Nook color PDF problem

[ledmy]

I have this same problem with some of my pdf's big red x

[PeterDe]

Can anyone advise if they fixed the red "X" problem? A problem that I have that shows images as a photo negative is still there. I have a feeling that they didn't do a thing about this. They probably want us to buy a PDF reader that should be included.

[bwg]

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PeterDe wrote:

Can anyone advise if they fixed the red "X" problem? A problem that I have that shows images as a photo negative is still there. I have a feeling that they didn't do a thing about this. They probably want us to buy a PDF reader that should be included.

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I updated this morning to 1.2 and tried one PDF file that originally had this issue.  No fix.  Granted, this was only 1 file, and I could be wrong...but it doesn't look promising.  It seems that others are buying EZPDF on the App store to work around some of this.  To me, IMO, it's a miss since they state PDF support.  Sorry.  

[Kayenta]

I can tell you that EZPdf does work and has fixed the problem for me. But there are a couple things to mention:

1) It runs pretty slowly. It can take several seconds to get to the next page

2) The PDF files must be in the Books folder on your SD card in order to work, otherwise the program won't "see" them.

[AliceKay]

This worked for me with a Google Book PDF with about 395 pages. Maybe it will work for Mac users in general. Have only used it once so far. Open your PDF using Preview. This is just the image viewer that is a part of the OS and under "applications." Go to File>Print, and look to the lower left in the dialogue. Click on "PDF" and hit "save as PDF." Let preview overwrite the old PDF. Don't know why it works, but apparently (as mentioned in the Forum) there are many unapparent complexities to PDFs. Perhaps this version is generic enough.

I, like others having this problem, got the Nook to more easily read scholarly or old books online. I am apparently too old to read on my laptop in bed, and can't concentrate while reading on it at the drawing board- for long documents.

[Mark_OB1 Bibliophile]

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Kayenta wrote:

I can tell you that EZPdf does work and has fixed the problem for me. But there are a couple things to mention:

1) It runs pretty slowly. It can take several seconds to get to the next page

2) The PDF files must be in the Books folder on your SD card in order to work, otherwise the program won't "see" them.

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Hi, Kayenta.  Re (1) I'm wondering what size/complexity of books you're looking at?  I'm doing just tech type materials (maybe 300-400 pages), with charts, tables & graphics (not photos), and page turns never take that long.  In fact, if I tap one of the icons at the bottom, it's almost instantaneous.

Re (2), that was true with the older version of ezPDF, but I haven't found it to be the case with 1.2.0.0.  It finds PDFs on my internal Media space just fine, no matter where they're located.  You no longer need an SDcard at all.

- Mark

[T13]

I just bought my nook color and downloaded a pdf file and where there are suppose to pics there are red X's some help please?

[Carol-T]

Thank you. My first use of this technical forum and you gave the answer i needed.

[T13]

How did you fix the problem I tried the stuff others posted and it did not work.

[Mark_OB1 Bibliophile]

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T13 wrote:

I just bought my nook color and downloaded a pdf file and where there are suppose to pics there are red X's some help please?

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Hi, T13, and welcome to the Forum.  What you are experiencing is a well-known problem on the NOOKcolor, which has been discussed for a long time.  If you type "PDF red X" into the Search box at the upper right, you can review a lot of them.  Many were hoping when the 1.2 Update came out that this would be fixed, but sadly it was not.

In the absence of a solution from B&N, people have had to find workarounds.  The easiest is probably to buy ezPDF in the App Shop for 99 cents.  But others have also had luck opening the problematic PDFs on their PCs an saving them back out again, in Calibre for example, or "printing" via CutePDF, which seems to correct the incompatibilities, in many cases. 

That's a fair bit more work, but avoids having to launch ezPDF just to view those problem files.  But ezPDF does provide a few more advantages, like remembering the last page read in each file, bookmarks, annotations, and a few other things that the B&N ePub reader provides, but the B&N PDF reader surprisingly does not.

These deficiencies in basic functionality are a sore point with some NC owners, who feel that B&N has come up short on their claims that the unit is a "reading centric" device, when it really handles only one document format well.  And even there, fails to provide landscape mode, which many other ePub readers support.

