PowerDVD
Encyclopedia
CyberLink PowerDVD is a media player for Microsoft Windows
. Several editions of the software are sold including "Ultra", "Deluxe" and "Standard". All editions support the viewing of DVD
and the Ultra edition supports Blu-ray playback, including the playback of Blu-ray 3D content.
The product is distributed on physical media or by download from the Cyberlink
website. PowerDVD is often bundled with a variety of PC systems and peripherals (particularly optical drives).
) 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 technology uses a GPU-accelerated video converter to turn regular 2D movies into 3D. Also includes support for native 3D photos and movies, including Blu-ray 3D.
HD Movies: TrueTheater HD upscales standard definition DVDs and video files into HD. This can also be applied to 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, ass, ssa
, psb, srt and sub
.
MovieMarks: MovieMarks combine bookmarked movie scenes and review comments which can be shared online via MoovieLive.com.
Live Comments: Live comments let PowerDVD users post opinions and comments to Facebook
, Twitter
and MoovieLive while a movie is playing.
Limitations: Computer must have a DVI/HDMI HDPC compliant videocard, cable and monitor to watch bluray on Version 11, in version 10 and previous there is no such limitation 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 bluray protected discs can be played only in version 11 and most of the time need an Internet connection to be played.
HD DVD support is not available in version 11.
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 the products believing that DVD Audio discs could be played back.
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. Several editions of the software are sold including "Ultra", "Deluxe" and "Standard". All editions support the viewing of DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and the Ultra edition supports Blu-ray playback, including the playback of Blu-ray 3D content.
The product is distributed on physical media or by download from the Cyberlink
CyberLink
CyberLink is a digital entertainment and multimedia products software corporation. CyberLink's 2008 revenue was $140 million with market capitalization of $420 million. Cyberlink's headquarters are based in Taipei, Taiwan with worldwide offices in Fremont, USA; Tokyo, Japan; and the Netherlands...
website. PowerDVD is often bundled with a variety of PC systems and peripherals (particularly optical drives).
PowerDVD 11
PowerDVD 11 is available in three versions – Ultra, Deluxe and Standard. The latest version acts as a universal player for movies, videos music and photos which allows users to access and play their content from one 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 (BDABDA
BDA may refer to:*British Dietetic Association – a professional association and trade union for dieticians in the United Kingdom*Bermuda International Airport - now called L.F...
) under the new Blu-ray 3D standard (Profile 5.0). Some other features of the software include converting movies from 2D
Dimension
In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a space or object is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it...
to 3D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
, 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 technology uses a GPU-accelerated video converter to turn regular 2D movies into 3D. Also includes support for native 3D photos and movies, including Blu-ray 3D.
HD Movies: TrueTheater HD upscales standard definition DVDs and video files into HD. This can also be applied to videos from YouTube.
Video Formats: PowerDVD 11 plays a wide range of video formats, including mkv
MKV
MKV may stand for:* Matroska, a video and audio container format* Mittelschüler-Kartellverband* Multiple Kill Vehicle...
, flv
FLV
Flash Video is a container file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player versions 6–11. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There are two different video file formats known as Flash Video: FLV and F4V. The audio and video data within FLV files...
, wtv, rm
RealMedia
RealMedia is a proprietary multimedia container format created by RealNetworks. Its extension is ".rm". It is typically used in conjunction with RealVideo and RealAudio and is used for streaming content over the Internet....
, rmvb
RMVB
RealMedia Variable Bitrate is a variable bitrate extension of the RealMedia multimedia container format developed by RealNetworks....
, 3gp
3GP
3GP is a multimedia container format defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project for 3G UMTS multimedia services. It is used on 3G mobile phones but can also be played on some 2G and 4G phones....
and 3g2. Both rm and rmvb formats require the installation of RealPlayer
RealPlayer
RealPlayer is a cross-platform media player by RealNetworks that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, Windows Media, and multiple versions of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo formats.-History:...
. Support for subtitle
Subtitle (captioning)
Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added...
formats include smi, ass, ssa
SubStation Alpha
SubStation Alpha , abbreviated SSA, is a subtitle file format created by CS Low that allows for more advanced subtitles than the conventional SRT and similar formats. This format can be rendered with VSFilter in conjunction with a DirectShow-aware video player , or MPlayer with the SSA/ASS library...
