Over the past few years, book or overhead scanners have made giant strides in output quality and features. Today’s CZUR (pronounced “Caesar”) ET24 Pro ($629), a direct competitor to the Editors’ Choice award-winning IRIScan Desk 6 Business Scanner, raises the bar for the functionality and capacity of these niche devices. It has higher resolution than its predecessor, support for A3 and larger input or source documents, an HDMI port for recording and presenting, and more. The ET24 Pro’s list price is $180 higher than the Desk 6’s, but as with most tech products, that should come down after a month or two. Even as is, the CZUR replaces the IRIScan as our current Editors’ Choice favorite among professional-grade overhead scanners for small and midsize offices, presenters, teachers, and others in need of its very specific talents.
Digitize It All: Books, Magazines, and More
Technically, you can argue that the ET24 Pro and other such overhead devices aren’t really scanners, in that they don’t capture hard-copy content by passing a sensor over a page (or, in the case of most document scanners, a page over a sensor). Instead, they use high-res cameras that snap pictures of book or magazine pages laid beneath them, with no moving parts except the camera shutter.
Over the past few years, IRIScan and CZUR have engaged in sort of a features-and-functionality war, with each company trying to one-up the other. The CZUR ET16 Plus was a response to the IRIScan Desk 5 Pro, and the ET24 Pro seems like an answer to the Desk 6 Business (and to a lesser degree the Desk 6 Pro).
While there are numerous objects in the box (I’ll get to them), the CZUR overhead scanner consists of three primary components: the scanner base with controls and ports; a side light for increased illumination; and the head, which holds additional illumination LEDs, a microphone, speakers, and the 24-megapixel camera.
The head, shown in the image above, is where the action is. Not only does it contain all the multimedia components such as the camera, speakers, and mic, but on the top front you’ll see a small preview screen that displays your most recent scan.
Below is a document pad, roughly 19 by 14 inches, on which you place content for scanning. As I said, the device supports page sizes up to A3 or tabloid (11 by 17 inches), as do the ET16 and CZUR Shine Ultra Pro, as well as the IRIScan Desk 6 Pro and Business models.
The final important component is the bundled software, something CZUR calls an “all-in-one” app, which we’ll discuss momentarily. Specifications-wise, the ET24 Pro supports pixel dimensions up to 5,696 by 4,272; 24-bit color depth; and file export formats including Microsoft Word and Excel and image and searchable PDF, JPG, and TIFF.
One feature unique to this overhead scanner is HDMI support in Visual Presenter Mode, with output resolution up to 1,920 by 1,028 pixels at 20 frames per second. Most of the book scanners I’ve mentioned have features for recording and playing back video, but to date this is the first I’ve seen with an HDMI port for playing video directly to monitors or HDTVs or livestreaming.
Besides HDMI, the ET24 Pro also supports USB connectivity, though not Wi-Fi or Ethernet networking. Power comes from the included AC adapter or via a USB cable, with a second USB port for connecting either the bundled desktop button or foot pedal for making scans. Alas, you can’t plug both of those controls in at the same time. IRIScan’s Desk 6 Business also comes with both a button and foot pedal, as does the CZUR ET16, but the Desk 6 Pro has only a button.
Using the ET24 Pro
Nearly all scan processing functions take place in the CZUR software after you trigger a scan or snapshot. Some of the more prominent features include automatic curve flattening, automatic page-turn detection, automatic finger removal (if you wear the provided finger cots), automatic tilt correction, ABBYY Technology optical character recognition (OCR), automatic page splitting, and image cropping , trim, rotation, and standardization.
Most of these features are self-explanatory. But to be clear, automatic curve flattening is an algorithm that straightens pages at the binding so you don’t miss text near a book’s spine (shown below). Automatic page turn initiates the next scan and the next as you turn the pages of a book or magazine.
Optical character recognition is the familiar scanner task of converting scanned pages to searchable or editable PDF documents, or to Word or Excel files. Features for video and presentation or online teaching jobs include limited photo and video correction or enhancement.
Testing the ET24 Pro: Outstanding Speed and Output Quality
CZUR says this and most of its other scanners can perform a scan in 1.5 seconds, which, when you consider the time it takes the scanner to hand off each image to the PC software for conversion and saving, sounds about right. Actually measuring the speed of a device that relies on you to turn a page or place new content on the pad is an unscientific procedure at best, though processing 40 pages per minute is excellent for a manual-feed scanner.
I tested the ET24 Pro over a USB connection to our Intel Core i5 testbed running Windows 10 Pro and the CZUR interface software. Its throughput was predictably dependent on my ability to stay alert and feed the scanner swiftly and smoothly; I never reached 40ppm when saving to image or searchable PDF format, though I did hit 30ppm to 32ppm more than once. (That’s the fastest score I’ve managed from an overhead scanner; I suppose it’s possible that I’ve become more skilled at serving up flipped pages after reviewing several.)
It’s important to note that this is obviously a simplex device, meaning you can scan only one page (or a two-page book or magazine spread) at a time. Single-pass duplex scanners that have automatic document feeders and can capture both sides of two-sided pages in one pass are, of course, much quicker. (Of course, those pages have to be loose, not bound.)
As I’ve said many times, the fastest scanner on the planet is worthless if it makes you spend a lot of time correcting OCR errors. Happily, that’s not a problem I’ve encountered in recent years. The ET24 Pro and its software converted our sans-serif (Arial) and serif (Times New Roman) test pages to searchable PDF format with no mistakes at text sizes down to 6 points, matching the IRIScan Desk 6 Business.
That’s more than adequate for most business and other documents (you’re not likely to often encounter smaller fonts), and nowadays about average for most types and price ranges of scanners. In other words, the ABBYY OCR software is highly accurate. The CZUR Shine Ultra Pro also scored 6 points error-free for both fonts, though the company’s ET16 Plus managed it down to 6 points for Arial but only 10 points for Times New Roman in its February 2018 review. Even that’s fine, frankly, for most office scan jobs. You’ll have to try hard to find an inaccurate scanner these days.
Given this device’s diversity, I also scanned several photos of various sizes, plus brochures, pamphlets, and other colorful documents, to judge not speed but scan quality including detail, color brilliance and accuracy, and how well the CZUR handled halftones. With few exceptions, I was completely satisfied, though I found myself occasionally adjusting the two overhead LED light bars and attachable side light to get colors and dithering just right.
The Verdict: Overhead-Scan Excellence That’s Not Just for Books
In many ways, the CZUR ET24 Pro and its ilk resemble old-fashioned overhead projectors. Capturing book and magazine pages, however, is just one of many possible uses, ranging from capturing objects for presentations to classroom or online teaching, high-res video playback over HDMI, and applying a wealth of document and other correction tools. While its 24-megapixel camera isn’t as sharp as the IRIScan Desk 6 Business’ 32 megapixels, the CZUR scans at 320dpi versus 300dpi resolution and boasts HDMI connectivity. That elevates it to our Editors’ Choice throne among professional-class overhead or book scanners.
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