Messages posted by Crunchy Doodle

I have a similar setup that was working OK with optical 5.1 sound until the last PowerDVD update. Now I get no optical 5.1 sound. The other Microsoft stuff still works. PowerDVD plays DVDs really well and I like the cool effects with my nVidia 9300, but this sound thing is annoying.

Bye.

Video and audio skipping and stuttering is usually because your PC has inadequate power to process the all the data from the DVD in the time required. You need a 21st Century PC with a good video card to do the work. What are the specs of your PC?

Bye.

I have a Yamaha 5.1 speaker system with its own decoders. In the Audio Configuration Tab of PowerDVD Ultra I set for "Use S/PDIF" and have an optical cable going from my Audigy card to the speaker system. In the Control Panel for the Audigy card, I set it for Use Digital Output Only. This bypasses all the decoders in the Audigy card and PowerDVD. That way the raw digital stream from the DVD goes directly to the speaker system decoders.

It's kind of a joke that all that Creative and CyberLink software must be disabled and bypassed to get the best sound.

Bye.

The reason they do not post this magical fix is that it contains both an unlocking code and a link to the full retail product that can use that unlocking code.

The fix is simple. You first perform a full manual uninstall. This consists of running the Microsoft Installer Cleaner (link included), and then delete a bunch of registry entries and folders in Program Files. You then download the full retail product using the supplied link and install with the supplied code. I think you can see this can't be publish generally; at least the code and the link to the full retail product.

Bye.

Quote: I am having the exact same problem, and have sent in a technical assistance report. This is highly frustrating, I've done everything from fully uninstalling the previous version, which causes the update program to fail because it cannot find a valid version to upgrade from, to re-installing PowerDVD 7, and each time, the installer asks me to uninstall the previous version. If I choose no, the installer exits without installing the new version, if I choose yes, it uninstalls PowerDVD 7, and again exits without installing, and returns the error that there is no version to upgrade from when trying to re-run the installation program.

Why isn't a fix posted, that explains in detail what one must do, it seems as though this is a very common problem (which should be fixed by CyberLink as soon as possible, it is very frustrating to spend 80+ dollars on a product and not be able to even install it), so shouldn't there be an FAQ item detailing the fix?

I'd appreciate anyone who could send me the detailed and proven fix to get my program installed and running.

When I couldn't get my purchased update to install, I e-mailed tech support and they sent me instructions on how to perform a manual uninstall and cleanup, followed by an install of the full retail product. You'll need to keep trying to get their system to accept your message.

Bye.

If you'll read through some of the other postings in this forum, you'll see that many people are having this problem. The solution is to send a message to CyberLink technical support and tell them you need to know how to manually uninstall PowerDVD. They sent me very detailed instructions that worked.

Bye.

For me, it depends on how I requested it. When I needed help upgrading from PowerDVD 7 Deluxe to PowerDVD 8 Ultra, I sent a message to technical support and received a reasonably prompt, fully detailed and useful solution. I was actually a bit shocked it was so complete and just right.

For my second, possibly easier problem, I used the phone support I got along with my purchase. CyberLink appears to out-source their phone support to India. Being an experienced software engineer, I knew exactly how to explain the problem I was seeing. I wanted to use the S/PDIF optical output of my SoundBlaster card to feed the raw 5.1 SurroundSound audio directly from the DVD being played by PowerDVD 8 Ultra to my Yamaha 5.1 sound projector speaker system, and the "use S/PDIF" option was not showing up in the audio configuration of PowerDVD. I incorrectly assumed this would be a fairly common problem that they could make some useful suggestion for. Not in this case.

It was quite painfull trying to explain to the so-call technical support person what the problem was. He obviously had no technical background and had no idea what I was talking about. I'm guessing he was looking for some key words in my complaint he could plug in to his computer and hopefully get some kind of response. It was hard holding my temper after the third or fourth run-through of the issue. I finally demanded to speak to someone else. After being on hold for some minutes, I was connected to someone who said he could solve the problem. Needless to say, his solution was totally bogus. He was just trying to get rid of me.

I found the solution with more internet searching. It was a simple problem with another application reserving the S/PDIF resource for itself, thus preventing PowerDVD from using it. I can release the S/PDIF hold with one simple mouse click and get full 5.1 SurroundSound through to my Yamaha speakers from PowewrDVD when I need to.

So, on-line support is quite good.

And phone support is terrible.

Bye.

I had the same problem and sent a message to technical support for assistance. A day or two later I received a response with detailed instructions on how to fix it. I followed the instructions and it fixed the installation problem.

The fix was essentially a manual uninstall of the previous version of PowerDVD. This included using the Microsoft installation cleaner, several hacks to the registry and finally, deleting the old PowerDVD folder from Program Files. There were two or three reboots thrown in too. This fix is not for the faint of heart. One wrong mouse click and you could cause serious damage.

Bye.