CyberLink PowerDVD 7 Review
By The Guru | December 21, 2007
I’m a big movie buff and over the years I’ve collected a ton of DVDs that I enjoy watching on my home theater system. Now you would think that this would be great, however there is a slight problem. These days I’m hardly ever home to use my home theater. I have been working a lot of long days recently and so I usually end up watching new DVDs I buy on my PC.
I have been using CyberLink’s PowerDVD software longer than I can remember. I think I discovered it about 5 years ago (I think it was CyberLink PowerDVD 3 then). Recently I decided to upgrade to CyberLink PowerDVD 7 because of the new features and I was overdue for an upgrade.
Once I downloaded and installed the software from the PowerDVD site I started it up and instantly I noticed huge improvements with the interface. I started to explore and play around with it a bit and discovered that there are now 5 UI modes to choose from as well as multiple skins. This is a great feature for me because I love customizing my programs so that they are easier to use visually.
I am also a minimalist and the Mini Mode was really a great addition. With Mini Mode you can control your DVD from the Windows Task Bar without having to have a full interface. PowerDVD 7 also sports a great Full Screen Mode that turns your computer screen into a TV expanding the DVD to fit the entire screen. Even though I enjoyed customizing the skin and playing with the UI modes, I mainly ended up using the program in Mini Mode just because it eliminates the interface and unnecessary clutter.
One of the biggest additions in PowerDVD 7, and something I was really excited to try was the added support for Blue-ray and HD DVD movies. You can now watch all of your high definition movies including Blue-Ray and HD DVD with PowerDVD. Full surround sound is also supported which is great if you have a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system hooked up. When I put on “The Fifth Element” in Blue-Ray I actually had to turn down my subwoofer to avoid disturbing my neighbors.
The High Definition Playback with PowerDVD was unbelievably sharp, I was blown away - I’m not sure if this was because of the software or the Blue-ray movie but regardless it looks spectacular. I have a 27 inch widescreen Dell monitor so I can really appreciate HD compared to the standard DVD format. CyberLink is definitely taking their product in the right direction by supporting the various HD Formats. Although I was not able to test out the HD DVD support (I have a Blue-ray player) everything ran smoothly and I cant stress just how amazing the picture quality is with these HD formats.
One of my favorite features of PowerDVD 7 is actually a feature that is easily overlooked called Video Bookmarks. This feature allows you to “Bookmark” certain scenes in a movie, similar to the way you bookmark your favorite websites with your internet browser.
Overall I’m really glad I upgraded to PowerDVD 7. There are a ton of new features and the HD Playback is a major step forward. Although there are some minor interface issues I would like to see improved overall the interface additions and improvements are welcomed and the Mini Mode is great. If you are looking to watch DVD’s, HD DVDs, or Blue-ray Disks on your computer I highly recommend CyberLink PowerDVD 7.
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