Eurovision 2006

It was fullscreen when the EBU DOG appeared - I assume it stopped when Eurovision was broadcast in 16:9 as not all the EBU broadcasters broadcast in widescreen...4:3 on a 16:9 programme doesn't look too professional.

Menounos and Sakis Rouvas were easily the worst the presenters since the infamous debacle of 1991 lol

It is just me but do they look like Will and Grace.

Aha - good point. In which case I hope it makes a welcome return in a few years time.
Although - as it is, the host presumably has to pan and scan/crop the incoming feeds to fit the boxes, so why not a full screen image? The resolution doesn't deteriorate that much! Also the majority of broadcasters are 16:9 at this stage.

Yes good point. It should be all or nothing but you're forgetting that if they scrap televoting altogether, they'll lose a lot of revenue as well as a lot of viewers so 50:50 is the best you can do.



Agreed...surprisingly bad in what was otherwise quite a good show. They were so stiff and you could tell they hadn't a clue what they were at. During the voting Maria was diabolical.

2005 was the first year they didn't show full screen shots of the spokespersons. I wonder how many of the 37 broadcasters have switched to 16:9?

The majority of the 30+ EBU broadcasters who took part are still well and truly 4:3. As a result all voting contributions are 4:3 - no mixing and matching between 4:3 and 16:9 with the nightmare that would cause. As a result, and to avoid window-boxing/postage-stamping for the 4:3 viewers who will be watching in 14:9 letterbox (i.e. almost all of them), and to avoid framing nightmare with countries who have yet to experience 16:9 production (again most of them) - they don't go pillarboxed 12P16 nor crop/zoomed 16F16.

Worth analysing the voting carefully before claiming it is all a fix as well. The highest rating countries were the ones that got the most voting contributions (however high or low) - to win this year you had to appeal to almost the whole of Europe, not just your neighbours.

Also - almost all of the top half countries were semi-finalists who had got through.

Personally I was a bit disappointed with the contest presentation - it wasn't "amazing" (though I'm glad Fearne got that line in!) to me.

Didn't like many of the songs - many of my favourites didn't get through the semi-final - and thought the TV coverage was less impressive than previous years.

I DID like the lighting - and some of the camera picture quality was good - but unfortunately this contrasted with a few very nasty cameras.

Too many peds, not enough jibs and rail cams. Leave the spider cam at home next time chaps. Also - nice not to bounce between the same 5 shots for minutes at a time.

Hopefully with YLE hosting next year we'll be back to SVT quality direction, with a higher cut rate and more fluid direction.

As for the UK voting - did we really give Lithuania 10 points in both the semi and the final??? We have no-one to blame but ourselves...

Yep - Kyiv was the first 16:9 contest - hence the lack of full-screen voting - as most, in fact I'd say well over half of the EBU participating, countries are still 4:3, either fully or in significant percentages.

The UK is one of the only countries in the world that has embraced 16:9 production to the point that very few UK Network originated programmes are 4:3. Even in the US there are still large numbers of 4:3 shows being produced - at network level. (In the US 16:9 almost always also means HD...)

Belgium and Sweden have 16:9 productions (both their EBU preview entries are often 16F16, along with the UK) - as do Germany and a few other countries. Not many others do.

Do you think we're ever likely to see Eurovision in HD anytime soon Noggin?

This year's contest was supposedly recorded in HD but only for the EBU Library. However I'd say a HD Eurovision next year is quite a possibility. It went 16:9 last year even though only a handful of countries actually broadcasted it in 16:9 so it may well go HD for the few countries that might have the capability to broadcast it in HD.

Yes it was shot in HD this year. Is it true that HD offers improved clarity even when broadcast in SDV? Certainly most of the output from Athens was magnificent, but then Eurovision always is.

I can only think of these countries that have channels that broadcast in 16:9...

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

That's not that many considering how many countries participate in the Eurovision.

Best hosts have to be Marie and Reinards in 2003. Although I seem to be the only person who liked Soren and Natascha in 2001.