Not to put too fine a point on it, accuracy is the most important factor in
scanning. If you do 100 pages very fast but then have to go through them
laboriously fixing all the errors made by your scanning device, you've lost any
advantage it offers. I've tried a couple of camera-based options and never
found them to be as easy to operate or as accurate as Kurzweil.
Sandi
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On Behalf Of Redacted sender "t.gorman" for DMARC
Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2020 12:45 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question about advertising in books
Hi Chelsea,
While it's true that a flatbed scanner is slower than the Pearl because of the
need for the scanner head to move across the page, some of this speed has to do
with the computer being used and the speed of the processor in it. When I
bought a new computer with a fast i7 ninth generation processor and a Plustek
Opticbook 4800 I noticed an amazing improvement in speed. Recognition is
complete even before the scanner head has finished its return. Also with a
flatbed scanner you have a lot of control over how the book is placed in
position to get the best image. I'm willing to bet that the Pearl's main
advantage is speed but that a little bit of accuracy is sacrificed because of
the positioning of the book.
Plustek scanners, whether the 4800 or others, allow you to position the book at
the front of the scanner rather than the sides which is a tremendous advantage.
One more thought. In my version of Kurzweil 1000, there are two OCR engines and
I sometimes have to switch from one to the other in certain books and even
within a book to increase accuracy. Not everyone has both these OCR engines
though because most recently Kurzweil no longer makes Scansoft available. If
you still have it (it's grandfathered or grandmothered), make sure you have
tried both engines. I've found that older books from the 1970s and 1980s seem
not to scan as accurately as newer books. I don't think age is the issue; there
may have been changes in fonts used. In a very few instances, I've given up on
a book because after a certain amount of trouble it's just not worth the
investment in time and aggravation.
My new computer and scanner set me back about $1700 which is quite an
investment for some people. It may require a go fund me page to get that
accomplished but it just might be worth it. I kept my old monitor and even my
old keyboard because I liked them.
With my new computer and scanner, and set at 300 dots per inch, in 12 seconds,
I can scan a page and have the next page in position. This is pretty amazing
but it's no exaggeration.
If you do get a Pearl, please let us know how it works. Some state agencies
have a loan program which would allow you to test a product before buying it.
The manufacturer probably likely only has a 30-day approval period but you
could also use that if you want to try it out.
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On Behalf Of Chelsea Dye
Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2020 12:06 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question about advertising in books
Is that a particular scanner brand? I've got an HP CanoScan. I don't know if
it's book quality or the scanner, but I've run into a lot of errors with it
that I think could be prevented.
On 6/4/20, Deborah Murray <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Chelsea,To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
The Bookshare policy has always been to leave the ads and blurbs from
other books—as long as it scans well enough to be readable.
In my personal opinion, K1000 has always been a superior OCR program
to OpenBook, no matter what your scanning source is.
I’ve never used a camera to scana book, much preferring my OpticBook
scanner to anything else I’ve ever used.
Deborah
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Chelsea Dye
Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2020 7:50 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Question about advertising in books
Hello,
In the process of scanning some of my books, I noticed that there is
often company advertising, and mention of other books at the end of a lot of
them.
Are we supposed to keep that in our files? Also, I am considering
switching scanning programs to open book with the pearl camera. Has
anyone on this list used it, and what do you think? Based on the demo
I heard, it sounds much faster than K 1000
Chelsea
Please go to my website for your braille transcription needs!
www.read-theworld.net
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