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The beginning
The need for a live scoring service was realised one day when having to head
off home from a match without watching the final. While some of the guys still
at the match were posting results to our club forum, it was then realised that
we needed something better. And it needed to be operable by anyone from
anywhere.
Scoreboard options
What started as a live scoring service has since evolved to provide several
scoring options and what would a scoring service be without video and a means
to provide a scoreboard with the live video stream? To avoid confusion we also
had to define some terminology to differentiate live scoring from local
scoring.
Local scoreboards
What we call a local scoreboard is the scoreboard in plain sight by the
players and audience at the match. Usually this is comprised of numbers on
rollers (traditional snooker scoreboard) which are only visible when standing
no further than the length of a table. Or it may be a digital scoreboard which
shows the scores and frame scores but with no reference to the player's name,
the event or how many frames are involved in the match. BallStream now
provides software for a local scoreboard that can be run on any Windows
computer for a much more sophisticated scoreboard display using that
computer's screen or an extension monitor up to giant plasma screen size.
Live scoreboards
What we call a live scoreboard is a scoreboard display that can be
watched by people who are not at the event... from anywhere in the world via
the Internet. BallStream's live scoreboards can be viewed on any computer or
mobile phone while connected to the Internet regardless of whether it's Mac,
Linux or Windows based.
Who can submit live scores?
Anyone connected to the Internet using any type of computer.
Who can watch live scoring?
Anyone who is connected to the Internet by computer or mobile phone.
How to start live scoring?
You first need to create a login as a
Scorer. Then when you are logged in you can create a match by nominating
the event title, player's names and match duration. If your Scorer
account is brand new you can start scoring straight away and set your
scoreboard by inputting the match number. However if you would like the public
to be able to access the scoreboard from the main match programme on the
BallStream web site you can email BallStream and ask to be approved as a
real Scorer.
Is live scoring really a free service?
Absolutely! While ads may appear in some places throughout our web site you will find that
the scoreboards that your audience will use are ad free... unless you want to
include your own ads on behalf of a sponsor of your choice.
No
Internet available?
Live scoring does require an Internet connection which may not always be
available and reliable, in which case it may risky when also used as the
scoreboard at the event for the players and referees. So for this task we
recommend using our scoreboard
software for a local scoreboard.
How to provide a local scoreboard?
BallStream's Scoreboard Control
software provides all of the functions that are found in our online version
plus more but does not require an Internet connection.
As well as the usual scoring functions other tools are included for tournament
management such as player newsletters, drawsheet maker, performance
statistics, player comparisons and rankings. The scoreboard control is free to
evaluate without a time limit.
Live video streaming?
Yes. BallStream also provides live video streaming via our own media
servers and we can also edit video recordings for scoreboard overlays using
our custom developed overlay software.
Our live scoreboard service is also specially designed to provide a live
scoreboard underneath video streams displayed on a web page, and our
scoreboard software can be used in conjunction with our overlay software for
editing the video recordings.
To request help or assistance with your streaming project please use our
contact form.
BallStream web and software services?
All of BallStream's web services are owned and operated by William Kent's
company ArtistScope, who since 1998 has been the innovator and leading
developer of copy protection solutions. ArtistScope solutions are the
preferred software used most court houses, the military and major telecoms
around the world where security and reliability is the prime concern. All
software and web applications utilised by the BallStream scoring service were
created by William, a competitive snooker player, registered snooker coach and
one of the main sponsors of snooker in Queensland, Australia for many years.
The BallStream scoring applications have been extensively used throughout
Australia for many different tournaments (including state and national
championships) by the author himself and are assured to be bug free and the
most comprehensive. |
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