Delay between chapter changes on Epub?

[Gemok]

Hi
I've just got my PRS-505 (£100 second hand on ebay bargain ) over the years I collected a fair few .lit files I used to read off my PDA. I've converted 30 or so into .ePub and sent them to the reader using calibre but they're all REALLY slow when changing chapter, I'm talking over a minute in some cases. It quite annoying because the first 6 or so pages are often separate chapters so that's 6 mins before I can start reading the book .

Is it normal for the 505 to be this unresponsive on ePub files or have I done something wrong in the conversion/uploading?

[wallcraft]

It is normal to see a delay between chapters, because ADE processes only a chapter at a time. It should take less time on short chapters, unless I am missing something about how ADE processes ebooks.

[pepak]

A minute is too long, but some delays are common. One of the reasons why I stick to LRF for the time being.

[tech_au]

I've noticed that calibre's epub conversion is not that great sometimes so I switched back to use lrf conversion.
Commercial epubs seem to be OK and page change quite swiftly.

[Gemok]

Its not just me then, oh well its not exactly hard to convert to lrf instead and they perform much quicker.

[astra]

Give up on epub. Use LRF and use eBook Library to upload book to the reader.
Changing chapters is a non existent issue in LRF.
(It is not as if it is faster, it just is not present in LRF. LRF doesn't care about chapters or standard pages, it just turns the pages, if the next page is happen to be a new chapter, so be it.)

[gwynevans]

I don't recal the ePubs I've created having this sort of problem, so I don't think it's quite that clear-cut & there are certain advantages to ePub over LRF in terms of being able to tweak the content, etc.

[astra]

Originally Posted by gwynevans

I don't recal the ePubs I've created having this sort of problem, so I don't think it's quite that clear-cut & there are certain advantages to ePub over LRF in terms of being able to tweak the content, etc.

All epub I tested had a problem of accessing TOC, it means not instantaneous. Also changing font size had the same problem.


Could you give a few good examples of:

there are certain advantages to ePub over LRF in terms of being able to tweak the content, etc.

please?

[llasram]

@astra: There are lots of threads where this is discussed. LRF is a highly limited format and the calibre LRF converter is one big hack. One major example: LRF doesn't have support for italics, substituting an oblique rendering of the base font, with rather hideous results.

To the OP, you def should not see any thing more than a sec or so delay moving linearly between chapters. Sounds like possibly some pathological HTML. If you try a different book and get the same results, please create an issue on the calibre trac.

[deltop]

The only real issue I have with epub is the longer load time for the toc. Perhaps the justification issue too but that's a Sony issue now rather than just an epub one. I never see any crashes or any other problems on my PRS-505.

Any delay in chapter loading is very very small for me even in those books with very long chapters. It's only a fraction longer than a page turn.

All my ebooks are now in epub format. LRF doesn't seem like a long term solution since it's only used on the Sony readers whereas epub is gathering momentum and more and more readers are supporting it.

[llasram]

Originally Posted by deltop

The only real issue I have with epub is the longer load time for the toc.

And that's not actually an EPUB issue, but an ADE-limitation-calibre-isn't-compensating-for-issue. If TOC entries link to specific fragments, ADE actually parses the referenced files. If the top-level TOC has fragment identifiers on links into all the files in the book, that means decompressing and parsing the entire book. Ouch. A later release of calibre will should fix this by at least providing an option to ensure no fragment identifiers on top-level TOC links.

[astra]

I find it funny.
You list issues, then defend epub by saying it is not epub's issues but someone else.

Who cares?

The end result is what one should care. I don't care why it takes so long to access TOC. Is it because of epub, ADE or Sony Reader? This is an issue and LRF doesn't have it. Period.

I don't like LRF created by calibre. Did I suggest to use calibre? No. I didn't. I use Book Designer only.

Although I agree that italics in LRF are not as beautiful as they are in Word document on my PC, it doesn't impede functionality of my ebooks. Moreover if you use Times New Roman, then italics are very good looking. And again, someone tried to persuade me what italics in epub are better looking than in LRF by posting pics. They failed.
I must agree, that most likely on 700 epub is a good alternative to LRF, because 700 is a lot more powerful, but for 505? No way.

[astra]

As far as I know it is not LRF that doesn't support true italics but Sony Reader and epub without embedded fonts will have the same italics and epub with embedded fonts will be very slow on 505.

Let alone ugly justification issue in epub. Unreadable. Ugly.
Who cares whether it is ADE or Sony Reader problem? I don't. It looks ugly on 505, so I use LRF.

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by astra

I don't care why it takes so long to access TOC.

Well my reading of it was that the OP was complaining about delays when changing chapters by normal page forwards, not when going via the TOC. While you may have issues with the TOC, that's not what was originally discussed & what I commented on as not being a normal experience.

> someone tried to persuade me what italics in epub are better looking than in LRF by posting pics

If that's the thread I think it is, that was me, and it was posted to show how the two compared on the reader, not to try & argue the merits of one over the other.

[astra]

Originally Posted by gwynevans

If that's the thread I think it is, that was me, and it was posted to show how the two compared on the reader, not to try & argue the merits of one over the other.

Sorry, my bad. I didn't mean arguing the merrits. I meant that I have no seen any difference.

As for changing chapters, TOC, changing font size, in my opinion, it is a part of the same problem. 505 doesn't have powerful enough h/w to operate epub without hiccups.