CyberLink PowerDVD 12: Complementing Your Mobile Lifestyle
by Ganesh T S on January 31, 2012 9:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- HTPC
- Blu-Ray
- CyberLink
One of the interesting aspects of PowerDVD 12 is the support for online stores. 7Digital is Cyberlink's first partner in this venture. They offer singles and albums for downloads, albeit at a premium compared to iTunes. The gallery below shows the user interface of the 7Digital storefront within PowerDVD 12.
PowerDVD 12 also provides Facebook features, wherein media from friends (photos, in particular) can be viewed. A feature to download albums from friends is also provided. The Flickr section also provides access to photographs uploaded to that service. An interesting aspect is the ability to view the photographs in 3D by just clicking on the 3D icon in the bottom panel. This type of seamless 2D to 3D conversion ability is offered by PowerDVD in almost all circumstances.
The YouTube section is one of the best ways to enjoy the service. It allows one to sign in and customize the videos being presented. It is also quite easy to make sure that the 1080p quality stream always gets loaded (if available). The gallery below presents some screenshots of the YouTube section in action.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
41 Comments
View All Comments
Spivonious - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
I knew there was a reason version 11 was on a fire sale. I had to upgrade from 9 to play those profile 5 discs. Hopefully they continue support for 11 for a while.jwcalla - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon but the idea of having to pay for software to get the magic keys to play the BluRay discs you paid for is ridiculous. Why are people so eager to grab their ankles?Spivonious - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
That cost is included with standalone players. That said, I'd love it if Microsoft would sell a blu-ray codec for $10-$15 and let me play them right inside of Media Center. I will never use the mobile features of PowerDVD, nor the image enhancement and fake 3D features.Tetracycloide - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
I can understand a commercial license being needed to release the codec as part of a retail player but a non-commercial home license should be totally free.Alexstarfire - Friday, February 3, 2012 - link
Yes, the cost might be included with the stand-alone players but you're also paying for the hardware. When you are playing back Blu-Rays/DVDs on your computer you've already paid for the hardware. I see no reason that the software would be as expensive as a solution that provides hardware and software. I don't believe it should be free, though that'd be very nice, but even $50 is more expensive than I think it should be.Tetracycloide - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
Wholeheartedly agree. Wasn't there an article here a few days back about adding blu-ray support to VLC by just copying the keys into the right folder? Maybe that was ars. At any rate it's infinitely preferable to paying for the bars and chains that keep you locked up as a consumer.ganeshts - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
Yes, VLC can handle Blu-rays with encryption now (albeit with some exceptions).But, VLC will not be reliable with menus, HD audio decoding etc. (Look up the VLC piece I wrote in the Pipeline section as to why Blu-ray support being added in VLC is just the beginning of a long process)
joel4565 - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
I am sure the latest version of Powerdvd is quite nice and lovely, but honesty how can it ever be justified at $100 for the full version when a quick glance on Newegg shows several standalone blueray players for <$100 and several well rated at just over a hundred dollars.And for tablet/mobile For the same ~$100 you could get a two year subscription to AnyDVD HD and Handbrake to transcode the video to x264 for a much better tablet experience. AVplayerHD is a good IOS app that plays 720p x264 mkv videos quite nicely on ipad2 and I am sure there is a similar app for Android.
The fact that bluray drives require such expensive software to get the full experience shows just how little the movie & tv industry cares about PC users. Even the cheapest bluray drive $57 + the basic version of software $50 is more expensive than several stand alone players that will probably do a better job.
daneren2005 - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
Of course. In fact they HATE PC users. PC users tend to want to do crazy stuff like own content and to be able to use it on multiple devices after paying for it the first time. The media industry on the other hand wants you to pay for the same crap every single time you get a new device, and PCs allow you to get around that.Braumin - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
I bought version 7 Ultra for HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Verion 9 came out with Media Center integration, so I figured that was worth the upgrade.Cyberlink is a horrible company. They never had updates for 9, even when it was the most current offering. Movies would often not play for months before there was updates. Of course, that got worse as 9 moved out of main support.
$100 is basically a subscription for this software, since they release a new version every year and ditch support of the old version quickly.
I stopped trying to watch blu-ray on my HTPC. For $90 I got a Samsung wi-fi blu-ray player which has played every disc I have thrown at it.
Keep your junk Cyberlink.