Eurovision Song Contest Review

Good Points
Good Points? Are there any? This DVD has one thing going for it. In the whole of both shows, the semi and the final, there is no commentary so what you get is the whole of all of the songs without interruption.

Bad Points
Ok, well, bad points. For a start the whole layout of the box is very amateur. There is no book in the case reviewing all the songs, nothing at all, just 2 DVD's. The sound, well, it doesn't seem to have been enhanced at all in Dolby Pro Logic. Fair enough, the sound in Istanbul was terrible but surely the DVD would have fixed that even just a little. It sounds exactly the same as the TV edit. On another note, I purchased the Melodifestivalen 2004 DVD. For those of you that don't know, Melodifestivalen is the name of the Swedish competition to find their entry for Eurovision and what a great competition it is as well, I was even there. Anyway, (*cough* *cough*), the Melodifestivalen DVD is fantastic. Reviews of all the songs are given in a miniature booklet inside the case. The sound is superb as it was recorded in Dolby Pro Logic and there is even a Karaoke section where half of the 32 songs (which is how many songs competed in the Melodifestivalen preselection) were recorded as Karaoke versions to be played to the actual footage from the finals. So, in a nutshell, I was very disappointed with the Eurovision 2004 DVD. I expected more and here's hoping that next year's is a vast improvement.

General Comments
Eurovision Song Contest - Istanbul 2004 - Before I bought this DVD there was no major publicity for it. I suppose I can understand it in a country like the UK that is not bothered about Eurovision. However, Eurovision is more important on the continent which is why I was so disappointed with the outcome. The whole concept surrounding the release date seemed to be a confusion too. People who I spoke to didn't seem to know when it was actually due to be released. Again, publicity for the product with a firm release date would have cleared any confusion and then maybe just maybe the EBU would have spent more money to release a more deserving product.