CyberLink PowerDVD is a media
player for Microsoft Windows; several editions of the software are sold
including "Ultra", "Pro" and "Standard". All
editions support the viewing of DVD. The Ultra and Pro editions support Blu-ray
playback, including the playback of Blu-ray 3D content.
PowerDVD is distributed on
physical media or by download from the Cyberlink website. It is often bundled
with a variety of PC systems and peripheral devices (particularly optical
drives).
PowerDVD 12
PowerDVD 12 was released on
January 31, 2012and is available in three versions: Ultra, Pro and Standard.PowerDVD
12's TrueTheater technology allows users to upscale DVD to 1080p quality, and
up convert 2D Blu-ray, DVD, video and photos to 3D. In version 12, PowerDVD
expands the support of its mobile application PowerDVD Mobile to iOS and
Android mobile devices. And add the support of DTS-HD 7.1 channel surround
sound.
PowerDVD 11
PowerDVD 11 is available in
three versions – Ultra, Deluxe and Standard. It acts as a universal player for
movies, videos, music and photos, allowing users to access and play their media
from a single player. PowerDVD 11 works smoothly with smart devices, as
PowerDVD Remote lets users control playback of PowerDVD with an iPhone or
Android device, and PowerDVD Mobile lets the user play content on their Android
tablet, and across different devices. Other new features include TrueTheater
enhancements which can stabilize shaky videos or upscale the image of DVDs to
HD. PowerDVD 11 features support for social media sites Facebook, YouTube and
Flickr, so that content can easily be uploaded and shared through these sites.
PowerDVD was the first Blu-ray 3D software player to achieve certification from
the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) under the new Blu-ray 3D standard (Profile
5.0). Some other features of the software include converting movies from 2D to 3D,
smoother Blu-ray playback, playback of a variety of video formats and
subtitles, and commenting on and bookmarking movie scenes.
3D Movies and Photos:
TrueTheater 3D uses a GPU-accelerated video converter to turn regular 2D movies
into 3D. It also includes support for native 3D photos and movies, including
Blu-ray 3D.
HD Movies: TrueTheater HD
scales up standard definition DVDs and video files to HD, including videos from
YouTube.
Video Formats: PowerDVD
11 plays a wide range of video formats, including mkv, flv, wtv, rm, rmvb, 3gp
and 3g2. Both rm and rmvb formats require the installation of RealPlayer.
Support for subtitle formats include smi, !@#$%^&*, ssa, psb, srt and sub.
MovieMarks: MovieMarks
combines bookmarked movie scenes and review comments which can be shared online
via MoovieLive.com.
Live Comments: Live
Comments lets PowerDVD users post opinions and comments to Facebook, Twitter
and MoovieLive while a movie is playing.
Limitations: The user's
computer must have a DVI/HDMI HDPC compliant videocard, cable and monitor to
watch Blu-ray using Version 11; there is no such limitation on version 10 and
earlier releases, and VGA, composite or S-Video interfaces can be used to
connect monitor or TV to PC. When installed on laptops, this limitation doesn't
apply, but newer Blu-ray protected discs can be played only in version 11 and
most of the time need an Internet connection to do so.
HD DVD support is not available
since PowerDVD 9.
Criticsm
Cyberlink supports PowerDVD for
only two years after its release, which means customers might have to buy new
versions every other year to watch the latest Blu-ray releases. This led to
many complaints about incompatibility from users of PowerDVD 9 (and earlier)
when Star Wars was released on Blu-ray.
DVD Audio support is not
available in version 11. Support stopped during version 9, although Cyberlink
advertised versions 9 and 10 as being able to play DVD Audio discs. Cyberlink
has refused to offer assistance to customers who bought versions 10 and 11
believing they could play back DVD Audio discs using them.
Also, subtitle display has been
criticized as being unacceptable in resolution, size and quality.
For users with international
disks, PowerDVD does not have an option to set preferred languages or disk
menus. This causes serious issues with Japanese Blu-ray disks of international
titles, as PowerDVD often ignores the Japanese menus in favor of the primary
(non-Japanese) menu. There is no fix offered by Cyberlink other than to switch
versions to a Japanese one.