Plustek Opticbook 3600 A4 Book Edge Scanner Pdf Conversion Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I was a big fan of this scanner until recently.
It scans books fast without damaging spines.
I used it very carefully.
I used another scanner of mine for non-book materials, because I didn't want to waste the lamp life.
The result? The lamp died after around 200 scans!
I used it intermittently, so I was out of warranty when the lamp died.
I've used scanners of several manufacturers, and this is the first time that a scanner lamp died on me.
In sum, $300 for 200 scans is not recommendable at all.
Added: I got another reason to hate this scanner. Service of the company is horrible. I sent several emails about my problem, but never got answers.

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Plustek Opticbook 3600 Plus A4 Book Edge Pdf Ocr Scanner Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If you read other reviews saying the software is unstable, DO BELIEVE THEM. I took my chances and bought it anyway. I found out they were right. You can (and should) consider purchasing some other software and just leaving the CDs in the box (except the driver). I have a lot of thick books to scan (500-2000 pages each) and I'd say the software crashes at least 3 to 5 times per book (and that was AFTER installing the patch from the web site - it was much worse with the version in the box). About once every thousand pages, the software crashes and gets corrupted to the point where you have to completely uninstall it and the reinstall it. Sometimes, even that doesn't do the trick and you have to know how to clean it out of the registry (NOT for the novice Windows user). The company does offer a clean-up utility to get it out of the registry but I found I still had to do it manually a few times. This is NOT acceptable and very discouraging. Find some other software and factor its price into the cost of this scanner when making your decision to buy. Now, as for the scanner itself... decent considering the cost (not a lot of other book scanners in this price range). Don't expect every page to be perfectly straight the first time (I learned to live with it) but the clarity is good. The file sizes will add up, especially when you convert to a PDF. The PDF stores each page as a graphic (picture) and you cannot select and copy text as you might expect. I tried using the OCR feature that comes with it but found it did not do a perfect job of interpreting the graphic into text. What's more, if you try to use OCR your PDF won't look like the book. Overall, buy it if you intend to use 3rd party software.

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Book Scanner Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If you have to scan books, this is probably the best option below a few thousand dollars. It indeed scans book pages without the dark lines around the binding line. If you have pages with contents printed very close to the binding line, you may have to adjust the scanning area and the book position, but most of the time, you have more than 5mm of blank margin near the binding line, and there is no problem.
The image quality, build quality, scan speed, etc. compare with a general purpose flatbed scanner of 1/4 the price. If your main application is not scanning books, I do not recommend this scanner.
One problem with this scanner is that it requires Microsoft Windows environment to work. It does not work with Vuescan on Mac or Linux. The only solution is to use a virtualization software (e.g., Parallels or VMware) or use Bootcamp function of MacOS Leopard, and run a copy of windows. If you do this, the scanner works fine on Mac OS.
Another problem is that the software is not very good. It is buggy and awkward.
However, these problems may be ok if you set up perfectly and keep scanning the whole book.
Another problem is that this scanner is very slow. It takes 8 seconds to scan a page at 300dpi and then 4 more seconds before start scanning the next page. This is more time than I need to manually flip the page and place the book. The scanner needs improvement in this area. Ideally, I want the scan to complete in 3 seconds and proceed to the next scan in 1 second. If this is realized with less than doubling of the price, I'd give it a 4.5 star rating.
I use this scanner to scan old, borrowed, out-of-print books in the field of my research. If the book is currently in print, or abundant in used market, I think it is best to buy a second copy, break the binding, and scan it through ScanSnap or similar document scanner. This way, you can save a lot of work and time. The desktop ScanSnap is a truly a 5-star product for scanning documents.
Another area this scanner can be limiting is the scanning area. It can scan US letter size or ISO A4 size. However, some magazines and art monographs use page size larger than what this scanner can handle. What would be very nice is an ultrafast tabloid scanner that uses SEE technology and real TWAIN interface and works with any scanner software. Such a product may cost 4x the price but I'd be happy to use one.

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Epson WorkForce GT-1500 B11B190011 Document Imaging Scanner (White) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This scanner uses LEDs as a light source and so has zero warm-up time. The paper feeding system is very fast and and handles irregular sheets and ragged corners with no trouble. The scanner itself beats the HP 5550C I've been using.
Epson's scanner interface is not to my taste but has presets for office and graphic professional scanning needs. What keeps it from getting highest marks is the abysmal customer service.
I couldn't get the twain driver to work under Windows Vista. The WIA driver did work, but doesn't support acquisition from the sheet feeder (which defeats the whole purpose of buying this scanner). Lack of sheet feeder support is a crippling blow to the usability of Paperport (which I have used for years). Epson should not be bundling software that their own product does not support.
I spent hours on the phone with three levels of Epson's technical support to no avail. They tried to pawn me off on Nuance to get Paperport support (Nuance's policy is that software bundled with hardware is supported by the manufacturer of the hardware!)
One of the technicians I spoke to did not even know that twain and WIA were different drivers. How can they possibly address my problem when they have such poor background in the product?
The answer of course, is that Epson's support is provided by a call center in India or some such place and the support people are reading canned responses off a computer screen.
The level two technicians knew nothing more that the level one technicians. After a lengthy conversation with a level three technician I was promised a resolution and a return phone call, which as you might guess, never happened.
In the end, I was left to my own devices and discovered a workaround. Scan using the Epson interface (which does support the document feeder) and set its destination directory to the main Paperport directory.
Then open Paperport and manage your documents from there. Not as good as scanning directly from within Paperport, but it gets the job done.


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Get superior image quality and enhanced productivity from the WorkForce GT-1500 color document imaging scanner. This easy-to-use scanner offers the versatility you need to electronically archive important documents or share records with your workgroup. And, with 1200 x 2400 dpi resolution, it delivers truly amazing quality, so you can capture every detail all with easy, one-touch scanning. This powerful performer makes it easy to scan stacks of records, applications and forms. Use the high-capacity Automatic Document Feeder to quickly scan a variety of sizes up to 8.5x14. The WorkForce GT-1500 speeds through scans up to 20 pages per minute, giving you more time to tackle other tasks. And, it not only offers greater productivity, it ensures more efficient operation. With innovative ReadyScanTM LED technology, theres no warmup time required. Best of all, this earth-friendly LED technology does not include any mercury, and it reduces power consumption. The smart choice for all your document imaging needs, the WorkForce GT-1500 includes a powerful software package. ABBYY FineReader Sprint Plus OCR allows you to create editable text from scans, while ScanSoft PaperPort makes it easy to organize all your documents. Use Epson Scan to create multi-page PDFs, or to copy or send scans as e-mail attachments. Its all right at your fingertips with the WorkForce GT-1500, a powerful performer available at an amazing value.

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