I've not seen that particular error before. However, you should fully uninstall PD7 and clean up the registry entries before installing PD8. That seemed to work for most people. Win8 64-bit Pro Retail
Intel i7-4770
16GB DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24
MSI Z87-G45 Motherboard
ASUS GTX 660 Direct CU II OC 2GB GPU
1 TB RAID 1 (mirrored) Drive Array
Several scratch drives for video, TMP, pagefile.

I'm getting same error after installing PD8. I ensured that I fully uninstalled PD7 and cleaned the registry. I installed fresh MS .Net Framework SP1 3.5 and VC Redistributables 2005 & 2008, but no change. Event viewer says
"Activation context generation failed for "C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDirector\PDR8.exe.Manifest". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis."

I have Vista Home Premium and using DELL XPS M1530.
Help please

Monchie,
Please contact Online customer support.
http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/support/cs/index.do

1. you may have a corrupted download - contact support.
2. you may need to uninstall PD and reinstall using the instructions below.

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/7958.page
Subject: PowerDirector - information we request and tasks to carry out.
PART P

I. Reboot PC.

Before carrying out part II please ensure you have ...... Go to Tools > Folder Options > View tab > Select "Show hidden files and folders"

II. Install Microsoft cleanup tool and clean PowerDirector installation information Install Microsoft cleanup tool and execute from "Start\all programs\WindowsInstaller Cleanup" To check if PowerDirector is on product list, If you can see PowerDirector in product list. Select
PowerDirector and click "Remove" button to clean up PowerDirector.
Microsoft cleanup tool: PART P

III. Remove PowerDirector folder and clean up PowerDirector Registry
Please try the following steps.
1. Remove C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDirector folder
2. Remove C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{CB099890-1D5F-11D5-9EA9-0050BAE317E1} folder
3. Run regedit (Start --> Run --> type "regedit" )
(1) Remove HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CyberLink\PowerDirector
(2) Remove
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{CB099890-1D5F-11D5-9EA9-0050BAE317E1}
(3) Remove
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\InstallShield Uninstall Information\{CB099890-1D5F-11D5-9EA9-0050BAE317E1}
(4) Remove
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\InstallShield_{CB099890-1D5F-11D5-9EA9-0050BAE317E1}

Thanks for the reply Dafydd, but nothing's happened after doing your suggested actions. Thanks a lot though, I appreciate it.
It just occurred to me to try it out on my desktop unit, and guess what? It installed and run flawlessly! I couldn't explain why. I have basically similar software setup in my laptop and desktop. I'm still searching for answers.

OK,
We're not CyberLink Tech Support. You'll have to take this directly to them and seek their guidance.

http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/support/cs/index.do

best of luck

Dafydd