Actually I think the eBookwise is especially sensitive to pdf files-- mostly because it only accepts a limited number of simple fonts, so if you have anything out of the ordinary, it will really mess up your ebook. Lots of times quotemarks and apostrophes turn into gibberish characters in conversions I've done. I haven't noticed that in the (admittedly very few!) pdfs I've looked at in Calibre.
Re: html and Calibre?