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?
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.
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.
Yep - and in some cases the amount of 16:9 production is pretty small. I know Italy has 16:9 Pay TV (and HD just launched) but their terrestrials are still pretty 4:3 in production terms (though they often "fake letterbox" to make stuff look 16:9...)
It is basically Scandinavia/Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway), German-speaking countries (Austria, Germany, Switzerland) and UK/Eire. However this includes a number of the larger Eurovision countries - including 2 of the big 4 (Spain, France, Germany, UK).
You can count the Dolby Digital 5.1 broadcasters who participate on even fewer fingers - I think only two or three countries took the DD5.1 audio for 2005.
All the same, those ped cameras looked very impressive: brand spanking new with fantastic lenses and hoods – must have been a joy to use
Not sure what you meant - the Peds looked like standard Vintens - essentially unchanged since the beginning of time (well the 80s at least) As for the box lenses - what made you think they were new?
Bit confused about that train of thought. Or were you referring to the fact that some of the cameras were HD?
The picture quality from the HD cameras was pretty good - probably emphasising the poorer quality of the radio linked steadicam and brick-cam spider cam.
(I believe this year the show was produced in HD - though downconverted to SD for broadcast. Be good if YLE can do it in HD next year AND the Beeb can pick it up for the HD trial!)
The pedestals were indeed standard Vintens by the looks of things. They simply looked brand new (I was freeze-framing ) - from the pedestals up to the box lenses they appeared to be newly purchased or hired for the event. And of course any brand spanking new camera is a lovely thing to use
Not to be patronising, but just on aspect ratios, you'd wonder if any of the less developed eastern European countries broadcast the Eurovision in 4:3 squishyvision...
Not to be patronising, but just on aspect ratios, you'd wonder if any of the less developed eastern European countries broadcast the Eurovision in 4:3 squishyvision...
Some channels varied. I saw the majority of the big European countries broadcast in 4:3 fullscreen, but TVP Polonia were broadcasting in 4:3 letterbox. It's probable that European countries that are close together and speak the same language just showed the same coverage, maybe Nordic channels?
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.
Dr Death and the Tooth Fairy?
You can't call them that!!
Quote:
From http://www.balticsworldwide.com/eurovision_terry_wogan.htm :
" Wogan's 30-year radio career has been made, at least in part, by his witty, often biting comments about Eurovision during the BBC's annual airing of the event. Last year during the Danish-hosted Song Contest, for instance, Wogan dubbed the two Danes who introduced each song as "Dr. Death and the Tooth Fairy." His fans ate it up. Danes were outraged. (Apparently red-faced higher-ups at the BBC even contemplated an apology.)"
The pedestals were indeed standard Vintens by the looks of things. They simply looked brand new (I was freeze-framing ) - from the pedestals up to the box lenses they appeared to be newly purchased or hired for the event. And of course any brand spanking new camera is a lovely thing to use
Not sure how you could tell to be honest - a well looked after ped would be difficult to distinguish from a brand new one at the sizes they were appearing in shot...
I suspect, as for the HD Olympics (and most recent Eurovisions since BBC OBs did 1998), the facilities were hired in rather than being the facilities arm of the host broadcaster. That, in turn, is likely to mean the cameras themselves were hired in, as some HD facilities providers themselves rent in cameras. (Though larger companies like Alfacam have a reasonable in-house stock)
Not sure how you could see that the lenses were new - rather than a year or two old though...
Quote:
Not to be patronising, but just on aspect ratios, you'd wonder if any of the less developed eastern European countries broadcast the Eurovision in 4:3 squishyvision...
AIUI the EBU provided 14L12 feeds as well as 16F16 - TVE Internacional were showing it in 14L12 (though I don't know if this meant TVE Domestic were showing it in 16F16 or 14L12)
Judging by the graphics - the EBU will have been hoping no broadcaster took the 16F16 feed and cropped it to 12F12 - the graphics looked to be 14:9 safe only.
I suspect if you are a 4:3 broadcaster you will have just downlinked the 4:3 feed - which I suspect will have been easy to do.
ISTR that last year the most difficult feed to source was 16F16 with DD5.1 - I think it was down-linked and re-uplinked to sort out the audio? (Not sure if it left with 3 stereo pairs - Centre and Sub Woofer, FR and FL, RR and RL to be encoded off site - as is quite common ?)
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.
Dr Death and the Tooth Fairy?
You can't call them that!!
Quote:
From http://www.balticsworldwide.com/eurovision_terry_wogan.htm :
" Wogan's 30-year radio career has been made, at least in part, by his witty, often biting comments about Eurovision during the BBC's annual airing of the event. Last year during the Danish-hosted Song Contest, for instance, Wogan dubbed the two Danes who introduced each song as "Dr. Death and the Tooth Fairy." His fans ate it up. Danes were outraged. (Apparently red-faced higher-ups at the BBC even contemplated an apology.)"
ah i wondered why Wogan referred to them as something different in the "50 Years Of Eurovision" programme.
