Should I buy powerdvd 14 ?

aze555666

Newbie Joined: Dec 30, 2011 09:14 Messages: 6 Offline

Solved by

Feb 01, 2015 12:09

Hi,

I currently have powerdvd10, which came with my blu ray drive. I previously had powerdvd8 which came with my previous blu ray drive.

Except updating those anti-honest-people blu ray encryption keys, I didn't see any major difference between 8 and 10. I now need something more recent than 10 because of those encryption keys.

So I'd like to buy powerdvd 14, but it costs as much as a new drive (which would come with powerdvd 12 or 13) so I'd like to know a few details before I buy it :

- Does it support "cropping" ? which means : if I watch a DVD that is encoded for 4:3 with integrated black border and I watch it on a 16:10 screen, it will have 4 black borders (!!). Cropping to 16:10 or 16:9 removes lateral ones. VLC has been doing this for years and I asked for this feature on this forum long ago ... moderators thanked me but I don't know if it has been implemented in powerdvd 11+ ?

- Does it still need to disable windows 7 aero and change the color scheme to play blu rays ? Its kinda annoying in powerdvd 8/10.

- Does it have a clean main window (or an option to make it clean) ? Powerdvd 8/10 looks nice for 3 seconds then morphs into an adware-looking software (ads for movies, ad for next powerdvd, and moving ads for random things). I'm OK for paying a full version of a software (namely powerdvd) but I don't want ads in it (or it should be free).

- Has performance been improved ? Powerdvd 8/10 feel slow even with my new i7-5820k.

- Will I definitely get rid of "warning" messages about updates (which in fact lead to payed *upgrade* site), even after powerdvd 15/16/+ are out ? Two of these appear each time I play a blu ray, and they are annoying. I'm ok with them as long as I have a free version that came with my drive but I don't want this once I payed.

- If the DVI or HDMI port of my monitor crashes, will power dvd 14 let me watch movies with the VGA port ? I bought the blu ray, should be enough ...

- And most important : Will I be able to play any blu ray with it, without having to buy a powerdvd again 2 years from now ? Will powerdvd14 be updated with those new encryption keys ? I don't need all the new features (I don't even know what powerdvd10 had that 8 didn't have), only want to play blu rays. Home blu ray players get those updates without having to buy a new player as far as I know. Also, I pay for blu rays which should give me the right to watch them, I shouldn't have to pay again for encryption keys (btw next time cyberlink managers have a meeting with blu ray association managers, you could remind them that those "protections" are much more of an incentive to pirate than a protection against pirating).

I guess you will not reply "yes" to all of those questions (unfortunately !) but if some have an answer then I'll buy powerdvd14.

If "no" is the answer to each and every question above, what other software can I buy ?

Thanks

Kévin

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Feb 01. 2015 12:16

Jeff R 1

Senior Member Joined: Jan 09, 2010 14:05 Messages: 176 Offline

Feb 01, 2015 15:47

Rather then have someone answer all those questions, wouldn't it be easier to use the trial and find out for yourself ?

The other alternative is to keep using you old versions of Power DVD and have SlySoft running in the back ground so all the new Blu-rays will play.
With SlySoft you can also you use free Blu-ray players like Media Player Classic Home Cinema.

AnyDVD HD also has a trial as well.

In the end though, if all you're doing is just playing commercial Blu-rays, then buying a stand-alone player is the way to go.
Playing Blu-rays on a computer is generally more labour intensive and more expensive.

People who have computer based Blu-ray players like to have their discs stored on a hard drive.

And as you know Power DVD will need to be updated to play new discs and eventually when new versions are released the old ones get phased out requiring that you pay an upgrade fee for the new version.

Back to the stand-alone Blu-ray player(s), I have a second generation Sony (very old) that still plays all the Blu-rays, but I stopped using it because the laser is failing.

If anyway computer based Blu-ray player is feeling slow it's usually an issue with your video card. How old is yours ?
Installing an SSD will certainly speed things up.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Feb 01. 2015 16:27

aze555666

Newbie Joined: Dec 30, 2011 09:14 Messages: 6 Offline

Feb 01, 2015 16:20

I will not buy a standalone player (have no TV, and need to keep my 2 monitors plugged to my PC).

And yes, I'd like to have my discs stored on my hard drives (have 10TiB available, should be enough for all my blu rays !). But I don't know how to do this yet. These things are full of anti-honesty-protections (no, I won't call them anti-piracy : pirated content is free of all the problems that honest people have with payed blu rays)

Also, I guessed that asking would be better than using a trial version (I don't like to install and uninstall trials, and some questions here will not be answered by the trial version anyway).

Concerning AnyDVD HD/slysoft : I just posted on their forums to know if their software has one of the issues that I have with powerdvd. I didn't realize until I saw your message that it was a driver and not a player ... I guess I could use it with VLC :

. My concern about it (aht i forgot to ask on their forum, I'll do so when my 1st post appears) => is it perennial ? It bypasses a lot of the horrible protections (hdcp, region, lets skip antipiracy messages), so will the blu ray association keep selling them the new encryption keys ?

Jeff R 1

Senior Member Joined: Jan 09, 2010 14:05 Messages: 176 Offline

Feb 01, 2015 16:39

Get the lifetime member ship for AnyDVDHD _ it's kind of expensive, but it's a one time shot and that's it. James and the others over at SlySoft do a good job of updating the encryption key removal. I've used it for years and have never been sorry, it's a great product ! :

If you're going to use a free Blu-ray player, use MPC-HC, not VLC _ VLC was never meant to play Blu-rays and doesn't do it very well.
Many videophiles over at the SlySoft forum will agree with me on this.

AnyDVD HD has a built in ripper to save the movies on the hard drive _ it saves it as an ISO file _ that file is then mounted on a virtual drive (free ware) and it shows up in Windows like a regular Blu-ray loaded into any standard computer Blu-ray drive.
Once mounted it can be played with any free Blu-ray player or Power DVD, if you wish.

SlySoft has a free virtual player "Virtual Clone Drive"

http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html

As far as border cropping for Blu-rays _ generally no matter what encryption keys are removed, the format does not allow cropping.
MPC-HC does to a point in their "Video Frame" tool.
I don't know of any computer based licensed play that allows cropping with Blu-rays.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Feb 01. 2015 16:48

aze555666

Newbie Joined: Dec 30, 2011 09:14 Messages: 6 Offline

Feb 01, 2015 16:54

Thank you for your answers !

I'll probably go for the lifetime AnyDVD HD.

Jeff R 1

Senior Member Joined: Jan 09, 2010 14:05 Messages: 176 Offline

Feb 01, 2015 17:02

Use the trial first in AnyDVD HD, just as rule of thumb before laying down your cash.
If you like it, then you activate it with a product key, you don't have to uninstall it to install the paid version like Power DVD.