[sane-devel] Webcam-like book scanners

[Torfinn Ingolfsen]

On Tue, Dec 24, 2024 at 6:14 AM Low Salt Popcorn
<thelowsaltpopcorn at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> These "scanners" basically look like a webcam mounted on an arm atop an
> upside-down letter "L" (or Greek capital letter gamma).
>
> They look like the best option for scanning old books that don't require
> laser-printer quality resolution.
>
> One such scanner is reviewed by CNX software:
>
> https://www.cnx-software.com/2023/07/23/czur-et24-pro-book-scanner-review-with-ubuntu-22-04-linux/
>
> The author notes that the scanner practically identifies itself as a
> webcam ("UVC"). So in theory it should "work" on any GNu/Linux computer,
> with only the Windows/Mac user software as the major difference.
>
> I've also seen in various online platforms (e.g. AliExpress) similar,
> but much cheaper no-brand models. So my question is, does anybody here
> have such a device? Is it reasonable to assume that all scanners of this
> type are UVC-compatible devices?

No, all of these scanners are not UVC compatible. Some might be. I
have a few: ET16[1], Aura Pro[2], Shine Ultra[3], Lens Pro[4].
(what can I say? I'm a sucker for the idea of a working book /
magazine type scanner)

Software from CZUR is for windows and MacOS, they have newer delivered
Linux software, even if customers have asked for it.
The main attraction of these scanners is the curve flattening
technology; it works wonderfully with the proprietary / closed source
software from Czur.
But so far, I have not been able to find any other software that can
control the lasers and attempt to do curve flattening.

Perhaps I should look again.

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_video_device_class
>
> If these devices are indeed all UVC, my idea is to have ffmpeg take JPEG
> or PNG snapshots of the material I'm scanning. Or otherwise simply take
> one continuous video and later simply pause and screenshot individual
> frames.
>
> Note: I've searched the sane backends page:
>
> http://www.sane-project.org/sane-backends.html#VIDEO
>
> I can't find any reference to UVC-device support

As several others have noted already, UVC support in SANE is not the
best - all from "not working" to "working, but no control over picture
formats".

I hope this helps.

References:
1) http://tingo.homedns.org/crowdfunding/ig/czurtek_czur_scanner/
2) http://tingo.homedns.org/crowdfunding/ig/czur_aura_pro/
3) http://tingo.homedns.org/crowdfunding/ig/czur_shine_ultra/
4) http://tingo.homedns.org/crowdfunding/ig/czur_lens_pro/
-- 
Regards,
Torfinn Ingolfsen