Since 2004, the EBU have released an official DVD of the Eurovision Song Contest, usually available several weeks after each edition. In 2011, an official Blu-Ray edition was released to co-incide with the transition to high definition. A Blu-Ray version was then absent for the next five years before making a return last year.
This year however, a high definition release of the contest was once again absent from shelves which puzzled many.
I wonder what the production run is on the annual #Eurovision CD and DVD. Also, why no Blu-ray? And do they need liner notes doing?
— jcb*ll*ngt*n (@faces_of_jeff) May 12, 2018
Bad news for fans of High Def
We reached out to the EBU for an official response on the matter, to which we received the following:
As the shows are all online on YouTube and everything’s been digitalised,
the demand for a Blu-Ray is very limited hence we decided there won’t be one.
The statement confirms that the 2018 contest will only be released physically on DVD format. The only way fans can re-watch the show in High Definition is to replay the live stream on YouTube. It also hints that with the EBU focusing on digitalising content, the days of the contest’s DVD release may also be numbered.
The official DVD of this year’s contest will be released on 23rd June and can be purchased at the Eurovision Shop.
Eurovision is for fans. With security and attending being harder do they forget who supports and makes Eurovision possible. Giving fans access to material is what makes it popular. You already took away red carpet and cameras etc at concerts.
This news is more than a little disappointing. I have been looking forward to the Eurovision Blu-Ray since I read an article in Audio Express about the EBU\’s partnership with Fraunhofer and the extreme lengths they have gone to in order to capture the most immersive sound experience possible. Here\’s the article:
http://www.audioxpress.com/news/ebu-and-fraunhofer-iis-conducted-live-mpeg-h-audio-production-trial-at-eurovision-song-contest-2018
Why go to all that trouble of capturing 232 microphones and using the experimental MPEG-H encoding if the videos are just going to be compressed on Youtube? I mean, I appreciate that the videos are on Youtube and they are free to watch – thank you – but we loved last year\’s Blu-Ray, especially to turn up loud and we couldn\’t wait to hear how this year\’s Blu-Ray sounded.
Will the live tracks be available as Hi-Res downloads? Just a thought.
Again, disappointed.