reader, a large percentage of the book covers display sub-optimally. I even deleted all the files from the reader and just added everything from my Calibre library. Some books are perfect, some of the books display the cover in a small box in the corner of the allowable area, some books look like its zoomed in on a corner of the book cover and some just flat out didn't transfer. Some look like they kept the old cover even after I changed it. They look fine in the Calibre Library and (I thought) I converted them all to the correct format but I'm clearly doing something wrong. Is there a way to apply a uniform resizing to the thumbnails so they display correctly? I read through Squirsier linked post (btw, thank you very much for that) but I too am reluctant to open and resize 90+ images and was just hoping that in the year since this thread a plugin or fix has been implemented that I am just too stupid to find.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and will certainly lead to donations

[capnm]

The thumbnails?

Try
Preferences - Advanced - Plugins - Device Interface Plugins -
SONY Device Interface

Customize plugin

Check
Upload separate cover thumbnails ...
Preserve cover aspect ratio ...

and to test it check
Refresh separate covers ....

Also Preferences - Sending books to devices -
Metadata management
set to Automatic management

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by sethfeinberg

... Is there a way to apply a uniform resizing to the thumbnails so they display correctly?

Just to add a bit of detail to capnm's post, above...

If you check the box Upload separate cover thumbnails... then the current Calibre cover will be sent as a thumbnail with each new book. If you don't check it, the Sony will attempt to extract the image from page 1 of each new book. This is often unsatisfactory, especially with DRM books.

Next, if you want completely uniform thumbnails on your Sony, you should make sure Preserve cover aspect ratio is unchecked when customising the Sony Device interface plugin. This ensures that every Calibre-sent thumbnail is maximised to 168 x 217. Be aware that it also means that cover thumbnails will be 'stretched' to fit.

Finally, if you also check the box Refresh separate covers when using automatic mgmt, then every time you connect the Sony to Calibre all your thumbnails will be refreshed to match the current Calibre cover. This option should be used with care. It may be quite slow if you have a lot of books on your Sony. However, it could be checked temporarily to sort out your current books, then uncheck it again.

[sethfeinberg]

You guys are the absolute best. Not only did the advice work perfectly (I had actually gotten myself 90% there) but your explanations helped me really understand how to make my reader exactly how I want. No more Sony Reader Store for me!