Transcript
Page 1: OpticBook 3600 (book) Scanner from Plustek

This article was downloaded by: [University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]On: 06 October 2014, At: 12:22Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Technology in Human ServicesPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wths20

OpticBook 3600 (book) Scanner from PlustekPublished online: 08 Sep 2008.

To cite this article: (2006) OpticBook 3600 (book) Scanner from Plustek, Journal of Technology in Human Services, 24:1,75-79, DOI: 10.1300/J017v24n01_06

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J017v24n01_06

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Page 2: OpticBook 3600 (book) Scanner from Plustek

OpticBook 3600 (book)Scanner from Plustek

Hardware Review:(poor) 0-(excellent) 10

• Performance: 09• Ease of Use: 08• Error Handling: 09• Documentation: 08• Value for Money: 10

Hardware Product: OpticBook 3600 (book) Scanner from Plustek, Inc.

Keywords: Capture, collate, convert, manage, store

Product Summary: The OpticBook 3600 has the patented SEE (ShadowElimination Element), which allows you to lay the book down flat withthe binding on the edge of the scanner. This results in easier, more effi-cient scans. Software is also included which allows you to scan an entirebook and have it collated in a text editor or a PDF file.

Evaluation Summary: My overall evaluation of the OpticBook 3600 isthat it is an extremely versatile scanner that is strong enough to meet theneeds of the professional world and simple enough for the average homePC user. The pricing is also very competitive for the consumer marketand for small businesses needing diversity in scanning needs and soft-ware. I highly recommend the OpticBook 3600 as an all purpose scanner,that could eventually replace conventional flat-bed scanners out in themarket today.

Journal of Technology in Human Services, Vol. 24(1) 2006Available online at http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JTHS

© 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1300/J017v24n01_06 75

HARDWARE REVIEW

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Page 3: OpticBook 3600 (book) Scanner from Plustek

Source: Plustek, Inc. 13F-1 No 3 Yuan Chieu Street Nan Kang DistTaipei Taiwan 115, PR Contacts: Jason Kirshner/Shana Starr R.M.S.Public Relations (for Plustek) Tel: (949) 429-1172/(949) 481-3984(E-mail: [email protected])(E-mail: [email protected])Website: http://www.plustek.com/products/book.htm

Product Cost: $249

System Requirements: Windows 98/2000/ME/XP; PC with Pentium IIor higher; 128 MB RAM or higher; USB Port

Review Hardware and Software:1. Windows 98SE–Pentium II 300 MHz, RAM 1282. Windows 2000–Pentium IV 2.0 GHz, RAM 1283. Windows XP–Pentium IV 2.66 GHz, RAM 512

Reviewer:Timothy Adams, B.S. Rehabilitation CounselingProgram Associate1950 Stemmons Freeway Suite 2019Dallas, TX 75207(E-mail: [email protected])

C-CAD–Center for Computer Assistance to the Disabled–is an assistivetechnology resource center that also offers training and evaluations forpersons with all types of disabilities. Scanning is a big part of assistive tech-nology here at C-CAD due to persons with visual impairments needingdocuments converted to digital formats so they can be read by screen read-ing software such as JAWS and Kurzweil 1000. The OpticBook 3600 isa book scanner that allows you to scan book materials more precisely andefficiently, by allowing you to lay the book down flat, while the creasehangs over the edge of the scanner bed, thus providing cleaner scans. Thisresults in non-distorted text scans and a cleaner conversion to a digital for-mat, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF. This is a huge benefit for ourcenter, because it is essential that we have cleanly scanned documents sopersons with visual impairments can have access to them. The OpticBook3600 has been superior to the other scanners we have used here at C-CADdue to the efficiency it provides in scanning book like materials. Also, oncethe scanned materials are converted to a digital format, it is very easy forthe assistive technology software to read the document. Using Kurzweil

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1000, which is a document reader for people with visual impairments, youcan import scanned materials in so that Kurzweil 1000 can read the text outloud to the person. Also the large buttons on the OpticBook 3600 makes iteasier for the visually impaired person to get accustomed to.

The OpticBook 3600 has the patented SEE (Shadow EliminationElement), which allows you to lay the book down flat with the binding onthe edge of the scanner. This results in easier, more efficient scans. It alsoeliminates shadows in the creases and also eliminates curved text. How-ever, I did experience some problems being able to scan certain types ofbooks. Books that were small did not have inner margins big enough toallow for the full scan of the text. In order to complete the scan, you had toscan by pushing the crease of the book down on the scanner, resulting inskewed, uneven text. As long as there is about ¾ inch of inner marginspace of the book, scanning is very simple. Another feature I enjoyedfrom the scanner is that it gives you three scanning options at the touch ofa button. It gives you Color Scan, Grayscale Scan, and Text Scan buttonson the scanner. So you can scan three different types of materials withoutconstantly having to go into the software and make adjustments. Also inthe included software, it allows you to adjust the DPI on these three set-tings. You could have 300 DPI for the Color Scan button, 150 DPI for theGrayscale Scan button, and 100 DPI for the Text Scan button if you choseto do so. The Book Pilot software (included) is extremely efficient andallows total control of your scans and your workflow.