- Mark

[ps56k]

just got a NC tonight for father's day....  it's charging - not used as yet -

I was hoping to read some PDF mutual fund financial reports on the NC,

but it seems that may be a roll of the dice.

BTW - they read just fine in B/W on my Kindle 3,

but was looking for full color support of the charts & graphs.

[maine-nook]

Well...I'm certainly glad that I invested in a NOOK Color so I could tell that the X was indeed red...

Seriously...how can BN let this situation linger? As I recently purchased this unit and have just now found this thread (and witnessed such POOR input from BN), I'm about ready to return the unit.

[Mark_OB1 Bibliophile]

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maine-nook wrote:

Well...I'm certainly glad that I invested in a NOOK Color so I could tell that the X was indeed red...

Seriously...how can BN let this situation linger? As I recently purchased this unit and have just now found this thread (and witnessed such POOR input from BN), I'm about ready to return the unit.

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Maine, generally I try to encourage folks to stick with the NC, and work around what limits it has, because it is so good in many other ways.  However, this is a well known problem that's been there since day-one, and B&N has made no moves to correct it.  Probably because they didn't write the app that reads PDF files (that's Quickoffice).  There's no guarantee they will ever do anything to correct this... or it may be fixed in the next update (whenever that happens).

I can see why you might not want to go to the extra work of processing your PDF files through Calibre, but ezPDf for a buck (now 2 bucks) doesn't seem like a bad fix.  Plus you get a whole lot more than just JPG fixes with that option (bookmarks, last page read, highlights, annotations, etc.).

However, if that's unacceptable to you (and I have to agree that going off and launching a separate app IS a hassle), it probably would make the most sense to return it.  I wouldn't recommend holding on to it in the hopes that someday it might get fixed.  That's a losing proposition.

I would ask though if you do return it, to make it clear to the B&N staffer what your reason is.  If they start to see that people are unhappy about certain deficiencies, that may motivate them to correct them.  That would be very helpful to the rest of us.  Thanks!

(Plus, if they do fix it someday, you can re-evaluate your decision, and buy it when it better suits your needs.)

- Mark

[CyberSamurai]

I'm having a very similar situation with my NookColor.  I've copied NUMEROUS pdf's to mine with NO problems whatsoever. The most recent one, however, isn't displaying big red X's.  It shows certain parts of the text (primarily chapter headings, etc). However, there is NO text at all displayed.  So, you get a page with chapter headings and nothing else.  I tried the CutePDF thing AND PrimoPDF.  Still, no luck.  It just re-creates the original pdf, which, of course, doesn't display.  I sure would like a solution.  I thought about buying the ezPDF reader app.  I'd still kinda hate to buy that and it still doesn't work.

[Mark_OB1 Bibliophile]

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CyberSamurai wrote:

I've copied NUMEROUS pdf's to mine with NO problems whatsoever. The most recent one, however, isn't displaying big red X's.  It shows certain parts of the text (primarily chapter headings, etc). However, there is NO text at all displayed.  So, you get a page with chapter headings and nothing else. 

That's certainly a strange one.  I haven't run into that (yet) myself, nor seen it reported before.  But the PDF format definitely has enough complexity that anything's possible.

I thought about buying the ezPDF reader app.  I'd still kinda hate to buy that and it still doesn't work.

It's only 2 bucks, and you get a lot of other advantages, even if that problem isn't resolved.  So it seems "worthwhile" in either event.  But if you want to make a copy available for download from somewhere of a problematic PDF, I'll load it into ezPDF and let you know what I find.

Another possibility would be to run the PDF through Calibre, and see if it can clear up the trouble the default PDF reader is having.  I've never had a need to use Calibre, but many here have done so, and with good results.

- Mark

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[MaluhiaKana]

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CyberSamurai wrote:

I sure would like a solution.  I thought about buying the ezPDF reader app.  I'd still kinda hate to buy that and it still doesn't work.

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That's just it. ezPDF IS the solution.

[princessapr]

CrabbyK totally fixed my issue.  I could use the Go To function, but swiping bottom/top versus right/left totally worked.  That just made my reading experience so much better - thank you!

[ps56k]

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princessapr wrote:  CrabbyK totally fixed my issue.

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what's - CrabbyK ?