Ambient Flowers: Summer DVD: Reviews and Awards

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Awards

Ambient Flowers wins a Telly Award.
	Ambient Flowers wins the Telly Award for Best Educational DVD. --Telly Awards

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Professional Reviews

"A beautifully filmed ready-reference guide to flowers, this is recommended." --R. Pitman, Video Librarian

Granted, you can’t smell the over 300 flowers profiled in this virtual garden/reference guide, but you have plenty of other options. As in earlier acclaimed releases such as Rules of the Road (VL-7/02), The 2003 Encyclopedia of Boating Tips (VL-3/03), Cases in Controversy: The 14th Amendment (VL-5/04), and Ambient Art: Impressionism (VL-11/04), Ambient Flowers from Jumby Bay Studios and Vat19 takes full advantage of the interactive features built into the DVD format.

Viewers can see a parade of high-definition-filmed peonies, zinnias, irises, roses, tulips, rhododendrons, dahlias (with the option of text identification—including family, genus, and species), backed by a variety of sound options (nature sound effects, guitar, Vivaldi, or general classical music), with the choice of playing all or selecting by color group (yellow/orange, purple, red, white, or pink).

In addition, the DVD includes a “Flower Index” (with text screens for each flower, offering information on sun exposure, bloom time, soil pH levels, plant sizes and categories, hardiness ratings, tips, and zone maps—also available in over 150 printable PDF documents on the disc), a “Flower Facts” featurette (a brief overview of various flower tidbits, including a look at the infamous 17th-century “tulipmania” bubble), and computer desktop wallpapers. A beautifully filmed ready-reference guide to flowers, this is recommended. Aud: P.

"Ambient Flowers: The Ultimate Video Garden and Reference DVD is the newest addition to this enthusiastically recommended series." --Susan Bethany, Midwest Book Review

The "Ambient" series are nine individually themed DVDs designed for television sets, and based on the concept of turning that TV screen into a simulated fireplace, aquarium, or other calming, mood-setting, or sleep-inducing experience for the viewer.

Ambient Flowers: The Ultimate Video Garden and Reference DVD is the newest addition to this enthusiastically recommended series. The pictorial images present a flower garden which bursts into bloom with over 325 gorgeous flowers presented in a high definition format with customizable audio track that features nature sounds, classical guitar, classical music, or a combination of music and SFX.

Ambient Flowers is also packed with invaluable reference and botanical information for each of the flowers. This information can be readily accessed by simply hitting the "enter" button on the DVD remote control when that particular flower is on the screen. Viewers can also use the multiple angles feature of their DVD player and enjoy Ambient Flowers with a lower third providing the background information details. The Ambient Flowers DVD also comes filed with more than 150 PDFs that provide detailed reference information about the flowers.

The DVD technology of Ambient Flowers allows the viewer to enjoy the flowers in seven different ways: five scenes divided up by bloom color, an informative narrated scene that provides fun facts about the flowers, or a video montage of the entire garden with or without botanical information. With a total running time of 121 minutes, Ambient Flowers is optimized for both standard and widescreen television sets.

Also highly recommended are the previous titles in this unique, technologically flawless, thoroughly "user friendly", and simply outstanding DVD series.

"If the title Ambient Flowers conjures thoughts of lovely garden images and soothing nature sounds, you have pictured the core of this DVD." --Barb Bergman, Minnesota State University, Educational Media Reviews Online

If the title Ambient Flowers conjures thoughts of lovely garden images and soothing nature sounds, you have pictured the core of this DVD. Ten-second video images of 300-plus flowers are displayed in seven minute video slideshows arranged by color. Viewers can customize the display and create a continuous loop. Viewers choose to whether to display botanical information and which soothing music to play in the background. The “fun facts” section contains seven minutes of narrated trivia such as medicinal uses and edibility of various flower types.



The reference section allows the viewer to bring up more detailed information for each flower named. Unfortunately, flowers cannot be selected based on characteristics such as zone hardiness or sun preference. When used in a computer, printable PDF files contain additional information. Images can be downloaded as computer wallpaper.



Although not a definitive guide, Ambient Flowers was a pleasant diversion on a rainy spring day. Best suited for public library collections, but could be used by a gardening or basic horticulture class. Suitable for all ages.

"The clarity and detail in the blossoms is amazing; even those with black thumbs and no interest in the horticultural will be mesmerized by these images." --J. Sunier, Audiophile Audition

Over 300 different flowers are sent in closeup in this dream garden DVD, which runs over two hours. The clarity and detail in the blossoms is amazing; even those with black thumbs and no interest in the horticultural will be mesmerized by these images. OVer 150 reference documents are included - you can select with just the pristine display of the images or under them a detailed explanation of the species, family, genus etc. By a simple click on your remote you can instantly access ID and details of growing characteristics of the particular flower. These images seem to go with almost any of the music better than almost any of the others. Plus there are over 350 desktop wallpapers which you can easily transfer to your PC or Mac.