Was is a good scanner that can read text?

[aaron7879]

Was is a good scanner that can read text?

 

[linney]

See what other users think.

http://groups.google.com/groups?ie=UTF-8&q=ocr+scanner+recommendation&qt_s=Search

 

[rvnguy]

aaron7879,

I have been trying to do this sucessfully since about 1993-94, It is not specifically the capabilities of the scanner. Their abilities have improved over time specifically for photo use.

Scanning text is the easy part, most any modern(& most older) scanners can scan at at least 300 DPI an that is sufficient for any quality text source.

The problem comes from tying to convert the scanned image into a file that can be processed by say word with out errors. This function is in software.

The programs to do this have been getting sloowly better but they are still not yet perfect. If I knew exactly what the problem was and how to fix it I would most probably not be here.

Case in point: I purchased the complete "National Geographics" library that starts like in 189??. They scanned every page but saved as an image. All the way up until they started usinf DTP software to create the mag.
The capabilities for recognition with little errors is just not there yet.

OmniPage seems to be one of the better programs for this.

You seem to have many questions on converting 'legacy' media into digital. Is this just curiosity or do you have a specific project in mind???

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[jadoogar]

Its not Scanner recognizing text but the softwate
comes along with it
ABBY FINE READER can read almost 90% of a scanned
print material
and so far its the best tool I have ever used

 

[aaron7879]

Does anyone know if a scanner that comes witht he ABBY FINE READER software?

 

[linney]

Have a look at some ACER scanners and see if it is bundled with them. You could just purchase the software separately.

 

[dneufarth]

My lexmark 6170 all-in-one came with it



Dave

 

[aaron7879]

Will the Abby Software work with all scanners?

 

[aaron7879]

Has anyone used Omni page?

http://www.digitalriver.com/v2.0-im...te/html/omnipage/omnipage_pro15_standard.html

 

[kiddpete]

I use omni page. It's OK, but is does something to Windows to get every conceivable image file icon labelled as an OP file. I've tried resetting the association, but that doesn't work. On top of that, their tech support will only support the latest version. If there's an alternative, I would stear clear of OP.

 

[Rick998]

I've used Abby FineReader v6 in the past and now use OmniPage Pro v12. Note that neither are the current shipping product versions.

I had the same issue as kiddpete with OmniPage grabbing every image file association it could at installation but didn't have any problem resetting these to other applications.

I didn't like it that OmniPage installed a bloatware text-to-speech application automatically but perhaps I missed an installation option (but I don't think so).

The only other problem I had in the beginning was that OmniPage installed a service called 'Opware' that 'broke' a couple of other applications I used, e.g. Paint Shop Pro and WordPerfect's 'Acquire' or 'Import from scan'. However, all was well again as soon as I realised what was happening and disabled 'Opware' from running at startup.

All in all, I found OmniPage to be the easiest to use of all the 'scan-to-text' applications I've tried and, in my experience, OmniPage v12 is far more accurate than Abby FineReader 6 was at the time. I tested v14 when it came but it was much more bloated than v12 so I've stuck with v12 and haven't bothered testing v15.

PS - I can't see any reason why OmniPage shouldn't work on all scanners. It uses the TWAIN driver (built-in or supplied with the scanner) to scan the text into a temporary TIFF file. The OmniPage text recognition engine then uses the TIFF file to carry out its conversion process.

Hope this info helps...

 

[aaron7879]

What is a good scanner that can scan a book open face?

 

[Rick998]

In my opinion, one that allows the rear hinges to rise to accommodate increasing thicknesses of books as opposed to one with fixed hinges. This will decrease the strain caused by using a heavy object on the lid to weigh it down in order to spread the spine so the pages are flattened as much as possible.

If you could let us know scanners your own research has shown as possibilities or what reviews you have looked at then perhaps people with personal experience of such scanners may be able to help more.

 

[Pleonasm]

I use and recommend Readiris 10 Pro (

http://www.irislink.com/opt/uk/products/readiris/pc/index.html)

for optical character recognition.