Reading A4 size pdf's

gorak · 04-29-2009, 01:43 AM

I've decided to buy the Sony PRS-505 ebook reader. Someone told me that I can't read regular A4 size pdf's on this device. I have tons of pdf's on my pc which i'd love to read on the Sony Reader. Can someone tell how can I read them on the Sony PRS505?

Elfwreck · 04-29-2009, 03:11 AM

You can read them if you like tiny text.

The PRS-505 will display A4 sized PDFs, but they'll be shrunk down to that tiny screen. If they've got a 1" margin, and are in 12 pt or smaller type, they'll be hard to read. It will attempt to reflow them--but in many cases, this does odd things with line breaks (it sometimes keeps the original line breaks, and sometimes removes them between short paragraphs like in dialogue). And if there's a lot of images or charts or odd layouts, it may not reflow them at all. Some textbooks, the reflow/larger size function doesn't work on.

You can get free software that will crop out the white borders, and that will help some; that might be enough to make them comfortable to read with the landscape view that shows half a page at a time.

Saracenn · 04-29-2009, 05:38 AM

I bought the Sony Reader for this purpose; specifically to occasionally read scientific research papers.

The PRS-505 handles PDFs really well. Even large files with complex graphics and equations render well. In fact, I've even found it works with complex language files including right-to-left. Of course, it the font size is already small in the A4 PDF, it will be tiny when shrunk to the Reader's screen. This can be mitigated by switching to landscape mode.

The other thing that helps, as has been mentioned, is to trim the margins. This is really easy using Adobe Acrobat (not Reader), if you have it. On the Mac, there's a free PDF tool called Skim that can do it too.

tech_au · 04-29-2009, 06:40 AM

I have fiddled around for a long time with various PDF modifying programs trying to get PDF magazines like Scientific American to display well on the 505 and gave up as the text is just too small or badly formatted when there are pictures to be worthwhile.
However, text only PDFs such as most ebooks work quite well with the built in reflowing engine if you accept the limitation such as partial pages and occassional wacky linefeeds.

gorak · 04-29-2009, 11:21 AM

Thanks for all the responses. BTW someone said there is a free software available for converting pdf's for viewing in PRS505. May I know which s/w is that?

=X= · 04-29-2009, 11:32 AM

Yes there are several and all are found on this site.

soPDF keeps the PDF text as text and just removes the margins or turns the PDF from portait to Landscape.

PaperCrop: Converts the PDF pages to images, Has smart cropping and text reflow.

PDFRead converts the PDF pages to images crops off the margins and bolds the text.

PDFLRF (not found here, it was removed due to copyright violations) Does the same thing as PDFRead but is better.

My preference is to use
soPDF
PaperCrop
PDFLRF/PDFRead -- Though PDFLRF is a much better tool for LRF.

Most of my needs are meet by soPDF/PaperCrop but there are a few files I do nee PDFLRF for.

04-29-2009, 01:43 AM	#1
gorak Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 34 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: sony	Reading A4 size pdf's I've decided to buy the Sony PRS-505 ebook reader. Someone told me that I can't read regular A4 size pdf's on this device. I have tons of pdf's on my pc which i'd love to read on the Sony Reader. Can someone tell how can I read them on the Sony PRS505?

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04-29-2009, 03:11 AM	#2
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,185 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	You can read them if you like tiny text. The PRS-505 will display A4 sized PDFs, but they'll be shrunk down to that tiny screen. If they've got a 1" margin, and are in 12 pt or smaller type, they'll be hard to read. It will attempt to reflow them--but in many cases, this does odd things with line breaks (it sometimes keeps the original line breaks, and sometimes removes them between short paragraphs like in dialogue). And if there's a lot of images or charts or odd layouts, it may not reflow them at all. Some textbooks, the reflow/larger size function doesn't work on. You can get free software that will crop out the white borders, and that will help some; that might be enough to make them comfortable to read with the landscape view that shows half a page at a time.

04-29-2009, 05:38 AM	#3
Saracenn Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505	I bought the Sony Reader for this purpose; specifically to occasionally read scientific research papers. The PRS-505 handles PDFs really well. Even large files with complex graphics and equations render well. In fact, I've even found it works with complex language files including right-to-left. Of course, it the font size is already small in the A4 PDF, it will be tiny when shrunk to the Reader's screen. This can be mitigated by switching to landscape mode. The other thing that helps, as has been mentioned, is to trim the margins. This is really easy using Adobe Acrobat (not Reader), if you have it. On the Mac, there's a free PDF tool called Skim that can do it too.

04-29-2009, 06:40 AM	#4
tech_au Oz Bookworm Posts: 516 Karma: 4056 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Australia Device: Sony PRS 505,PRS 650	I have fiddled around for a long time with various PDF modifying programs trying to get PDF magazines like Scientific American to display well on the 505 and gave up as the text is just too small or badly formatted when there are pictures to be worthwhile. However, text only PDFs such as most ebooks work quite well with the built in reflowing engine if you accept the limitation such as partial pages and occassional wacky linefeeds.

04-29-2009, 11:21 AM	#5
gorak Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 34 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: sony	Thanks for all the responses. BTW someone said there is a free software available for converting pdf's for viewing in PRS505. May I know which s/w is that?

04-29-2009, 11:32 AM	#6
=X= Wizard Posts: 3,671 Karma: 12205348 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Galaxy S, Nook w/CM7	Yes there are several and all are found on this site. soPDF keeps the PDF text as text and just removes the margins or turns the PDF from portait to Landscape. PaperCrop: Converts the PDF pages to images, Has smart cropping and text reflow. PDFRead converts the PDF pages to images crops off the margins and bolds the text. PDFLRF (not found here, it was removed due to copyright violations) Does the same thing as PDFRead but is better. My preference is to use soPDF PaperCrop PDFLRF/PDFRead -- Though PDFLRF is a much better tool for LRF. Most of my needs are meet by soPDF/PaperCrop but there are a few files I do nee PDFLRF for.

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