Cyberlink Power DVD 9 Ultra

Where as soon as it was important to have Power DVD (or an equal) to look at a movie on a PC, DVD playback has been native to Windows for a very long time now. For many that is greater than ample, however with the arrival of Home Theatre PCs and excessive definition TVs and shows, there’s a higher demand for a software program participant that may do some greater than the fundamentals. This contains DVD upscaling, now a prerequisite for enjoying again customary definition content material on HDTVs, but in addition Blu-ray playback, which received’t be supported natively by Windows till Windows 7 is launched.


Being the high quality model of the software program (the others being Deluxe and Standard), Power DVD 9 Ultra has kind of each function conceivable. Newly added assist for the HDMI 1.3 customary means you profit from Dolby TrueHD assist as much as 7.1 channels and DTS-HD Master Audio assist as much as 5.1 channels, whereas Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Digital Plus (7.1) Dolby Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Headphone, DTS (5.1), DTS 96/24 (5.1) AAC (5.1) and lossless MLP end off the audio codec assist.

Video codec assist and Blu-ray profile assist can be very complete. BonusView and BD Live are each supported, making Power DVD 9 Ultra totally Profile 2.0 licensed, whereas video codec assist contains MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), AVCREC, AVCHD, MPEG-2 HD, WMV HD, VC-1 and DivX Pro – you’ll be able to view the complete function assist on Cyberlink’s website.


Beyond codec assist, although, there’s fairly a bit extra to the newest model of Power DVD. No doubt its headline function (amongst HTPC customers at the very least) is the mixing into Windows Media Center, since this lets you launch Blu-ray playback inside MCE and retain a constant interface and navigation that’s distant pleasant. This additionally means you’ll be able to play DVDs utilizing Power DVD inside MCE, bringing into play Power DVD 9’s different key function: software-based upscaling.


This comes underneath what Cyberlink calls TrueTheater. This encompasses three totally different processing applied sciences: TrueTheater HD, TrueTheatre Lighting and TrueTheatre Motion, all of which purpose to boost your DVD viewing to unprecedented ranges. This know-how is native to all of the totally different variations (Ultra, Deluxe & Standard) of PowerDVD 9, too, so if you happen to don’t want or need Blu-ray playback then you’ll be able to nonetheless take pleasure in higher DVD playback and never pay for the additional licenses. It ought to be famous, although, that none of those applied sciences impression Blu-ray playback since HD materials is hardly in want of heavy processing to tart it up.

There are quite a few issues that make TrueTheatre a really efficient system. For starters it’s simple to regulate. During playback you’ll be able to deliver the TrueTheatre management panel up at any second and it may be set to automated, the place the software program chooses the very best settings, or guide, the place you’ll be able to regulate the varied settings utilizing the intuitive sliding bars. In common we’d at all times go for guide changes the place potential, although the automated mode proved suitably frugal in its software of the processing. Vitally, Cyberlink has added a split-screen and clone modes right here, so you’ll be able to simply examine between the unique supply and the output as soon as the processing is utilized.


Of all the varied modes, TrueTheatre HD (the upscaling aspect) is definitely probably the most spectacular. Whether it’s a high-quality DVD corresponding to The Matrix or The Bourne Ultimatum, or one thing extra patchy corresponding to Seven or The Wire (which is shot in 4:3), it does an outstanding job of bringing out element, sharpening smooth pictures and eliminating blocky artefacts.

This excellence is especially evident within the Morpheus and Agent Smith interrogation scene in The Matrix. Here, with the TrueTheatre HD mode set to round three stops above zero (lower than half), the pores and skin texture and scars on Laurence Fishburne’s face are introduced out to a stage that’s virtually unrecognisable from the unique DVD. TrueTheatre HD additionally did a wonderful job of tightening up the luxurious animation in Akira, reminding us precisely how forward of its time this masterpiece actually was.

You do should watch out the way you set-up TrueTheatre HD, although. As intimated above you not often have to have it set various ranges above the minimal; past this and issues get very noisy and ugly. Indeed, even at modest settings, there’s at all times a little bit noise, although it’s typically of a finer and fewer irritating nature than that discovered within the authentic supply.


