PRS-505 Best format to convert pdf to on the Sony

[trott3r]

Hello,

first post after buying my second hand sony 505.

I would like to convert some pdf files to be more readable on the sony 505 is there a particular format that works best with the 505?

I am using calibre to do the conversion in case that matters.

thanks for your time

Martin N

[kartu]

Hi,

it's LRF.

[pendragginp]

Yep, I find LRF best.

[trott3r]

Thanks for the LRF tip.

Martin

[trott3r]

Doesnt help with either the sony quick start guide or a magazine pdf i have.

Is there another programme that i can use to format it to something that the sony can do a better job with? Tried openoffice but there is no import as pdf. Foxit and adobe reader 8 dont save in pdf format.

thanks
Martin

A lot depends on whether it is a scanned image type of PDF or a PDF with text. The former never seems to convert well at all in my limited experience. The latter tends to convert better, but I've yet to get one to be very readable, especially using calibre. I usually get garbage out. I tried about 10 PDFs of different types then gave up. Let's face it, PDFs were never intended for reading. They were intended to be printed at a specific size. Some 15+ years later Adobe has added some features and improvements, but PDFs are still difficult to view even on a PC with a large monitor. Without reflowable text, they will be garbage on readers with 6" screens, and barely tolerable on readers with 10" screens.

[46jimbo]

You might wish to play around with this method. This involves keeping the file in PDF format, but stripping the borders to make it more readable. I found this method in another section of this forum. Many thanks to those who made it.

Unzip the 'soPDF Bundle' file and have the 2 files in the same folder.

Run 'sopdfwin.exe' (its a graphical interface). Browse to find your input pdf file in the first box. Press 'Process' and it's done. (The original file is preserved and the new file is renamed.)

What the program does is crop the margins and chop the page length to fit the ereader screen.

Of course, you will have problems with graphics. Works best with straight text.

Experiment with the different options and also with the zoom levels on your reader, and you may find that it works not badly.

[oldbwl]

I have used lrf and epub, and I find the conversion to epub is better as
it is invariably smaller in size and allows me to add much more to the PRS-300, the final output is as good as I would want it.

I think the only advantage to lrf that I miss (and there may be others for you) is the full left and right text justification. But the almost double the number of books and a slight increase in speed in handling epub does it for me.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by jswinden

A lot depends on whether it is a scanned image type of PDF or a PDF with text. The former never seems to convert well at all in my limited experience. The latter tends to convert better, but I've yet to get one to be very readable, especially using calibre. I usually get garbage out. I tried about 10 PDFs of different types then gave up. Let's face it, PDFs were never intended for reading. They were intended to be printed at a specific size. Some 15+ years later Adobe has added some features and improvements, but PDFs are still difficult to view even on a PC with a large monitor. Without reflowable text, they will be garbage on readers with 6" screens, and barely tolerable on readers with 10" screens.

I make my own PDFs for my ereader. I've found them to be very readable on my ereader as long as I set the page size to the same size as my ereader's screen (3.5" x 4.75"). When I do that the ebook will appear on my computer screen exactly as it will appear on my ereader. I agree that the results are usually not very good when the PDF is not sized for an ereader's screen.

The main reason I use PDF as my format of choice for my ereader is that it gives me complete format control over my ebooks and they appear on my ereader exactly as I intended. This is something I've not found with any other format.

While I lose the ability to increase the size of the text on my ereader (while reflow is available I don't like the results), the format control is worth the tradeoff. With experience, I come to be able to format my ebooks in a way that looks great at the default (small) setting on my ereader.

[trott3r]

Originally Posted by 46jimbo

You might wish to play around with this method. This involves keeping the file in PDF format, but stripping the borders to make it more readable. I found this method in another section of this forum. Many thanks to those who made it.

Unzip the 'soPDF Bundle' file and have the 2 files in the same folder.

Run 'sopdfwin.exe' (its a graphical interface). Browse to find your input pdf file in the first box. Press 'Process' and it's done. (The original file is preserved and the new file is renamed.)

What the program does is crop the margins and chop the page length to fit the ereader screen.

Of course, you will have problems with graphics. Works best with straight text.

Experiment with the different options and also with the zoom levels on your reader, and you may find that it works not badly.

thanks for the utility kind of improves things slightly for a minidisc recorder manual.

What does the overlap percentage do?
(there is no readme in the archive)

Martin N

[46jimbo]

What does the overlap percentage do?
(there is no readme in the archive)

No idea. There never were any instructions included.