ECB PCS Pro v5.0 Released

IMPORTANT INFORMATION and RELEASE NOTES

This is a major release that includes several significant new features including the change to “Batters” and “Left-Arm Leg Break”, the ability to enter scorecard or results only matches and the ability to live stream to multiple destinations simultaneously, plus many others.

PCS Pro 5.0 also introduces a new licencing model, bringing in three new versions of the PCS Pro application specifically catering to Recreational, Performance and Professional users.  This means that users may notice a change in the available PCS Pro features when they first log in, and may need to take additional steps prior to the start of the season. 

Play-Cricket Recreational users will be delivered an experience focussed on the same professional scoring, scoreboard integration and match statistics features that they have grown to know & love over recent years.  A range of professionally focussed features not relevant to the recreational game have been removed to deliver a streamlined user experience.

Play-Cricket Recreational users that fall into the Performance group (requiring access to full coding, video analysis and Pitchside Analytics ..etc..) will need to request that these features are activated prior to the season.  This can be done via the onscreen prompts or the Help > Request Licence Upgrade menu option within PCS Pro, or directly via the below link:

https://www.nvplay.com/pcs-pro/activate-analysis

As previously communicated, Live Streaming is also now a premium feature offered by NV Play to PCS Pro Recreational and Performance users.  While offered as complimentary for the 2022 season, this will require activation prior to use.  This can be done via the onscreen prompts or the Help > Request Licence Upgrade menu option within PCS Pro, or directly via the below link:

https://www.nvplay.com/pcs-pro/activate-streaming

Professional users of PCS Pro will notice no difference in their use of the system beyond the new features listed below & retain full access to all capabilities of the PCS Pro platform.

Finally, please note that we have updated the PCS Pro installer as part of this release, so upon re-opening PCS Pro to download the update users will notice a different looking install process, but the application will launch as usual.

For reference, the latest PCS Pro installer is available here: https://setup.nvplay.com/cricket/ecb/setup.exe.

The full release notes are included below. Note that as above, not all features are available in all versions of PCS Pro.

General Scoring

• Upgraded the PCS Pro UAT (now renamed ‘Preview’) installer, with a new Install Now link on the update banner and prompt, which closes the application and launch the updater, while Download Only on the prompt downloads the installer in a web-browser only (#3330)
• Changed ‘batsman/batsmen’ to ‘batter/batters’ throughout the PCS Pro platform, including Desktop client (including database and data exports), Match Centres, Match Portals, and Web Admin (#9269)
• Changed ‘LC/Chinaman’ to LLB/Left-Arm Leg Break throughout the PCS Pro platform, and for consistency with RLB and ROB also changed SLA/Slow Left Arm to LOB/Left-Arm Off Break (#8446)
• Changed the Over Rate dialog box from Target Rate and Actual Rate to a simple free text or click-up/click-down box to enter the actual value as 0 or +/- 1, 2, 3, etc, that will start at N/A with no Over Rate output until updated (#6478)
• Added a Tools -> Configuration -> Scoring option to Order fielders by shirt number in Bowler and Fielding dropdowns and panels (#9711)
• Added Print/Save/Email button to Match Graphs (Worm, Manhattan, and Run Rate), Bowling Graph, and Dot Ball Strings for consistency with other reports, including match headers/footers, etc (#3730)
• Added support for scorecard only matches and results to be entered, rather than requiring ball-by-ball data, and also for a match to be a mixture of both, i.e., one innings scorecard-only and the other innings ball-by-ball (#1352 & #9468)
• Added support to Player Averages, Competition Centres, Stats Wizards, etc for scorecard only matches and innings, as some details may not be available depending on what is entered into the scorecard only innings/match (#2454)
• Added of a new default View -> Scoring – Recreational Coding layout in the PCS Pro Recreational licence only, that includes easy access to Pitch Map, Wagon Wheel, Ball Arrival, and Shot Type with 10 basic options (#9818)
• Added of a new Help > Request Licence Upgrade menu option that contextually offers option to Activate Live Streaming and Activate Video Analysis (where not already activated) via an online form to be submitted to and actioned by NV Play (#9808)
• Added a new default layout to the Video Display panel that is displayed when video features are not enabled in the user’s licence type, including quick links to the online licence activation process (#9809)
• Added a keyboard shortcut, ‘m’, to open the Broadcast Message dialog when more than one user is connected to the Match Cloud, for sending messages to other users (#9433)
• Added a Configuration -> Scoring option (off by default) to show wickets in red in This Over, Ball by Ball, and Scorecard (batter and bowler analysis) to better distinguish these from wides (#9423)
• Added a Configuration -> Scoring option (off by default) to order players by shirt numbers in the Bowler and Fielding dropdowns and panels (#9424)
• Added automatic saving when closing PCS Pro of all Replay Screen -> Custom Messages, for use on re-opening, in both Replay Screen and Live Streaming control panels (#3561)
• Added warning prompts when adding non-sensical session/end of day breaks, e.g., when adding a session break that would cause more than three sessions in the current day, or more days in the match than set in the Match Type (#8393)
• Prevented the use of “@mentions” in automated and manual Tweets, including via the Tweet Content function, to avoid breaching Twitter’s anti-spam regulations, but retaining these for players in milestone tweets when they are configured (#9696)
• Removed support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users re live scoring, collaborative scoring, etc, but they can continue to login and score as Local Scorer only (#7585)
• Improved the Score Summary -> Overs Remaining display in four innings matches by only displaying the overs remaining in the day, irrespective of the match day or innings number and any overs in final innings value (#6708)
• Fixed issue where the current bowler’s figures would not update on the Play Control panel, after finding the root cause related to the prior use and/or editing of a sub-Fielder (#8810)
• Fixed issue where a batsman selected to return for their second bat in the innings, after a previously Retired Not Out batsman had returned and been dismissed, would be shown as next in the batting order rather than the Striker, who would be the original batsman in that batting order number (#9420)
• Fixed issue where the list of teams did not filter to those associated with a selected Club under Tools -> Edit Database -> Teams when logged-in as an Administrator (#9531)
• Fixed issue where sometimes the Hawk-Eye Ball Arrival points would not be included in CSV exports from Match or Multi Match Stats Wizards (#8969)
• Fixed issue where sometimes a completed over would show as “X.6” for the bowler, and the ‘incomplete’ over would make Overs Remaining display one more than the correct number (#9685)

