IDEAL AD Movie Viewer

Enable People who are Blind to Listen to Audio-Described Movies

IDEAL Audio Described (AD) Movie Viewer is just what the name implies. It is an easy-to-use, fully-accessible, audio-described movie viewer.

"Audio description" is a term used to describe the descriptive narration of key visual elements in a video or multimedia product. This process allows individuals who are blind to access content that is not otherwise accessible simply by listening to the audio. In audio description, narrators typically describe actions, gestures, scene changes, and other visual information. They also describe titles, speaker names, and other text that may appear on the screen.

Audio description is sometimes referred to as video description, descriptive video, descriptive video service, or simply DVS. The latter two terms are registered trademarks of WGBH Educational Foundation.

Currently, IDEAL AD Movie Player enables users to enjoy 50 movies that are in the public domain. In time, the number of available movies will increase significantly.

We would like to thank Jim Stovall whose Emmy Award-winning Narrative Television Network (NTN) makes movies and television accessible to millions of blind and visually impaired people by unobtrusively adding the voice of a narrator to the existing soundtrack.

This Android application (accessible custom browser) was designed to make it easy to access and listen to Jim's Emmy Award-winning audio-described programming using Android mobile devices.

Jim is Co-Founder and President of the Narrative Television Network, which makes movies and television accessible for our nation’s 13 million blind and visually impaired people and their families. Although originally designed for the blind and visually impaired, over 60% of NTN’s nationwide audience is made up of fully-sighted people who simply enjoy the programming.

Jim hosts the Network’s talk show, "NTN Showcase." His guests have included Katharine Hepburn, Jack Lemmon, Carol Channing, Steve Allen, and Eddie Albert, as well as many others. The Narrative Television Network has received an Emmy Award and an International Film and Video Award among its many industry honors.

NTN has grown to include over 1,200 cable systems and broadcast stations, reaching over 35 million homes in the United States, and NTN is shown in 11 foreign countries. NTN programming is also presented via the Internet at NarrativeTV.com, serving millions of people around the world.

Jim Stovall joined the ranks of Walt Disney, Orson Welles, and four United States presidents, when he was selected as one of the "Ten Outstanding Young Americans" by the U. S. Junior Chamber of Commerce. The President's Committee on Equal Opportunity selected Jim Stovall as the 1997 Entrepreneur of the Year. Jim was recently selected as the 2000 International Humanitarian of the Year, joining Jimmy Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Mother Teresa as recipients of this honor.

Jim has appeared on "Good Morning America" and CNN, and has been featured in Reader's Digest, TV Guide and Time magazine. He is the author of You Don’t Have To Be Blind To See, Success Secrets of Super Achievers, and The Way I See the World, and the recently released The Ultimate Gift.

Thanks, again, Jim for your advocacy and wonderful work!

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