DenisO

OOPs - I spoke too soon - saving is erratic eg for the Semis SF1 to SF4 can be saved but both segs of SF5 and SF6 cannot be saved properly. I'll go through them all later today and report those with problems Denis

Strange - when I tried this yesterday, I couln't save the files either. Yet this morning (Sun, 07.15GMT) they can be saved - just like any other file in the archive. This is a great feature - hope BBO can do it for more of the Vugraph broadcasts. Denis

I'm afraid you are not being very helpful here Gerardo; nor was the Yellow who I asked yesterday about when the Vugraph (USBF Women's trials) might start. I knew we had lost the first session as I was logged in when Fred broadcast that there was a problem . I was trying to get info on the second session but the Yellow didn't appear to know and told me to ask Roland who wasn't even logged on!!. I'm sure Roland has better things to do than respond to multiple queries about Vugraph problems. There would be no need to ask if there was a "hot news" page where such info is given. As for unscheduled Vugraphs, as you say, you will see one when you log in. But that is by chance only. I'm sure these unscheduled Vugraphs don't just hapen at 5 minutes notice. I don't know why they can't be included in the Vugraph schedule at: http://www.bridgebase.com/online/vg.html but as they don't appear, I assume there is some problem in updating that page more frequently. If that is so, I am suggesting that some prior info could be given in the "hot news" page or a Notice Board if you prefer. Deniso

I'm not sure how broadcasts can help if I'm not logged in to BBO when they are actually made. Are you saying there is a way of accessing previously made broadcasts when a member logs in ?

Would it be possible to have a "Hot News" page for a quick update of things like : Vugraph presentation cancelled or postponed Unscheduled Vugraph added Teaching session in BIL cancelled or postponed Most of these are announced to the Lobby but if you aren't there when they are made you don't see them Deniso

Fred > "Nice work on your site " Yes Nikos - Site is growing really well - All BBO members interested in Vugraphs should have a look. And most importantly, then have a look at your hard drive to see if you have logged any of the missing files. Denis

I have found two score errors in the travellers of a recent tournament: host Spwdo #444 - A Bridge too far held last Sunday (a)for a Result of 7NExx-13 (non vul), NS were given 5000; I think it should be 7000 Board 5 - Table1 20:23 krasimir61 MACK1 ivozl dimitro 7NExx-13 5000 24.00 Movie (:unsure: for a Result of 2CExx-4 (non vul), NS were given 1400; I think it should be 1600 Board 8 - Table 1 20:45 Ada_000 MACK1 ragip16 sena53 2CExx-4 1400 14.02 Movie Perhaps Uday or someone could have a look at the Score Tables? Denis

This is all excellent advice from mrdct who has taken the Operator role seriously and produced excellent Vugraphs of the recent Victoria Championship. But I wonder how many operators are actually seeing this advice? I have been very disappointed with the quality of the .lin files I am trying to save from the Nations Cup (Bonn) and the Norwegian matches over the last two days. Areas of concern are: (i) Incorrect number of boards eg allowing for 40 bds in a 10 bd match (ii) no attempt to give player names in other room (iii) other room scores missing completely (iv) scores missing for first two boards (v) terminating the broadcast before all scores are completed (vi) match scores and board results from a previous match appearing in a later match I realise that an Operator's job is very difficult but I think many of these problems could be overcome by better preparation. With so many tournaments being broadcast now, there are obviously going to be inexperienced operators. Are they issued with a set of instructions to help overcome the sort of problems I have described. ? I wonder if mrdct could share his expertise via a set of notes which would be sent to all new operators. I get the impression that many of them don't know about the benefits for bridge history which can be captured from a good broadcast . Finally I think that Organisers who have the good fortune to have their events shown on BBO should be made fully aware of the importance of the Vugraph Operator(s) and provide the necessary back-up to ensure all the scores, player names etc are readily available. Denis

In ZAR's excellent articles the Distributional ZAR points are calculated from: (a+ b ) + (a-d) An equivalent mathematical form is (2a +b -d) which I find is much easier to calculate eg for a 6421 distribution you have to calculate only (2*6 + 4 - 1) =15 which I think you will find is easier (mentally) to do than (6 + 4) + (6 - 1) = (10 +5) = 15 Try it and see if it works for you. One of the main criticisms of ZAR points relates to complexity and difficulty of use at the table. This little aid might make a difference to you :) Denis

I'm not voting on this one. I also feel it is Fred's decision as to how he allocates BBO staff resources. However I must say that BBO's apparent lack of commercial success (difficulty in attracting sponsors) has often been seen before where a brilliant technical product does not succeed as a business. I think Fred should be devoting some time in finding a good marketing consultant to get Business interested while Fred concentrates on his specialisms. After all, the Cavendish was awash with big bucks but not much of it seems to have come the way of BBO - but how could it really, with Fred as one of the players. Denis

Thanks Fred We will try to do manual editing. But the pain is still there as the operator IS closing the room after every 3 boards - makes logging very diffficult if you are not at your PC all the time :( Hope the 2nd round form continues for you and Brad ;)) Denis