Software that is included with the OpticBook 3600 scanner is: BookPilot, Ulead Photo Explorer, Ulead PhotoImpact XL, ABBY FineReader5.0 (which is the OCR that converts scanned images into a digital format),Presto PageManager 6.07, and all the necessary drivers needed forWindows 98/2000/ME/XP. Book Pilot scanning software allows you toscan and then convert over to a digital word processing format such asWordPad or Word, but it doesn’t do PDF. You would need to use PrestoPage Manager 6 to do that conversion. Presto Page Manager 6 is a pro-gram that allows you to take your scanned image and convert or drag it toa PDF, Word, Notepad, WordPad, Internet Explorer, your default printer,MS Paint, and/or whatever photo editor/word processor applications thatyou may have on your computer. It’s an all in one place to convert andmanage your scanned images. This is a very effective tool for today’s dig-ital demands. However, it did have problems at times converting intoPDF properly. Random text would become underlined and some of thetext would be overlapped. This would mainly happen on the first page ofthe PDF document. The Ulead PhotoImpact XL SE program is a photoeditor for you to touch-up images, adjust colors, size, and even apply

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Page 5: OpticBook 3600 (book) Scanner from Plustek

filter properties for added visual effect. This is a very effective tool forscrap-booking or on-line web media needs. Ulead Photo Explorer 8.0 isanother program that helps manage picture and photo locations andallows you to make slight adjustments and touch-ups to those images. It’sa very effective tool for organizing photos and directories within yourcomputer. This may be more useful for people new to PCs. All softwareseems to be up to date with today’s standards and did perform its statedfunction. However, Book Pilot Software must be in a resolution higherthan 800 � 600 or you will not be able to view the whole work screen.This can pose a problem for people who prefer their workspace at800 � 600. This defect cuts out a lot of potential users for this product.For example, all of the user defaults for resolution in our computer lab areset at 800 � 600, and then the visually impaired person will use the screenmagnifier to navigate within the work area. If the most common resolu-tion default is at 800 � 600 for the people who use screen readers, thenthey will have access issues with Book Pilot, since part of that window isnot visible at that resolution.

The primary users for this product are professionals such as students,researchers, lawyers. Secondary users would be people that usescanners, but scanning books may not be their main priority. Thesoftware mentioned above takes a little time to get acclimated with, butonce you learn the process, it becomes very easy to use. I would alsorecommend this scanner for people or companies that need to digitizedocuments so they are more accessible for persons with visual impair-ments or reading disabilities. Once documents are digitized, they caneasily be read by JAWS or Kurzweil 1000 with no problem, which arescreen readers for people with visual impairments.

Some special features of the scanner that should be noted. You can scana book, and the software will help collate the pages and convert them to adigital word processing format or PDF format. However, Book Pilot was abit confusing at first on how it rotated the scans for you. Once I tested it outa few times, I got used to the process very quickly and it became a hugeasset to have. You can scan a whole book of about 300 pages and have itconverted into a digital format in about an hour, or as quick as you can scaneach page of the book. The software is adaptable for different needsbecause there are different software applications for the scanner. TheOpticBook 3600 definitely sets a new standard for scanning technology.

The software seems to run very efficiently. It was able to run on aPentium II 300 MHz with 128 RAM with Windows 98 SE with little pro-blem. Ulead PhotoImpact XL SE did have problems with Windows 98SE. An error message popped up saying: “This program has performed

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Page 6: OpticBook 3600 (book) Scanner from Plustek

an illegal operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists, contactthe program vendor.” This would happen during installation and whenopening the program, but the program still worked just fine, so the prob-lems may have been small.

On-line and printed documentation that accompanied the OpticBook3600 Scanner was very clear. To test the software I Scanned 4 books ofat least 300 pages or more, then converted them into Microsoft Wordand PDF files. I did not have to use technical support, but instructionswere clear and concise. The software did not crash during my use.

Overall I was very pleased with the OpticBook 3600 by Plustek.Traditional scanners may not meet the demands needed for our quick,“on-demand” world. The software bundled with the scanner is intuitive,but does take a bit of “trial and error” before getting the hang of theapplications. Once I got acclimated with the programs, I was able to workvery fast and efficiently and was able to focus on the task at hand. Ibelieve the price is competitive and the scanner/software is strong andreliable. The SEE technology is truly amazing and makes scanning ofbooks, manuals, documents, and other materials very simple. The soft-ware does a lot of the thinking for you and truly helps you with organiza-tion of scanned materials. The software does allow you to have moremanual control if you prefer that option. I can see these scanners beingstandard in schools, the workplace, the home, and many other places. Forme personally, I could use this scanner to back up important documents,or I can scan any paper document that I may have and then have it avail-able for me digitally. Also businesses can use this if they have a lot of olddocuments and materials that are not in digital format. They can converttheir documents and then have everything backed up digitally. This canprevent lost documents due to fire or natural disaster. The scanner is alsoextremely flexible in its use. It’s twain compatible, making it easy to usewith your photo editor such as Adobe Photoshop and screen readingsoftware such as Kurzweil 1000. The OCR engine is what convertsscanned documents into digital text on the scanner. This function seemsto be very stable and consistent; however, there are times when format-ting is different from the scanned material. This happens usually whenthere are text and images on the printed material. I highly recommendthis scanner as an all purpose scanner for home, business, and/or re-search. The OpticBook 3600 definitely sets a new standard for scanningtechnology.

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