CyBook & A4 PDFs

Andro · 03-05-2009, 11:33 AM

So, I'm in the market for my first eBook reader; Cybook 3 seems appealing to me, for a number of reasons, but I noticed mention in several threads that it's 'no good for A4-sized pdf reading'. Could anyone enlighten me as to the specifics and severity of this issue? Majority of my current e-books are A5/A4 PDFs, so it may be a show-stopper for me.

Gaurnim · 03-05-2009, 11:37 AM

The Cybook does not offer PDF reflow capacity.
Which means that it currently isn't capable of changing the PDF layout on the fly in order to accomodate for the smaller screen.
It will all depend on the font size on the PDf you are reading. If it's large enough, you won't have any problems.
You can also try to read the PDF in landscape mode, which should allow you to view one A4 page in 2 or 3 times.

I haven't explored all the zoom settings for PDF following the latest firmware upgrade, so I can't say more, I'm sure somebody else will chime in with more detailed info.

PDF reflow might appear in the somewhat near future, as Bookeen has mentioned something about including Adobe SDK in the next firmware update, currently supposed to arrive before the end of this month.
If you are interested in this, you might want to wait until the new firmware is out in order for its real capabilities to be re-evaluated.

Andro · 03-05-2009, 11:43 AM

Thanks for the prompt and informative reply! What kind of issues should I expect to run into with color-print PDF books, if any? I'm hoping PDF scaling shouldn't be a major issue - most of those books are around font size 10-12, so even with scaling they shouldn't end up smaller than 8ish...

Pulp · 03-05-2009, 11:54 AM

In landscapeformat you shouldn't run into any problems with the fontsize even without the reflow capabilities.

Color in books isn't a problem either unless you want to look a highresolution-images.
Everything get's scaled down to 4 shades of gray, so you might lose a lot of details in photographs.

HarryT · 03-05-2009, 12:02 PM

PDF was never designed to be an eBook format, and is the worse possible choice of format for an eBook. Only select it if you have absolutely no other choice.

pthwaite · 03-05-2009, 12:20 PM

A4 pdfs on the Cybook can be read. You may on occasions have to re-format them as occasionally I find pdfs that will not display on the Cybook, occasionally it's is coloured fonts, sometimes tables.

The 6" format is not ideal for pdfs especially as you get older, but landscape mode does allow reading but if your pdf has columns it is a pain to scroll around to read a document which is why I have a DR1000.

For reading books (mobi) the Cybook is excellent but I would try to avoid large (ie >A5) pdfs if you can.
Howard

Andro · 03-05-2009, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

PDF was never designed to be an eBook format, and is the worse possible choice of format for an eBook. Only select it if you have absolutely no other choice.

Harry,

I understand that; alas, I own quite an collection of PDF books accumulated over quite a time period; replacing them is not an option both for financial and logistic reasons (some are simply impossible to find) so I simply have to find a way to work with what I have.

HarryT · 03-05-2009, 12:25 PM

Understood, Andro.

Halk · 03-05-2009, 03:41 PM

As much as I love my Cybook, and I think everybody should get one... I'd caution you about waiting for firmware updates.

Many of us have been waiting for the fabled folder support from Bookeen - which is just around the corner, I'm sure... But Bookeen still haven't come out with it.

There's been no major bugs on the Cybook, and they have addressed many minor (and for some people important) bugs over time.

I feel it'd be rather callous to watch you buy the Cybook believing that the next firmware update will sort your PDF files out.

Having said that it's not too difficult to go into a PDF and simply copy and paste the content into a text file - assuming that the books aren't filled with illustrations, and the formatting isn't essential.

tompe · 03-05-2009, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halk

There's been no major bugs on the Cybook, and they have addressed many minor (and for some people important) bugs over time.

That is not true. There was a bug which caused the Cybook to crash for certain book you could buy. There was also at least one major dictionary bug.

Andro · 03-05-2009, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halk

As much as I love my Cybook, and I think everybody should get one... I'd caution you about waiting for firmware updates.

Many of us have been waiting for the fabled folder support from Bookeen - which is just around the corner, I'm sure... But Bookeen still haven't come out with it.

