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It could well have been a Microsoft update that broke PDVD's functionality
Then how do you explain the fact that I've also got the problem with Windows Update turned off? I've even checked installed updates list to be sure - it's empty except for KB976902 which was always there, because it came preinstalled. Some people reported the same thing earlier in this thread.
Hmmm, good question, John. I can't. Though one possibility occurs to me: are you sure you haven't allowed updates of other apps, that might have also incorporated updates of certain system files? If an app needs the newer versions of the files for functionality, then it can't assume the user has done the Windows update, and sometimes they include the newer files in their own updates as well. That's a common way for problematic DLLs and the like to get propagated. If Cyberlink had released any information on what exactly was the source of PowerDVD's breakdown then we could all be in a better position to know for sure, and maybe even work out how to address the problem (at least temporarily). But unless, as has been suggested in these threads, it was some kind of certificate in Cyberlink's code that expired, then it seems to me that one way or another something had to have changed on your system for PowerDVD to stop working.
In my own case, near as I can tell, PDVD stopped working on my system at or near the same time I last allowed Windows to do the Microsoft updates, but I know that only shows coincidence, not causality. I'm not being an apologist for Cyberlink, but I don't think it's fair for Michael to be called a liar outright on a public forum.
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Believe me, Mike2013cyb , I share your annoyance with Cyberlink over this, but we have to be fair and stick to facts.
It could well have been a Microsoft update that broke PDVD's functionality — since the early days of Windows, Microsoft has had a habit of releasing updates (sometimes deliberately targetted ones) that change the way applications function, and leaving other companies to scramble to catch up in their coding. It's a predatory practice, sometimes casual and sometimes intentional, but it happens regularly. And Microsoft does release its updates in a monthly batch, so it's fair for Michael to talk about a "February 2013" update. It's also fair that it might take Cyberlink some time to fix what was broken.
Where I personally think Cyberlink's behaviour has been shoddy is in its silence. It has our software registrations and our contact details; any responsible commercial concern would have *at the very least* done a quick e.mail to its userbase and let them know what had happened, instead of what Cyberlink did, and leaving its users to flail around trying to find out why their system was no longer working.
It shouldn't be up to the users to chase the vendor in instances such as these, trying to find out what has happened. We're Cyberlink's customers, and Cyberlink has our money, which means it also has the responsibility to be pro-active in informing its clients why the product they have paid for no longer works.
Michael posted a notice here on the forum, but again that only alerts those who come looking for an answer. It's something, but it's not good enough. It's also worth noting the trouble users have had even getting a reply out of Cyberlink tech support, and the fact that Michael and Cyberlink are simply silent whenever dissatisfaction is raised, which shows that they're not interested in solving customer's issues.
Cyberlink has shown itself to be without integrity in the way this has been handled. If Cyberlink makes some effort to clean up its irresponsible treatment of its customers, then I'll continue to use its products. If not, I'm going elsewhere.
The ball's in your court, Cyberlink.
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137MB of hotfix? Sheesh.
What's Cyberlink going to do to fix the broken trust?
Either the company is totally incompetent to manage its own technology, or it simply doesn't give a toss about its paying customers. Either way, to release a hotfix after a month or more of the software being unusable without a murmur of acknowledgement for the problem or a gesture of support towards the inconvenience of its paying customers, simply doesn't cut it.
Like so many others, I'm seeking other solutions, and am resentful of the money I've given to Cyberlink for products that don't work and support issues that just go neglected.
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Why all this rigmarole to try to get a work-around?
This smells of a stunt to weed out the users of pirated software — which I don't care about in one respect, since my software is legitimate and bought directly from Cyberlink itself, but it makes me bloody ropeable that the legit users always seem to get held to ransom.
This will be more than a month of not being able to use my paid-for commercial software. That's shocking mismanagement, and Michael can say "thanks for your patience" all he likes, but since Cyberlink gives us no choice anyway, that's meaningless and somewhat thuggish.
*Helpless* said it beautifully in an early post in this thread; customer friendly looks differently in my eyes, as well.
