Bluetooth DGT Board arrived - a few thoughts.

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1Miranova
I just received a Bluetooth DGT Board. I did quite a bit of research before buying, but there isn’t a ton of information available. I thought I’d write a few thoughts.

(1) It is compatible with ChessBase 15 as an input device. You can also enter variations - but you must undo moves in the correct order to get back to the original variation. This is more annoying than one would think.

(2) It is fully compatible with Fritz 17 - I read a post to the contrary, but I can confirm that my board works with it perfectly. The move announcement in the Fritz options is particularly nice. The built in voice announcement in the DGT software works, but the accent can be confusing at times.

(3) The Bluetooth connection took awhile to figure out - it is not the plug and play. I have become spoiled by the ease of setup with Apple and Microsoft products. Once connected I experienced no drop-offs.

(4) The setup is not difficult, but it is far from intuitive. The instruction manual does not explain what software/drivers are required. If you install the Fritz 14 software that is included it will also install the necessary software.

Overall I am happy but have not had a lot of time for thorough evaluation. I have the Square Off Board and feel I will get more use out of the DGT due to full size pieces and more options with Fritz/ChessBase integration.

Feel free to ask any further questions.
chessroboto

Based off the feedback that I've seen over the past few years, you will want to a direct USB connection for the best connection with the least possibility of losing connection between the e-board and your computer. Technically the best connection is still the serial boards as they can be reliably daisy-chained without risk of conflicts or disconnections. As DGT has said, the USB and Bluetooth e-boards are designed for personal use. What has been your experience with your Bluetooth connection?

I do not rely on the ability of the e-boards to store the moves of the games then retrieve the games later. I've seen that fail even with the serial boards. Have you checked how it works with yours?

Which pieces did you get with your board? Did you know that you can now get the official 2013 World Chess Championship set? Also, multiple vendors sell high-quality, DGT-enabled sets such as:

http://www.digitalgametechnology.com/index.php/products/eboard-chess-sets

https://www.houseofstaunton.com/chess-pieces/dgt-enabled-chess-pieces.html

https://www.houseofstaunton.com/the-2020-cairns-cup-commemorative-chess-pieces-dgt.html

https://www.noj.si/

You can connect your DGT e-board to other PC programs and databases. The other interface is called Arena which is used primarily by Chess Assistant and Chess King with their library of chess training materials. Although their interface may seem aesthetically lacking, know that several of their translated content was used exclusively by coaches and trainers before and after the Soviet era. Were you in the market outside of the Chessbase products?

https://chesskingtraining.com/downloads/

Finally, as a PSA, online sites such as chess.com now support DGT as well as other e-boards such as Certabo, but you should always read up on the very latest updates, announcements and guidelines. It is natural for online resources to be guarded with any interface aside from a computer mouse/touchpad or a phone/tablet touchscreen. Did you plan to use DGT to play games on chess.com?

jack234567

I have used a usb dgt board for a couple of years. it has aboout a 98% chance of recording the game. I do recommend using both the livechess and rabbit software. sometimes one software will be able to pick up the game when the other will not. i have used both a direct power connection and a connection to a usb battery. If the battery is not fully charged it may not record the game. The game will also stop recording if an illegal move is made by accident in blitz. occasionally the game will not intially display in the download but after more games are played and then you download again then it appears? i have had no problems connecting to fritz or chessbase. one thing i have not figured out is how to get the pgn file to recognize multiple variations with takebacks when you are following along with a chess book. overall iI am happy with the board for face to face play but have not used it for chess study at home for going over variations.

www_ChessLocal_com

Is there way to calibrate the piece detection? I just bought a new DGT eSet and some pieces dont get detected on some squares.

See video for demo:
https://youtu.be/c-qMoreTikM

jjupiter6

^^ Why not start a new thread instead of tacking on to an old one with an irrelevant title?