There's been no major bugs on the Cybook, and they have addressed many minor (and for some people important) bugs over time.

I feel it'd be rather callous to watch you buy the Cybook believing that the next firmware update will sort your PDF files out.

Having said that it's not too difficult to go into a PDF and simply copy and paste the content into a text file - assuming that the books aren't filled with illustrations, and the formatting isn't essential.

Thanks Halk, very informative.

Unfortunately, my PDFs are a) Mostly just image-digitized books, rather than OCR-text converted ones, and b) chock-full of tables, diagrams and illustrations so I'm not sure how well (or how fast) I could convert them into more popular/more practical e-book formats.

From what I've seen, unless I'm willing to go with of borderline TabletPC hi-end readers, odds are I will have very limited pdf functionality, regardless of make/model.

Pulp · 03-05-2009, 06:41 PM

In that case you should go for an iRex iLiad or DR 1000S - they are made for just that.

delphidb96 · 03-05-2009, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andro

Harry,

I understand that; alas, I own quite an collection of PDF books accumulated over quite a time period; replacing them is not an option both for financial and logistic reasons (some are simply impossible to find) so I simply have to find a way to work with what I have.

Andro,

If they're not locked (or if you have the keys and a full version of Adobe Acrobat Professional) export them to HTML or Word DOC and run the expanded results through BookDesigner or Mobipocket Creator. I've done about 100-150 such conversions.

My favorite way of doing so is to export to DOC, open in Word, take out any page headers/footers, save as HTML, import into BookDesigner, create a TOC, insert page breaks before chapter titles, insert a nice cover shot and create my mobi version from there.

Derek

Gaurnim · 03-06-2009, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andro

Thanks for the prompt and informative reply!

You're welcome

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halk

As much as I love my Cybook, and I think everybody should get one... I'd caution you about waiting for firmware updates.

Many of us have been waiting for the fabled folder support from Bookeen - which is just around the corner, I'm sure... But Bookeen still haven't come out with it.

About this, I don't think that Bookeen has ever given a date for the folder support, apart from saying that they are working on it.
I'm more inclined to believe that the Adobe SDK will effectively be included in the next firmware than I am for folder support.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halk

I feel it'd be rather callous to watch you buy the Cybook believing that the next firmware update will sort your PDF files out.

A quick note on this part :
after reading my post again I find that I wasn't clear about this.
I didn't want to say that he should buy the Cybook waiting for the firmware to arrive, as we are not sure when it will arrive and what exactly will be inside.
I wanted to say that he might be interested in waiting until the firmware is out to re-evaluate the Cybook capabilities based on this.

kleykenb · 03-06-2009, 04:44 AM

Let's just cut to the chase :

Reading A4 PDF's on paper is far more pleasureable than reading them on a Cybook Gen 3 or any other eBook reader with a small screen.
In fact, many PDF's simply can't even be read on the eReader because they require extra fonts (all you get are blanc pages !).

Sure you can use special software to convert this and do that and if you add extra fonts to the eReader you may not get the blanc pages, but the end result will never be as-good as paper and you may find yourself spending more time making your documents readable than reading !

Right now the best device for reading A4 PDFs is the iRex DR1000S but it's really expensive and because of it's size it's very fragile (if you buy one then make sure to get extra protection).

03-05-2009, 11:33 AM	#1
Andro Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: none	CyBook & A4 PDFs So, I'm in the market for my first eBook reader; Cybook 3 seems appealing to me, for a number of reasons, but I noticed mention in several threads that it's 'no good for A4-sized pdf reading'. Could anyone enlighten me as to the specifics and severity of this issue? Majority of my current e-books are A5/A4 PDFs, so it may be a show-stopper for me.

03-05-2009, 06:41 PM	#12
Pulp Palm Addict Posts: 477 Karma: 1001951 Join Date: Aug 2008 Device: Cybook Gen3 [512mb, FW: 1.5]	In that case you should go for an iRex iLiad or DR 1000S - they are made for just that. Last edited by Pulp; 03-05-2009 at 06:43 PM.

