Problem with covers on Aura HD

gers1978 · 05-28-2013, 04:28 AM

I just got an Aura HD yesterday. I loaded up my ePubs using Calibre and a USB cable.

Some of the covers for some books just show as a small dot when in Library, and just a generic jacket if I put the device to sleep.

I've tried using the Touch driver in Calibre, and the Extended plugin driver. I've tried the "Upload Cover from Calibre" option in both drivers, both on and off.

I've used Calibre's "resize cover" plugin to make them 1440 x 1080, and I've used "Polish Books" and/or "Modify ePub" to replace the cover inside the ePub with the resized one, all to no avail.

If I manually import the books to Adobe Digital Editions then sync with the Aura HD, the covers seem to be fine.

Any ideas?

davidfor · 05-28-2013, 09:44 AM

The cover as a dot usually means a sideloaded kepub that doesn't have a cover defined. I think there was another cause, but I can't think of what it was.

How the covers are generated depends on the book type. For epubs, the device renders the first page of the book, and uses that as the cover. For sideloaded kepubs, it looks for a definition of the cover in the OPF file. The extended driver modifies this so that the cover will be defined properly.

There can be a problem for sideloaded kepubs if there isn't a cover image or if it is defined incorrectly. In this case, the extended driver can't add the property that is needed for the cover to be recognised. I have some books that have a text only cover, and this happens to them.

You should be able to fix this in calibre using the Polish books function. This will add the cover to the epub and do all the definitions. If there is already a cover, if it can be found it will replace it and fix the code. If it can't find the cover, it will add a new one at the start of the epub. That can mean you end up with two covers.

The upload cover options with the standard driver should work. This works by generating the cover image and copying it to the device. The only reason I can think of for it not working is when you start getting a lot of books on the device. Somewhere over 2000 books start having issues with the covers.

If a book is on the home screen, replacing a cover sometimes doesn't appear to work. The device seems to cache the covers and some other info for books on the home screen. They don't get updated until the book leaves the home screen or the device is restarted.

The upload cover options for the extended driver might not appear to work if, as I said above, the epub doesn't have the cover defined properly. In this case the devices database will not have an id for the cover images, so won't pick up the uploaded covers. The extended driver sets an image id in the database the next time the device is connected. After that, the cover should start working with the above issue about cached images and information.

If you still have a problem book, I would have to look at it. If it can be attached here, then do so. Otherwise, send me PM for an address to send it to.

6charlong · 05-28-2013, 12:24 PM

I'm having a similar but somewhat different problem. I uploaded several ePub books from ADE to my Aura. The covers came over just fine but the text was terrible, so I added "kepub." to the file name to make it use the Kobo rendering engine. That worked fine for the text but now there are no book covers.

Of course these were books I bought from other bookstores over the years. My Kobo.com books have both covers and proper formatting but I can't relive the past 7 years and I can't afford to buy over 400 books all over again. It would be nice if there was some way to use the Kobo engine and have the covers too but if I have to chose, I want well formatted books.

I should mention that it's only the books with DRM that lose their covers. The Fictionwise and DelplhiClassics books work fine.

Bittybye · 05-28-2013, 07:01 PM

I'm having the same problem. It only started when I got the newest firmware. It's also takes forever to turn the pages in my library. I counted and the last time it took 15 seconds to turn the page.

Nothing to do with the cover but I will try to turn a page while reading, it won't do anything, I tap the side again and it turns two pages.
I had this problem before but it was my fault and I had forgotten to make Calibre upload the cover.

05-28-2013, 04:28 AM	#1
gers1978 Addict Posts: 392 Karma: 1008414 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle	Problem with covers on Aura HD I just got an Aura HD yesterday. I loaded up my ePubs using Calibre and a USB cable. Some of the covers for some books just show as a small dot when in Library, and just a generic jacket if I put the device to sleep. I've tried using the Touch driver in Calibre, and the Extended plugin driver. I've tried the "Upload Cover from Calibre" option in both drivers, both on and off. I've used Calibre's "resize cover" plugin to make them 1440 x 1080, and I've used "Polish Books" and/or "Modify ePub" to replace the cover inside the ePub with the resized one, all to no avail. If I manually import the books to Adobe Digital Editions then sync with the Aura HD, the covers seem to be fine. Any ideas?

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05-28-2013, 09:44 AM	#2
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	The cover as a dot usually means a sideloaded kepub that doesn't have a cover defined. I think there was another cause, but I can't think of what it was. How the covers are generated depends on the book type. For epubs, the device renders the first page of the book, and uses that as the cover. For sideloaded kepubs, it looks for a definition of the cover in the OPF file. The extended driver modifies this so that the cover will be defined properly. There can be a problem for sideloaded kepubs if there isn't a cover image or if it is defined incorrectly. In this case, the extended driver can't add the property that is needed for the cover to be recognised. I have some books that have a text only cover, and this happens to them. You should be able to fix this in calibre using the Polish books function. This will add the cover to the epub and do all the definitions. If there is already a cover, if it can be found it will replace it and fix the code. If it can't find the cover, it will add a new one at the start of the epub. That can mean you end up with two covers. The upload cover options with the standard driver should work. This works by generating the cover image and copying it to the device. The only reason I can think of for it not working is when you start getting a lot of books on the device. Somewhere over 2000 books start having issues with the covers. If a book is on the home screen, replacing a cover sometimes doesn't appear to work. The device seems to cache the covers and some other info for books on the home screen. They don't get updated until the book leaves the home screen or the device is restarted. The upload cover options for the extended driver might not appear to work if, as I said above, the epub doesn't have the cover defined properly. In this case the devices database will not have an id for the cover images, so won't pick up the uploaded covers. The extended driver sets an image id in the database the next time the device is connected. After that, the cover should start working with the above issue about cached images and information. If you still have a problem book, I would have to look at it. If it can be attached here, then do so. Otherwise, send me PM for an address to send it to.

05-28-2013, 12:24 PM	#3
6charlong friendly lurker Posts: 896 Karma: 2436026 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: US Device: Kindle, nook, Apple and Kobo	I'm having a similar but somewhat different problem. I uploaded several ePub books from ADE to my Aura. The covers came over just fine but the text was terrible, so I added "kepub." to the file name to make it use the Kobo rendering engine. That worked fine for the text but now there are no book covers. Of course these were books I bought from other bookstores over the years. My Kobo.com books have both covers and proper formatting but I can't relive the past 7 years and I can't afford to buy over 400 books all over again. It would be nice if there was some way to use the Kobo engine and have the covers too but if I have to chose, I want well formatted books. I should mention that it's only the books with DRM that lose their covers. The Fictionwise and DelplhiClassics books work fine.

05-28-2013, 07:01 PM	#4
Bittybye Addict Posts: 262 Karma: 505124 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: PRS-T2	I'm having the same problem. It only started when I got the newest firmware. It's also takes forever to turn the pages in my library. I counted and the last time it took 15 seconds to turn the page. Nothing to do with the cover but I will try to turn a page while reading, it won't do anything, I tap the side again and it turns two pages. I had this problem before but it was my fault and I had forgotten to make Calibre upload the cover.

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