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In PowerDVD 11 Ultra, can someone please tell me how to make screen capture of a Blu-ray?
I can't find any way to do it.
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PowerDVD 11 is no longer the current version, so a big thank you to Cyberlink for offering a new patch to keep it current. It's very much appreciated. ;
I thought I was in strife when my new Blu-ray of Prometheus wouldn't load, but the patch sorted it out easily. Very happy.
One thing puzzled me: can the patches not be made to keep a user's existing settings, rather than setting everything back to the program's defaults? I think that would be a good capability to have. But that aside, great job!
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HI Tatman,
Thanks so much for posting about this, and mentioning that there was an update. I've just encountered the same problem (with the Australian Blu-ray of Prometheus). Really appreciate your help. ;
And I'll add a big thank you to Cyberlink for providing a patch, when they could have used such an issue to force people to upgrade, like other companies do. Much appreciated, Cyberlink!
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Hi Michael,
Well, to be fair, the Cyberlink website itself leads people to these forums rather than to logging a support request, so I don't think you can judge an issue by whether people log a support request or not.
I wonder if there's some sort of connection between the types of people who might use their PC to play a BD disc, and whether they would watch mavies that actualy require subtitles?
I think a much smaller percentage of US users would require subtitles than European users, for instance. Whereas from what I've read software like VLC, for instance, is much bigger in Europe than in the US.
Anyway, I've logged a support request on this. It will be interesting to see what they have to say.
Thanks again for your reply.
And guess what? I didn't even get an answer from support.
So Michael, are you *sure* that your "about 4 users only" aren't merely the only 4 that support ever got around to replying to? If my request hasn't been responded to, then what chance is there they've even taken notice that the subject was asked about?
The newer versions of VLC are catching up pn PowerDVD very quickly indeed. And it's *free*. Cyberlink needs to shake its tail-feather if it wants to keep customers, rather than spending time on trying to turn the software into a media librarian like just about every other piece of multimedia software out there. I can't believe Cyberlink thinks its customers actually put a higher priority on the pretty clumsy level of media manipulation it's building into the new versions, at the expense of any attention to features still missing in PowerDVD's core functions as a video player.
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Hi Michael,
Well, to be fair, the Cyberlink website itself leads people to these forums rather than to logging a support request, so I don't think you can judge an issue by whether people log a support request or not.
I wonder if there's some sort of connection between the types of people who might use their PC to play a BD disc, and whether they would watch mavies that actualy require subtitles?
I think a much smaller percentage of US users would require subtitles than European users, for instance. Whereas from what I've read software like VLC, for instance, is much bigger in Europe than in the US.
Anyway, I've logged a support request on this. It will be interesting to see what they have to say.
Thanks again for your reply.
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Ah, so PowerDVD is deficient in this regard, and isn't about to fix it.
Time to look for a new product, methinks.
But I'd be very surprised if this hasn't been requested many times by PDVD users. It's up to version 12, and still no mention of incorporating it? I would have thought Cyberlink would concentrate on features directly associated with playback as a priority over trying to become a media management system and other faddish outgrowths for which there are already superior solutions.
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Hi austing, thanks for your reply. :
Yeah, I haven't bothered upgrading to PDVD12 because I've got no interest in the streaming and multimedia album features. Not criticising, just no reason for me personally to upgrade. Far as I can tell, none of the things I do use PDVD for have been improved in version 12.
I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium with a fast i5 processor and 8 GB of RAM and a 5.1-capable soundcard, so I figure PDVD has got all the system resources and capabiltiies it needs.
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Subtitles generated by PowerDVD are generally quite ugly, and often don't suit the look of the film in question, or as stark white may not be easily readable against the image. Other media players (such as VLC) allow the user to choose the colour, the font and even the size of the typeface in which subtitles are displayed. Why not PowerDVD?
So my questions are:
1) Why doesn't PowerDVD allow the font and colour for subtitles to be modified?
2) Why doesn't PowerDVD recognise and display embedded fonts for subtitles on discs such as The Lord of the Rings?