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03-05-2009, 11:37 AM	#2
Gaurnim Final Five n°42 Posts: 789 Karma: 3599 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lyon, France Device: Cybook Gen3	The Cybook does not offer PDF reflow capacity. Which means that it currently isn't capable of changing the PDF layout on the fly in order to accomodate for the smaller screen. It will all depend on the font size on the PDf you are reading. If it's large enough, you won't have any problems. You can also try to read the PDF in landscape mode, which should allow you to view one A4 page in 2 or 3 times. I haven't explored all the zoom settings for PDF following the latest firmware upgrade, so I can't say more, I'm sure somebody else will chime in with more detailed info. PDF reflow might appear in the somewhat near future, as Bookeen has mentioned something about including Adobe SDK in the next firmware update, currently supposed to arrive before the end of this month. If you are interested in this, you might want to wait until the new firmware is out in order for its real capabilities to be re-evaluated.

03-05-2009, 11:43 AM	#3
Andro Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: none	Thanks for the prompt and informative reply! What kind of issues should I expect to run into with color-print PDF books, if any? I'm hoping PDF scaling shouldn't be a major issue - most of those books are around font size 10-12, so even with scaling they shouldn't end up smaller than 8ish...

03-05-2009, 11:54 AM	#4
Pulp Palm Addict Posts: 477 Karma: 1001951 Join Date: Aug 2008 Device: Cybook Gen3 [512mb, FW: 1.5]	In landscapeformat you shouldn't run into any problems with the fontsize even without the reflow capabilities. Color in books isn't a problem either unless you want to look a highresolution-images. Everything get's scaled down to 4 shades of gray, so you might lose a lot of details in photographs.

03-05-2009, 12:02 PM	#5
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	PDF was never designed to be an eBook format, and is the worse possible choice of format for an eBook. Only select it if you have absolutely no other choice.

03-05-2009, 12:20 PM	#6
pthwaite Fanatic Posts: 597 Karma: 430 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Ellesmere Port, UK Device: DR1000S Sony PRS505 iPad iPhone	A4 pdfs on the Cybook can be read. You may on occasions have to re-format them as occasionally I find pdfs that will not display on the Cybook, occasionally it's is coloured fonts, sometimes tables. The 6" format is not ideal for pdfs especially as you get older, but landscape mode does allow reading but if your pdf has columns it is a pain to scroll around to read a document which is why I have a DR1000. For reading books (mobi) the Cybook is excellent but I would try to avoid large (ie >A5) pdfs if you can. Howard

03-05-2009, 12:25 PM	#8
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Understood, Andro.

03-05-2009, 03:41 PM	#9
Halk Fanatic Posts: 534 Karma: 469999 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Sony PRS-650 (PRS+ alpha - thanks Kartu!)	As much as I love my Cybook, and I think everybody should get one... I'd caution you about waiting for firmware updates. Many of us have been waiting for the fabled folder support from Bookeen - which is just around the corner, I'm sure... But Bookeen still haven't come out with it. There's been no major bugs on the Cybook, and they have addressed many minor (and for some people important) bugs over time. I feel it'd be rather callous to watch you buy the Cybook believing that the next firmware update will sort your PDF files out. Having said that it's not too difficult to go into a PDF and simply copy and paste the content into a text file - assuming that the books aren't filled with illustrations, and the formatting isn't essential.

03-06-2009, 04:44 AM	#15
kleykenb Groupie Posts: 156 Karma: 99 Join Date: Jul 2007 Device: DR1kS/Cy3	Let's just cut to the chase : Reading A4 PDF's on paper is far more pleasureable than reading them on a Cybook Gen 3 or any other eBook reader with a small screen. In fact, many PDF's simply can't even be read on the eReader because they require extra fonts (all you get are blanc pages !). Sure you can use special software to convert this and do that and if you add extra fonts to the eReader you may not get the blanc pages, but the end result will never be as-good as paper and you may find yourself spending more time making your documents readable than reading ! Right now the best device for reading A4 PDFs is the iRex DR1000S but it's really expensive and because of it's size it's very fragile (if you buy one then make sure to get extra protection).

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