Even so, as Morgan Freeman chats to Brad Pitt at a bar in Seven, some pixel flutter is clear because the processing engine grapples with the complexity of the scene and mediocre supply high quality. Nonetheless, it’s not dramatically worse than we’ve seen on different {hardware} gadgets or the {hardware} upscaling engine discovered within the Toshiba Qosmio G50-115, which Power DVD’s upscaling renders largely redundant.

Impressive as TrueTheatre HD is, the Lighting and Motion variants are much less convincing. Lighting, just like the HD mode, ought to be used sparingly, besides the outcomes might be inconsistent. Though it does add a sure stage of dynamism to brightness and distinction in photos, this will additionally result in overblown highlights and color contamination. This was evidenced by Seven, the place the dingy partitions of the police station had been typically given an untrue inexperienced tinge that was significantly distracting.


TrueTheatre Motion, in the meantime, which goals to create smoother “judder-free” playback by growing the body fee, proved to be too refined to simply decide. Given it provides a big further processing overhead along with the big chunk taken up by the upscaling processing, we discovered we may reside with out it simply and anybody utilizing an honest HDTV will doubtless favor the movement processing inherent inside it.

As an entire, although, the TrueTheatre system may be very profitable. Indeed, our solely actually vital grievance regards the processing energy it requires. Being a software program answer it’s completely reliant on the CPU and on a pocket book working an Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 at 2.0GHz it persistently used round 50 to 60 per cent of the CPU; typically as much as 80 per cent if utilizing TrueTheatre Motion and HD concurrently. This isn’t a purpose to keep away from Power DVD 9 and we by no means encountered any efficiency associated points, however GPU acceleration for TrueTheatre is a function we’d dearly like to see in future.

Having been happy the DVD playback our experiences with Blu-ray playback had been equally optimistic. We didn’t encounter any efficiency points and among the many variety of Blu-ray discs we examined, no compatibility points both. Hardware acceleration is totally supported, as you’ll anticipate, however past this Power DVD 9 properly doesn’t intrude with processing unduly, producing the sharp, well-defined pictures that all of us affiliate with Blu-ray. We’d wager a correct {hardware} participant will at all times ship higher general picture high quality, however solely the exceedingly choosy will discover fault with Power DVD 9’s output.

While we’ve spent a good period of time wanting into the fundamental efficiency of Power DVD 9, Cyberlink has additionally applied quite a few consumer interface (UI) enhancements, too. This features a somewhat nifty animated DVD looking system with a somewhat idiosyncratic title: ‘FancyView’. This leans closely on inspiration taken from Apple and its Cover Flow interface, however right here it’s utilized to navigating the chapters from DVDs. It’s a very neat implementation and is definitely preferable to utilizing the menus in DVDs, which might typically be very clunky, although this function doesn’t work for Blu-ray discs because of the totally different system they use.


Of extra curiosity to HTPC customers, although, would be the new Cinema mode. Like the MCE built-in aspect that is designed for use with a distant from a distance, utilising the pink, inexperienced, yellow and blue context delicate buttons discovered on most remotes to good impact. Other helpful components embrace Cyberlink’s Moovie Live on-line companion service and the linked film assortment interface. When linked to the Internet, information on what you’re watching, together with consumer scores, cowl artwork and different trivia (solid, director, tag strains and so on.) is fetched. You can then select so as to add the movie to your assortment, including tags must you so want, and sync this along with your on-line profile.

All of that is attention-grabbing and helpful for those who care, however not everybody desires such integration. As such it will have been good to should had the choice to show this function off, particularly since it may be a little bit intrusive at instances. A linked function is the Movie Remix mode, the place you’ll be able to mess around with scene ordering to create your individual “remix” of a movie, however that is one thing few will wish to take note of: it’s pure gimmickry.


Our solely different concern concerning Power DVD 9 is the pricing. While it’s simple to grasp the price of the Ultra model because of the variety of licenses, if you happen to do need Blu-ray playback that is your solely possibility because the £30 Deluxe model doesn’t assist Blu-ray. A stripped down Blu-ray model, sans HDMI 1.3 assist and among the extra superior codecs, would make a whole lot of sense for those who simply wish to watch a Blu-ray disc each from time to time.

Verdict

Power DVD 9 Ultra brings with it loads of enhancements that common PC customers and HTPC customers will admire. Its glorious Media Center integration is a specific boon and although some components of the TrueTheatre DVD video processing engine might be deemed superfluous, the upscaling aspect is excellent, respiratory new life into DVDs and arguably justifying the outlay alone.