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I was so disappointed in yesterdays broadcast. The sound quality has improved but the video quality is below what would one would or should expect. Secondly, the board is still too crowded. Thirdly, the broadcast ended early. What is that all about?

I also wonder if it is worth posting anything at all when our suggestions/criticisms are ignored.

Yeah, it ended early even though Topalov pulled out the victory.  Would of been cool to see some commentary on it.

agree

I wonder if the TV sessions might be better with less video.  Really the only video needed is to see a board, then you have chat screen, and the voices of the commentators.  It's not really necessary to see the commentators and perhaps distracting at times.  It should also be possible to stream a chessboard with a lot less bandwidth than full video.

jlueke, concur with your comment.

Not without completely changing the interface I would imagine.  For the most part, streaming video is video (with some considerations for how video compression algorithms handle slowly changing scenes versus quickly changing ones).  In order to really realize this benefit, I think what you'd be looking for is a podcast that is used in conjunction with a shared demonstration board instead of a videocast.

I've seen requests for a shared demonstration board between two players to assist with coaching and I'm not sure if one was ever developed (although I suspect no).  Perhaps this wouldn't actually be a bad idea as it could potentially kill two boards with one stone.

 That's a very good idea jlueke.

Perhaps if you send a formal request to Sofia, we can convince Anand and Topalov to trade down early?

The shared demonstration board would have some different technical issues but it would be a nice feature.  But for the broadcasts you don't need that.  You need a single chessboard broadcast out and you need the ideas of the expert for which sound is fine.  It just seems to me that the video aspect has the greatest impact on the quality.  I really noticed this when I was travelling and in hotels with slower internet than I have.  It's OK for video lessons where you can wait, but the life broadcasts would benefit from maximum funtion of minimal bandwidth.

If I understand, you're suggesting that only showing the board would allow you simply to crank down the broadcast resolution?  Seems reasonable and should have a direct benefit to bandwidth.

bah... I'm always happy to see David in the cam... ;)

Right, the board is the important graphical component.  A nice simple, sharp board.  Then the sound and the chat window. 

Gotcha -- easier to implement than my suggestion.  Good idea.

 Perhaps I should have made myself clearer in that I meant the whole screen with the video, chess board and streaming chat.

Still, a nice attempt at humour Nytik

a different interface, with a shared board, audio, and chat channel, but no video is in the works. it will be much more efficient, bandwidth-wise than the current set-up, and tournament broadcasts for the most part will move over to that interface when it's available; while we have some other shows in mind that will continue with the chesstv format. i think that will satisfy a lot of people, and potentially allow us to open up broadcasts to more people because of lowered costs. unfortunately, it's still a few months out, so don't hold your breath yet.

as for the broadcast ending early (and starting an hour into the game every time): there are some clear reasons for this:

- budget: it's more expensive to do a 5 hour broadcast than a 3 hour broadcast

- exhausting: it's very trying for a broadcaster to do such a long presentation. the quality will inevitably go down.

- interest: the first moves and last moves of a game are often ... on the boring side. so we skip over the part of the game where the players are dancing around each other's preparation, while making theoretical moves; as well as the final phase where they play out an endgame that the commentators can already predict the result of with certainty (deliberate irony). i also leave this partly to the judgment of the broadcasters: they can start early if they see the game heating up in the first hour, and they can go late if they feel the endgame is of particular interest.

you can feel free to mock the early end of yesterday's broadcast; the declaration of "dead draw" followed by a victory for Topalov. but actually, we had a stream of members declaring it boring, and asking to watch a blitz game. and i did not see a single dissenting voice. and we had no less an authority than Magnus Carlsen telling us that the game was a sure draw.

as soon as we went out for breakfast, Anand blundered. it's a funny story, which surely made us look bad, but it could happen again.

Yeah, yeah... so now it is Anand fault ;)

nono, nobody's fault. just an "outlier" event, i would say.

btw are you sure Anand blundered? 

( i enjoy you mistake XD)

i'm so weak, i probably shouldn't be saying i'm "sure." but a lot of strong players told me he did, and as far as i can see, both Kf7 and Bc6 on the next move look like mistakes.