Hi Hugh,

I have Power DVD 9 & 10 on my system and I have been completely satisfied with the their operation on my system. If you play Standard DVD's Power DVD will upconvert them to a crisper and more visually improved picture. I have 19 month old twins who prefer Baby Einstein playback on Power DVD to the Windows Media Player. So who could argue with that?

I have a Blue Ray Player on my system, Power DVD has played all of my BRD's flawlessly and with a stunning picture surpassing my expectations. My system also serves as my HTPC and Power DVD has been a welcome and reliable addition. I have my PC connected with a fiber optic cable to my receiver and the sound is great!

It is hard to figure out exactly what might be happening with the group of people on here having troubles. In some cases it's not having updated video card drivers or updated firmware on their DVD drives and BRD drives. Don't be swayed by what you read on the Power DVD forum. I can confidently tell you that there is a huge population using it that don't have problems. Usually the only people writing on the forums are the ones having problems....does that make sense? There are also people having trouble playing certain BRD on their systems. There are solutions. I have been checking out the forums for Stand-a-lone Blue Ray Players and their forums are full of people as well complaining about certain discs not playing. So Power DVD isn't the only player havings some playback issues.

But all you have to do is download a free trial for 30 days and judge Power DVD for yourself. If you like it buy it...if you don't...don't.

Kevin
Check out PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials and more! Over 5,000 Subscribers.

Cap'n - I have seen your comments many times in the PD8 forum. I don't even need a trial, I'm just going to buy it.

I'll have to settle with just playing HD on my pc (windows media player) hooked to my HDTV via HDMI. The only HD stuff I have is video I have shot. I'm saving up for my next computer to get solid state drives and Blueray. I can hear the argument now with my wife! PowerDirector 8, PowerDVD10
Sony HDR-CX110 Full HD AVCHD
Panasonic DMC-Z3S camera (AVCHD lite - 720p)
Gateway, i3 cpu, ATI 5650 graphics, 4Gig ram, windows 7

And a Sony DV and a Cannon 8mm to boot.

Hi Hugh
I’m a PowerDVD Virgin. I rarely ever play DVD’s on my computer and when I do I would use Media Player….I mean heck it’s free!!

For the longest time I never understood why anyone would pay $ for a DVD program that is already on their PC.

I recently purchased Media Suite 8 and upgraded PD to a full version. While playing with the program I thought I would try PowerDVD….and let me tell you I would have never believed it if someone told me it would make such a difference. It must be 10-20 times the quality of media player the picture quality is AMAZING. I actually watched two moves while working on a video.
I would have to say it’s worth every penny. I’m going to order a BlueRay burner very soon just so I can use it more!!!!

Hi Hugh and FannBlade,

Hugh - Thank you for your vote of confidence!! It really is appreciated...I really like the player....still exploring some of the features...video file playback and music files....But for me, it has been a positive addition. If you happen to have DVD's that are not in wide format...Like my Baby Einstein videos Power DVD also has the ability to stretch the video and fill my wide screen TV. My particular monitor does not have that ability to stretch it automatically, so I make use of that feature with Power DVD.

Fortunately my wife was willing to finally upgrade our old system...it was a chunk of change....but we all use it on a daily basis....And as bad as the reviews for the movie 2012 were....It was jaw dropping on Blue Ray!!

FannBlade,

Thanks for your input to the Power DVD story! I was amazed at the quality myself, and it did improve the quality with standard DVD playback.
Not everyone has had a good first impression. But I believe if they provide detailed hardware information with DXdiag file (this gives all your hardware and driver information with a single file) and then submit it for review on a post reply it will be possible for the more technical members to track down their particular problem and assist them.

Thanks again for some positive input...it is very refreshing!!

Regards,

Kevin

Check out PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials and more! Over 5,000 Subscribers.

Sigh - well I tried out my new DVD10 and got poor results. I know the problem is me and not the software, but I have been looking around for documentation without much success. Did you guys figure it out by trial and error or did you find some learning material? I will send in my technical info, but I'd like to muck around a bit myself first.

Couple of experiments that didn't go so well. I created a movie in PD8 that included some DV tape video as well as some AVCHD lite video (I think it is 1200 by 720 roughly).

I burned it to disk. When I played it back the HD stuff was in a window within a window, so very small, and very poor quality. The DV tape stuff wasn't noticably better than normal DV tape.

When I compared just the AVCHD lite file playing in Windows Media and then in DVD10, I could see the difference. When I started I had the option to turn on ATI streaming but that turned off True Theatre. With True Theatre it was noticably smoother but I wouldn't say the picture was better. Without True Theatre the picture wasn't as good as it was just played on Windows Media.

Don't spend alot of time on this, but if you know of some good reading or videos let me know.

Hugh PowerDirector 8, PowerDVD10
Sony HDR-CX110 Full HD AVCHD
Panasonic DMC-Z3S camera (AVCHD lite - 720p)
Gateway, i3 cpu, ATI 5650 graphics, 4Gig ram, windows 7

And a Sony DV and a Cannon 8mm to boot.

Hi Hugh,

Sorry that your initial experiments didn't go well. I might suggest that you start a new topic in the Power Director 8 forum....because the topic is now going to change a bit and it is more related disc burning.

Couple of experiments that didn't go so well. I created a movie in PD8 that included some DV tape video as well as some AVCHD lite video (I think it is 1200 by 720 roughly).

I burned it to disk. When I played it back the HD stuff was in a window within a window, so very small, and very poor quality. The DV tape stuff wasn't noticably better than normal DV tape.

If your raw footage is in High Definition...just a quick question...did you burn it onto a Blue Ray Disc or in a AVCHD format? If you burned it to a DVD, the resulting file will be at a lower resolution and lower bitrate, so the visual quality will less.

I don't make many discs...but if you post a question in the PD8 forum on maximizing your quality onto a standard DVD, I think you will get some ideas that will help you. I have read many topics about "why is the quality not as good as my original footage once a DVD is created", and there are some techniques that can help. But ...bottom line HD footage reduced to DVD is going to result in reduced quality.

Don't worry, and I don't think you are...but it will get sorted out.

As far as reading material and videos to watch....I have found that reading the forum has been my BEST source for information...the manuals tend to be basic....as you already know.

Good Luck,

Kevin
Check out PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials and more! Over 5,000 Subscribers.