There is a problem with the lin files logged to disk for all 18 rounds of the Cavendish Pairs played so far. The live broadcast is great but when a saved file is opened later, there are no player names and you can't see the hands or bidding :( Start of a typical saved file (rd 18) is: "vg|Cavendsh Pairs,Round 18,P,24,27,Team 1,0,Team 2,0| rs|,,4SNx-2,,6SS=,,2DE-1,| pw|I,|øË,ìˆ,,,|øË,ìˆ,,ÓI,|øË,ìˆ,,I,|øË,ìˆ,| pg|| " I'm not sure what exact format should be generated but the following (devised by Nikos) does work: "vg|Cavendsh Pairs,Round 18,P,25,27,Team 1,0,Team 2,0| rs|4SNx-2,,6SS=,,2DE-1,| pw|South,West,North,East| pg|| " There seem to be a number of problems with the flawed files: (a) four boards (24,27) when there should only be three (;) attempting to give results for those four board © a bad pw line without any player names Unfortunately I'm not a Vugraph operator so don't know where the problem lies. However since all the files are flawed it might be that the Operator is using some sort of bad template? Would it be possible for Uday or some knowledgeable Yellow or Vugraph operator to liaise with Vugraph106 (Sdoty) to correct the problem before the next session? Deniso

Even better news - I can access the results(via my ADSL connection) without problems using Mozilla Firefox ! I really will have to dump IE Denis

Thanks Erkson/ Chris - all suggestions tried - still not working. strange because it always worked before - although I haven't accessed it for some time (months) However - good news (sorta) - when I connect to the Internet via my 56K modem and a different ISP (instead of ADSL) I can access the tourney results - Very strange - as no other changes to settings . Maybe an ISP problem? Denis

Nope still not working :( I get : "ERROR The requested URL could not be retrieved -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While trying to retrieve the URL: http://69.56.183.98:81/tourneyresults/ The following error was encountered: Access Denied. Access control configuration prevents your request from being allowed at this time. Please contact your service provider if you feel this is incorrect. " Denis

How do I access tourney results? The link: http://69.56.183.98:81/tourneyresults/ from MyHands won't work for me :blink:

Hi Chris I don't think he will get inundated but it's probably best to visit Nikos' site first. He normally indicates which files are missing for an event. Denis

I think Corporate Sponsorship is the best way forward - However time is getting short. Perhaps the appeal should be put back on the main News item and occasonal appeals made to the lobby - that would widen the receiving audience as only a relatively small number of members read the forum. Another idea would be a post to RGB -just might get somebody interested. I would hate for you to fund this yourself Fred - if it comes to that please let those that enjoy BBO so much help by making voluntary donations - I certainly wouldn't think of it as charity - more as as a way of playing a greater part in BBO Deniso

Nikos' initiative here is REALLY working well. He has nearly all the Italian and Polish matches from last weekend. Now he is putting up the Cavendish matches - with help from myself, Cascade, Uday and Erkson - all on different time zones. More helpers would be great I'm sure - so if you regularly watch the Vugraphs, just make sure you have logging enabled on your profile and you will capture them to your hard disk. The important bit is to stay with the Vugraph until the operator closes the room - if two rooms are broadcast switch to the one which closes second - that way you catch the whole broadcast - even though you might not have watched it from the start - like magic! Then just send to Nikos - his site is : http://www.sarantakos.com/bridge/vugraph.html Deniso

Hi Gerardo I've now installed both of these fonts and it makes absolutely no difference to what I saw before. However I've now tried a different approach - I've downloaded Mozilla Firefox and with this browser I can see all symbols. So It looks like a browser problem - but also a flaw in the Invision software which does not seem to provide suit symbols. Interestingly I am also a member of a UK based bridge forum and their software package suffers from the same problem suit symbols not supported ;) So I will use Firefox for this forum and maybe for everything as I get the hang of it. Just one final thought - I very much like the .gif images shown by Erkson in this thread. I think they would be superior to what we have. Is there a problem providing them? Denis

Thanks Gerardo - I've been to busy over the weekend to try this. I'll have a go at your suggestion in the next day or so. Denis

That would solve all our problems of trying to capture these broadcasts. Is that a promise , Uday? - that BBO will log them and make them available. After all they are very small files. Then Nikos wouldn't have to appeal to the bridge community to capture the broadcasts. Obviously a lot of hard work goes into these broadcasts by the organisers and commentators - it seems a great shame that saving them is left to a few who know the techniques of getting a decent log on their hard disk and unfortunately cannot be at their PC many times when they would like to log a Vugraph. Denis

"Denis what about the Diamond symbols? they are not the same in 1st and 2nd blocks, how do you see them?" Looking at Courier line: 1st block - Diamond is small, filled 2nd block - Diamond is small, unfilled - might be very slightly bigger than first block - dificult to tell - might be just optical illusion 3rd block - Diamond is large, filled 4th block - Diamond is large, unfilled Denis

OOPs - Sorry about that - another Senior moment B) ; I'm normally a bit sharper than that - and thanks Inquiry for the editing. OK what DO I see? With Arial and Impact, I get four different diamond symbols With Times,Geneva,Lucida,Optima and Verdana I get an unfilled box followed by three different diamond symbols. Only with Courier do I see all four suit symbols. On the Courier line I get four blocks - the first and third blocks have all four suit symbols (slightly different).The second and fourth blocks have three rectangular blocks and the diamond symbol. Hope this makes some sense Gerardo Denis

This is what I see : "Denis, what do you see in this post? " Nothing else