# Question re: Scanners



## AdamM (Nov 10, 2005)

Friends, any recommendations for scanners? I am especially interested in good OCR functionality.


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## blhowes (Nov 10, 2005)

I was pleased with the Lexmark scanner/copier/printer that I bought several years ago. I think I only paid around $125 and the scanner/OCR worked great. (I haven't used it for a year or so - the paper feed path needs cleaning)

[Edited on 11-10-2005 by blhowes]


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## crhoades (Nov 10, 2005)

Hands down buy the Plustek OpticBook 3600
http://www.plustek.com/products/book.htm

I've scanned in dozens of books now with OCR. It is amazingly fast (300 pages/hour) and will not hurt your book spines. It also saves you from having reduced scans due to spine curvature. I showed a Christian publisher recently my capabilities with it and they have now given me their whole catalogue to keep if I would scan them in for them - barter system. That's how good it is. A few on the board have seen the ouptut that I've done to Bahnsen's Van Til's Apologetic: Readings and Analysis.

It has been one of the best purchases that I've ever made! My goal is to have a OCR'd digital version of all of my systematics etc. Digital baby!


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## AdamM (Nov 10, 2005)

Thank you for the advice!


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## fredtgreco (Nov 10, 2005)

Adam,

I have found that the OCR program is just as important as the scanner. I have had good experience with ScanSoft's Omnipage, 
http://www.nuance.com/omnipage/

and have also used ABBYY's FineReader.

You can try Finereader for free:
http://download.abbyy.com/content/default.aspx


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## crhoades (Nov 10, 2005)

> _Originally posted by fredtgreco_
> Adam,
> 
> I have found that the OCR program is just as important as the scanner. I have had good experience with ScanSoft's Omnipage,
> ...





I've settled in on Finereader pro. I'd still like to evaluate more between the two. Depends on what you are trying to do, the Plustek OpticBook 3600 comes with the Abby Finereader lite. It will automatically OCR and output to Word or pdf if you want. You lose the editing features somewhat. 

What are your goals for the scanner?

Side note - Fred - always enjoy your technocratness. Nice to know that there are pastors out there that know how to leverage technology! Keep it up!

[Edited on 11-10-2005 by crhoades]


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## fredtgreco (Nov 10, 2005)

> _Originally posted by crhoades_
> 
> 
> > _Originally posted by fredtgreco_
> ...



Thanks!

I always found that technology saved me time and made things possible that others could not do when I was a lawyer. It has been natural yto keep it up; especially since my job as in house counsel needs all the leveraging I can get. (Hint: a staff of one, including me!)


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## AdamM (Nov 11, 2005)

Thanks again Brothers!

What a great blessing you are!


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