BBO and Video Chat
I was quite impressed watching/listening to the commentators in the recent BBO coverage of the Bermuda Bowl.
Has the EBU considered switching that on for the regular EBU 12 board games or similar?
There is an opt in/out of both Video/Chat and it does seem a superior quality (AND less distraction) than the RealBridge effort.
Video Chat helps bring back some of the live bridge experience, allowing players to socialize more easily.
It’s also more convenient than typing, making it easier to chat with others in real-time.
Comments
I would be in favour of it (it is free, I believe and players can always opt out) but it would need time to announce the change.Reading the notes it would seem that +video+ is the code to add to the introduction.
In what way do you think it is better than RealBridge?
My view is: I have only used RealBridge a very few times and find it generally an uncomfortable environment. It is quite likely this is a familiarity issue, wherein I am very familiar with BBO which you can use freely for hours at a time. The feedback from the majority of Lancashire players on RealBridge is they often have issues with their internet connection, background noise, frozen screens, long delays, poor video lighting etc This is even more likely with Ipad usage. I think this is related to the need for a lot of bandwidth for RealBridge to run. So most Lancs players prefer BBO.
I understand that BBO has partnered with a leading video conference company to provide high quality video chat. I have only seen it once last week watching the Bridge world championship and the quality seemed fine - in particular the row by row display of the videos was less distracting to me than RealBridge's placement and the vocal clarity was good.