It seems PDVD12 hasn't addressed this either. Is there any hope of this for PDVD13?
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I usually leave my PDVD11 audio settings at Dolby Virtual Speaker, but I find that any BDs I play that have mono audio tracks (such as many Criterion releases) produce no sound, whether they're encoded as Dolby Digital 2.0 or LPCM. If I go in and switch the audio setting to Stereo, then the audio track plays.
Is this what's expected, or is there some glitch in my installation or setup?
If this is an unexpected problem, can anyone help me sort out why it is happening?
If it's as expected, wouldn't it make sense for Cyberlink to warn people about this in the User Guide?
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And Da Vinci Code, Michael? The 2009 2-disc Blu-ray release from the UK?
Are you looking into that as well?
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arentol,
I get the same error in PowerDVD 11 Ultra with "The Da Vinci Code" on Blu-ray. If I wait a moment, the disc starts playing anyway, and I can dismiss the dialog box.
I'm on my second player - the first was a Samsung, the newer one is the same LG drive you have - and I got the error message on both, so I figure it's a bit of a glitch in PDVD.
Sorry to ask a dumb question, but are you sure that the disc doesn't go ahead and play if you wait a moment or two?
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No, as I said the application is enabled through my firewall.
If I manually chose the "Upgrade" command from the "About" menu option, then it saw the update – so it's able to see the Cyberlink server through the firewall. It just isn't doing it automatically, like it's supposed to.
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Thanks Michael.
1) I'm currently using Avira, but yes it's fully up-to-date.
2) I have no independent codec packs installed on my system. I have a couple of audio products that load their own plugins is needed (for instance, foobar2000, that I use for making and tagging mp3s of my CDs for my mp3 player), but I don't have them running simultaneously to PDVD (which takes sole control of the audio in my PC anyway). If I have a problem with PDVD, I always cold-reboot my PC anyway to clear any such things from memory as a first response.
But none of all this has changed on my PC between PDVD 11 2211 and PDVD 11 2408.
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The update to v.2408 seems to have broken PDVD 11's ability to play this Fox Blu-ray.
Since this latest update, when I try to play Predator 2, I now get the error message:
Your Blu-ray player requires an update to play this disc.
Version 11.0.2211.54 (i.e. before the latest update) played this same disc on this same PC without a complaint. The only problem was an image breakup into pixellation for about two seconds at the layer change. (It's not a faulty disc.) Version 11.0.2408.53 won't play the disc at all.
I've checked I have the latest firmware for the Blu-ray drive (an LG BH10-LS30 BD writer) and the latest driver for my video card (an ATI Radeon HD 5700). Neither of those have changed since the last time I successfully played this same BD on this machine.
The disc is from the UK Predator Trilogy boxed set. The Blu-rays of Predator and Predators still play with no issues.
I'm running PowerDVD 11 Ultra on Windows 7 Home Premium SP1.
My SR number is DVD111208-03, TR number is TR111209-010.
Is there other info needed for the developers to look into this please, Michael?
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Huh. My installation of PowerDVD wasn't telling me there was an update available, even though in the Settings dialogue, on the Player tab, the option to "Automatically connect to the Internet for product information" is selected, and I have an active internet connection whenever my PC is booted up and the application is enabled through my firewall.
Is there another setting somewhere that would prevent me being notified about available updates?
Thanks, Michael.
Bran
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Very much understood, Michael, but thanks for your friendly reply. :
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you, mate.
For my part, sincere thanks for all your time and expertise you contribute to these forums. It's greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
Bran
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I finally bought a copy of Lord of the Rings on Blu-ray, and was very disappointed to see that Cyberlink just uses a very bland white serif font for the subtitles, when the disc is encoded to use one in a typeface more appropriate to the art design of the film.
Is there any way to get PDVD to recognise the embedded font and use it for the subtitles? Stand-alone Blu-ray players can do it, so you'd think a software package should be able to.
Failing that, is there any way to specify the font and colour that PDVD uses for a specific film?
And failing that, could this please be considered as a feature for the next version, at least?
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