Replay Screen/Scoreboard

• On Large -> Main, changed the display of Over Rate from rotating in-between Overs to showing below the clock (next to Cut Off, if present) when it is set, and in green if >0 or LVL and in red if <0 (#3956)
• Changed the Overlay button to Overlay (Mixing Desk) and added a tooltip explaining that this requires outputting to a mixing desk to add video to the Overlay inset (#9626)
• Fixed issue where the score would not show the number of wickets after a Retired Not Out and a Bat Twice in the same innings when 9 wickets down (#9350)

Match Centre/Portal

• Added support for displaying scorecard only innings/matches, e.g., as there is no ball-by-ball data only the Scorecard tab can be shown, so there are no Summary, Ball by Ball, Stats, or Video tabs, etc (#6487)
• A dismissed batter will now remain on the Summary tab, in opaque, until the new batter is confirmed, for consistency with the scoreboard option. This has also been implemented on Live Streaming overlays (#5001)

Video/Capture

• Updated third party Media Components to version 2.6.1, which enables Blackmagic Desktop Video version 12.2 to be supported, so this is now the recommended Desktop Video version if not already installed (#8620)
• Improved the Pitch Map, Wagon Wheel, and Ball Arrival data display when an LHB and RHB are batting together, especially when switching between balls/striker-hand (#9406)
• Added support for ignoring an invalid audio track or when there is no audio on the video source (#8346)
• Added additional logging for IP Camera discovery/connections and improved handling of discovery failure if any options are found (#8975)
• Disabled the Hardware Accelerated Video Decoding by default, as a temporary workaround to some ball clips sometimes not playing back for some users, until a permanent fix is available in the next Media Components release (#9732)

Live Streaming

• Added support for live streaming to multiple platforms simultaneously, via a new Add new Live Stream Configuration option, with individual watermarks, resolutions & bitrates, and enable/disable overlays per stream (#9429)
• Added resumption time, next inspection time, etc, to the Match Title overlay, which is now active pre-Toss, and created a new Resumption baseline overlay for also displaying this information (#7836)
• Added links to Multi-Cam Replay Settings from the Video Display -> Settings cog menu and an Enable Replays button, as these are disabled by default, on the video input windows (#9395)
• Improved the handling of NVIDIA’s maximum concurrent encoding limit (3) when user has 4 video inputs, including new Intel (hardware) encoding if Encoding Session unavailable configuration options, encoder type added to Live Video Statistics tool tips, etc (#9004)
• Ensured that all replays from the Multi-Cam Video Display replay button respect the Show Branding Pre-Roll setting (#9399)
• Fixed issue where the ball speeds from the previous over would display after it had ended, thus showing these below the new bowler for the next over (#8827)