diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/chm/metadata.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/chm/metadata.py
index 7386d54658..d6a1d24024 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/chm/metadata.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/chm/metadata.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ def _metadata_from_table(soup, searchfor):
     td = td.parent
     # there appears to be multiple ways of structuring the metadata
     # on the home page. cue some nasty special-case hacks...
-    if re.match(r'^\s*'+searchfor+r'\s*$', td.renderContents(), flags=re.I):
+    if re.match(r'^\s*'+searchfor+r'\s*$', td.renderContents(None), flags=re.I):
         meta = _detag(td.findNextSibling('td'))
         return re.sub('^:', '', meta).strip()
     else:
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ def _metadata_from_span(soup, searchfor):
     if span is None:
         return None
     # this metadata might need some cleaning up still :/
-    return _detag(span.renderContents().strip())
+    return _detag(span.renderContents(None).strip())
 
 def _get_authors(soup):
     aut = (_metadata_from_span(soup, r'author')
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/catalog.py b/src/calibre/library/catalog.py
index 0a00b4c0e6..5350d4ba04 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/catalog.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/catalog.py
@@ -3869,9 +3869,7 @@ class EPUB_MOBI(CatalogPlugin):
                 elem.extract()
 
             # Reconstruct comments w/o <div>s
-            comments = soup.renderContents()
-            if not isinstance(comments, unicode):
-                comments = comments.decode('utf-8', 'replace')
+            comments = soup.renderContents(None)
 
             # Convert \n\n to <p>s
             if re.search('\n\n', comments):
@@ -3883,7 +3881,7 @@ class EPUB_MOBI(CatalogPlugin):
                     pTag.insert(0,p)
                     soup.insert(tsc,pTag)
                     tsc += 1
-                comments = soup.renderContents()
+                comments = soup.renderContents(None)
 
             # Convert solo returns to <br />
             comments = re.sub('[\r\n]','<br />', comments)