Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87 in Software
• Brand: Cyberlink
• Released on: 2009-03-27
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows XP
• Format: CD-ROM

Manufacturer's Description
Amazon.com Product Description

PowerDVD 9 Ultra is simply the best movie playback software for enjoying HD videos and Blu-ray discs on your notebook or desktop PC. PowerDVD allows you to play and remix DVDs as well as to store and organize your movie information. With TrueTheater, you can improve the playback quality of DVDs with splendid visual results. Flip through cover art of your movie collection titles with the Fancy View interface. PowerDVD has all the features and style that will please even the most demanding movie fan.

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7, Vista or XP
• For Blu-ray Discs: Pentium 4 541 (3.2 GHz), for DVDs: Pentium 4 (2.4 GHz)
• GeForce 7600 GT or above for Blu-rays discs
• For Blu-ray Discs: 1 GB RAM, For DVDs: 512 MB RAM
• Blu-ray Disc drive to play Blu-ray discs

Box Contains
PC
CD Rom

Customer Reviews

Impressive once you get it installed!

I live in the sticks and my broadband has all the speed and agility of a hungover slug in mid-February, so downloading the large patch required during install padded out the total installation time to a whopping 70 minutes. Must admit, I did start to wonder halfway through if it was worth the trouble. But, fortified with a mars bar and a cuppa, I soldiered on.

Once installed, though, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised by how useful I've found it. I haven't had any problems with running the application, even on my rather aging laptop, and usually while juggling several other tasks at the same time. It has frozen on me just once, but only for less than a minute, so fingers crossed I will dodge that particular glitchy bullet.

I don't have a blu-ray player yet - it always takes a while to drag me from the stone age when it comes to new technology, so I was interested to see how the upscaling technique would alter the viewing experience on a standard dvd when I ran the program by HDMI cable to a HD tv. I was cynical about any potential transformation in quality, but I stuck on The Lord of the Rings (Two Towers - best of the trilogy for my money!) and I was seriously impressed by the before and after split screen evidence of the enhancement. Noticeably crisper, cleaner, zingier, with colours that really do pop off the screen. The difference really does justify the hassle of setting it up, particularly when you're watching something like LOTR where there's so much detail in the visual spectacle.

Another feature I've explored and really enjoy is the dvd management and library creation facilities. My inner movie geek bureaucrat has got high on list-making, reviewing, and scanning stats for all watched material!

I've found Powerdvd 9 very simple and intuitive to use, and I'm not the world's best when it comes to adeptly handling new applications. And I haven't been bombarded with any junky emails, unlike some reviewers, so maybe I've been lucky on that score.

Install was a big problem
I often think that the installation of a piece of software can colour your entire experience of a product ... after all, first impressions do count for a lot.

Power DVD was full of the faff-factor for me. After a slowish install, (product did not autorun) got everything up and running ... registration again was a bit faffy, particularly as I needed my specs to differentiate beteen 8s and Bs ... third time lucky for me and as this was my fault, no deduction in points. Install took well over an hour!!!

At this point I was asked to see if there were any updates ... there were and so I went to download the update. This 'patch' turned out to be 106Mb so I count myself very lucky to have a fast broadband connection!!!

On the positive front, I do like the interface and the quality of the playback from DVDs I have played to date are far superior to other playback systems I have used.

To me, the product feels a little unfinished, I would expect to be able to autoplay a DVD or CD as soon as I feed it into my PC. It is not the most stable of beasts either and seems to crash as often as it plays ... perhaps this is a funtion of the fact that my 5 year old single core PC is a bit on the light side for the program.

I think that if you do have a top specced PC, a bit of patience, and a better finished product they you will have something that is worthy of the price tag.

Annoying set-up, irritating web services and not much improved
I have previously had several versions of Power DVD and all have run without issue and have been good pieces of software. Unfortunately with the latest version Cyberlink appear to have dropped the ball somewhat.

My main problem came after installing the software. As soon as it installed it scanned for updates from Cyberlink and promptly found one. This was downloaded and installed and at that point the program refused to work. It wouldn't pick up my LG Blu Ray/DVD drive and crashed whenever I tried to play a disk. Then, after signing up to their 'Moovielive' website - which you are constantly bombarded with which is quite annoying - and a couple of restarts of the machine, the software decided it would work. I am a bit worried that the success of the software seems to be linked to me signing up to a service that I will absolutely not use. Moovielive I'm sure is going to be someones cup of tea but I am not interested in constantly reviewing films and seeing other peoples reviews. If I put a DVD in my PC I want to watch it and not get hassled!

The software now plays normal DVD's without too much hassle, though a little bit of a delay in picking them up sometimes. I haven't noticed massive benefits from the 'upscaling' features of the software, most DVD's show no difference but one or two (Dark Knight, Saving Private Ryan) have been improved. That is probably the best feature of this.

Blu-Ray discs are a bit more hit and miss. Most of the time they play but occasionally they will not be recognised or the program will crash. After a bit of research on the Cyberlink forums it appears quite a few people are experiencing Blu-Ray issues with this version which is a real shame. It would do Cyberlink well to rectify these problems as I would guess that most people buying this version of the software are looking at it for its Blu-Ray/HiDef capabilities.

In short, not a great step forwards and probably worth steering clear of until Cyberlink sort out their issues with Blu-Ray. I would also recommend they get rid of the Moovielive stuff constantly appearing within the player and always being there. Get rid of it and make it optional, it really is annoying!