, psb, srt and sub
MicroDVD
MicroDVD is a subtitle file format for digital video. Its name is derived from a media player application designed to play DVD videos along with subtitles, originally developed by Tiamat Software. The application was first released in 2000 but development ended in 2001...
.
MovieMarks: MovieMarks combine bookmarked movie scenes and review comments which can be shared online via MoovieLive.com.
Live Comments: Live comments let PowerDVD users post opinions and comments to Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
and MoovieLive while a movie is playing.
Limitations: Computer must have a DVI/HDMI HDPC compliant videocard, cable and monitor to watch bluray on Version 11, in version 10 and previous there is no such limitation 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 bluray protected discs can be played only in version 11 and most of the time need an Internet connection to be played.
HD DVD support is not available in version 11.
Criticism
Cyberlink only support PowerDVD for two years after its release, which means customers may have to buy new versions of their software every one to two years in order to keep watching the latest Bluray releases. This led to many complaints about incompatibility from users of PowerDVD 9 (and earlier) when Star Wars was released on Bluray.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 the products believing that DVD Audio discs could be played back.
Native Video Decoders
- H.264/MPEG-4 AVCH.264/MPEG-4 AVCH.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...
(including MVC for Bluray-3D) - MPEG-4 ASP (DivXDivXDivX is a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc. , including the DivX Codec which has become popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality.There are two DivX codecs; the regular MPEG-4 Part 2 DivX codec and the...
, XvidXviDXvid is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile . It uses ASP features such as b-frames, global and quarter pixel motion compensation, lumi masking, trellis quantization, and H.263, MPEG and custom quantization matrices.Xvid is a...
) - MPEG-2MPEG-2MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...
/HD - MPEG-1MPEG-1MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting possible.Today, MPEG-1 has become...
- VC-1VC-1VC-1 is the informal name of the SMPTE 421M video codec standard, which was initially developed as a proprietary video format by Microsoft before it was released as a formal SMPTE standard video format on April 3, 2006...
- WMV HDWMV HDWindows Media High Definition Video is the marketing name for high definition videos encoded using Microsoft Windows Media Video 9 codecs...
Native Audio Decoders
- Dolby Meridian Lossless PackingMeridian Lossless PackingMeridian Lossless Packing, also known as Packed PCM , is a proprietary lossless compression technique for compressing PCM audio data developed by Meridian Audio, Ltd. MLP is the standard lossless compression method for DVD-Audio content and typically provides about 1.5:1 compression on most music...
(MLP) - Dolby TrueHDDolby TrueHDDolby TrueHD is an advanced lossless multi-channel audio codec developed by Dolby Laboratories which is intended primarily for high-definition home-entertainment equipment such as Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. It is the successor to the AC-3 Dolby Digital surround sound codec which was used as the...
(7.1 Channel) - Dolby Digital PlusDolby Digital PlusDolby Digital Plus is a digital audio compression scheme. It is an incompatible development of the technologies used in the earlier Dolby Digital system. E-AC-3 has a number of improvements aimed at increasing quality at a given bitrate compared with legacy Dolby Digital...
(7.1 Channel) - Dolby Digital EX (7.1 Channel)
- Dolby DigitalDolby DigitalDolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
(2 & 5.1 Channel) - DTS-HD (7.1 Channel)
- DTS-ES (Discrete & Matrix)
- DTS 96/24 Decoding
- DTS (5.1 Channel)
- LPCMLPCMLinear pulse-code modulation is a method of encoding audio information digitally. The term also refers collectively to formats using this method of encoding...
- AACAdvanced Audio CodingAdvanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
- MP3 SurroundMP3 SurroundMP3 Surround is an extension of MP3 for multi-channel audio support including 5.1 surround sound. It was developed by Fraunhofer IIS in collaboration with Thomson and Agere Systems, and released in December 2004....
- MP2
Audio Effects
- Dolby Pro Logic IIx Surround Sound
- Dolby Virtual Speaker
- CyberLink TrueTheater Surround