FREEBMD-DISCUSS-L Archives

From: Jim Robinson <>
Subject: RE: Corrections and scan quality
Date: Sun, 11 May 2003 23:57:23 -0400
In-Reply-To: <DF5A278DC335B44EBDED4F9BF649147706457E2F@exstaffa.levels.unisa.edu.au>

Hi Chris,

Please Reread my email.

My comments were para 3, "I have viewed some of the scans on 1837online
with respect to query a transcriber had along with ones that I have used in
my own searches, and I personally do NOT believe that ones that I have
viewed are significantly better that the ones on FreeBMD."

GIGO refers to the original data ie the microfilm that FreeBMD has
purchased or been donated to FreeBMD. I believe that some of it is 16mm
whereas the newer acquisations are 35mm. 16mm and 8mm were notorious for
getting scratched, or should I say used to be notorious, because I do not
know if the position has changed over the last 10 years.

I believe the format used is "Group 4 Fax Encoding 300DPI" although I sure
that Dave Mayall or Derek Hopkins of Scan2 will be able to give a
definative answer.

I done a little extra checking, and DjVu was developed AT&T labs and
licensed to LizardTech of Seattle. There was published in 2000 under GPL
the code associated with an older version of unix based conversion
routines. The main drive from AT&T Labs was to reduce the size of the files
versus current files ie to be used for electronic archiving of data. Note
this is a lossy format like JPEG whereas TIFF is a lossless format.

Note I am also sending this reply to FreeBMD-Discuss which I think a more
appropriate forum for this discussion.

Best Wishes
Jim R.

At 12:12 PM 5/12/03 +0930, you wrote:
>G'Day All,
>From the discourse thus far one would imagine that 1837OnLine scans are
always
>exemplary and FreeBMD just GIGO!
>NOT TRUEI
>On many occasions FreeBMD scans are far better,
>see:- 1892M3-0266.tif
>
>On the subject of TIFF format; can you say what TIFF subset you are using?
>I have tried viewing with Paint shop Pro 5, some scans are OK, but others
show
>an Huffman error.
>Are some scans using an Huffman grey scale format?
>
>Regards
>
>Chris
>South Australia
>
>> ----------
>> From: Jim Robinson[SMTP:]
>> Sent: 11 May 2003 00:49
>> To:
>> Subject: Re: Corrections and scan quality
>>
>> Hi Folks
>>
>> A comment that I would like to make, that it is not the quality of the
>> viewer program, I still believe that Irfan is one of the best, but it is
>> the quality of the original scans that 1837online used versus the ones that
>> FreeBMD had access to. I am sure if if we had access to their scans, the
>> files on FreeBMD could be as good and also, this is a big also, to somebody
>> who was very careful on scanning the documents. Also 1837online have
>> another good reason for using a proprietary format and that it is
>> proprietary and that no one other than Lizard, I believe that is the
>> company name, have the rights to the DjVu format. The format DjVu is NOT
>> tiff which is the one FreeBMD uses. FreeBMD in addition uses one of the
>> tiff subsets associated with Fax images ie Black and white 1 bit resolution
>> to reduce file sizes.
>>
>> Again the main problem is the quality of some of the original films /
>> fiche that FreeBMD had access to.
>>
>> I have viewed some of the scans on 1837online with respect to query a
>> transcriber had along with ones that I have used in my own searches, and I
>> personally do not believe that ones that I have viewed are significantly
>> better that the ones on FreeBMD.
>>
>> GIGO=Garbage In Garbage Out
>> SISO= I let you work that out
>>
>> Best Wishes
>> Jim R.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >
>> At 02:23 PM 5/10/03 +0100, you wrote:
>> >I have to say I agree with Keith about the quality of images viewed by
DjVu.
>> >I visited 1837online to find some info not yet available on FreeBMD,
and was
>> >very impressed with the quality of DjVu. Is it possible to download this
>> >from somewhere (free!) to read scans? Not only was it much clearer, but
also
>> >easier to navigate than irfan view.
>> >
>> >Lol Barnes
>> >
>> >
>> >==== FreeBMD-Admins Mailing List ====
>> >Want to help FreeBMD?
>> >Go to http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/Signup.html to find out how.
>> >
>> >==============================
>> >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records,
>> go to:
>> >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> Best Regards & Happy Hunting
>> Jim Robinson
>>
>> Trying to find family links for the Robinsons (North East), Wyatts
>> (Chicester area), Smallbone (Ardingley) & Steel (North West)
>> I transcribe for FreeBMD at http://freebmd.rootsweb.com
>>
>>
>> ==== FreeBMD-Admins Mailing List ====
>> Need to get a fast answer to your transcribing problems? Go to the
>> Transcribers Knowledge Base at http://FreeBMD.RootsWeb.com/vol_faq.html
>>
>> ==============================
>> To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy
records, go
>> to:
>> http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237
>>
>>
>>
>
>
Best Regards & Happy Hunting
Jim Robinson

Trying to find family links for the Robinsons (North East), Wyatts
(Chicester area), Smallbone (Ardingley) & Steel (North West)
I transcribe for FreeBMD at http://freebmd.rootsweb.com

This thread:

• RE: Corrections and scan quality by Jim Robinson <>