Customer Reviews

Corel WinDVD Pro 2010 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

The good news: the software performs beautifully...when it performs--picture quality is excellent, and, to my eye, tangibly superior to its competitors.

First, let me state that my desktop is state of the art: I am using an nvidia graphics card (>400 dollars), an i7 cpu, 12 gigs of ram, and a completely updated vista-64 OS, including the most recent drivers. I am not experiencing any problems with any of my other major software packages, e.g., cs4 (heavily graphics card dependent), office, or visual studio. So, I think it very unlikely that the source of the following problem resides any where other than the product under review.

With that said, here's the bad news: I average 1 complete computer freeze per day using the program, and it is a freeze requiring reboot, i. e., the freeze is pre-emptive: I cannot access any other menu, not even the task manager. The stalled program presents the usual "would you like to transmit details of the issue to the publisher of the program" form, but I cannot make selections in that menu. I have deleted and reinstalled the software several times, including a thorough, manual cleanse of any detritus left in the registry by the uninstall. My efforts proved a waste of time. I had surmised that complete lock-ups of my computer were events XP had made a residue of the past. Not so, friends! Corel has re-introduced them!!

On the cosmetic and customer usage side, many of the menu choices, and several of the stylistic elements that made the precursor, winDVD-9, so attractive to me have changed or disappeared. For instance, I like to run a video in a reduced window when I am writing code, playing mah jong, and the like. This version no longer permits me to toggle the playback's display control panel on and off, so that forces me to commit more display real estate than I wish--it is a small grievance, but aggravating. Another incidental aggravation is the help window. The user is presented with a control panel that blanks out the center of the display, and asks him to select a help link, which then opens another window, and both windows remain visible. Who implemented this program? The boss' niece?

I had great hopes for this software, thinking it would build on the previous versions' excellent picture quality and user friendliness. Alas, not to be. In fact, it completely misreads and misimplements the icc profile I have created for this monitor using color calibration hardware--I managed to tweak the picture using the nVidia control panel, but you might not be able to do this. I did not see these visual problems with windvd_9 on this same configuration. Why don't I continue using the previous version, you ask? That version doesn't play all blu-rays, since the standards for this technology are still in flux, and Corel is unwilling to provide the updates to maintain that program's usefulness. Now, doesn't that stand to reason?

The corker to all this, as I see it, is the virtual isolation of the technical support staff from the consumer. There is a 15 dollar charge for direct telephone assistance charged incrementally (hey, my 100 dollar program cost me 300 dollars in support to finally understand that it fails altogether! Now, that's what I call business ethics!!); and internet based email support is sub-standard, with lag times of 48 to 96 hours between posting your request and a reply. Add to this, that the advice is almost never useful, (it hasn't been for me, at any rate) merely advising the user to read, say, the FAQ on how to install, or how to turn it on, or some other equally trivial, irrelevant advice.

I cannot recommend this software to prospective buyers until it is revised and re-marketed.

Serious flaws.

tlt-

While I haven't experienced any crashes, the user interface of WinDVD Pro 2010 is so slow and limited in scope that it's utterly unusable. Simply opening a file is a complex chore. Several features universally present that help scrolling through files are missing. Worse, many capabilities useful for navigating through a movie that were present in the old Intervideo WinDVD interface are now gone. Save your money.

If you want something that locks up, crashes your system and doesn't function properly... then this is a home run. WinDVD was better when Intervideo ran it. This product should not have been released and it definitely doesn't work with Windows 7. Even worse, you can't get rid of previous installs.

Although I use software all the time I rarely review it. I'm making an exception to warn people that WinDVD is an utterly useless waste of money. Avoid it at all costs.

WinDVD, how shall I list your flaws? I use it mainly as a Blu-Ray player so I'll focus on that.

1. Difficult to install. Lots of useless bloatware make the program slow and sloppy.
2. Slow to run and open.
3. Conforms to nonsensical HDCP gobbeldygook preventing me from watching MY OWN MOVIE on MY OWN MONITOR. And what's worse it gives a gibberish error message when it fails so it took me a couple days to figure out what the problem was.
4. It crashes. Frequently.
5. You can't use the mouse properly in menus and WinDVD offers no virtual remote, so you get to guess which key they've assigned to which button. Come on guys, it's a DVD player. This should be intuitive.
6. Out of five perfectly good blu-rays I tested, three wouldn't play right, glitching and erroring, once I moved it to my new, expensive HDCP-compliant monitor, of course. PS3 plays everything like a dream.
7. Hard-froze my windows 7 computer when I left it paused overnight.

Junk. Junk. Junk.

I wish I could give it 0 or negative rating.

This is probably the worst product I have ever owned. They didn't allow me to try the blu-ray version so I had to buy it to try it. I had to pick between total media player from Arcsoft and Corel. I thought Corel would be better but it was a mistake. Arcsoft allows me to try the trial version and it plays blu-ray perfectly. I should've gone with Arcsoft. With Corel WinDVD pro 2010 only if I'm lucky after trying numerous times, it will play. That was on Vista. I then upgraded to Windows 7 hoping that it will work better but it's actually worse. It only shows blank. I can hear the audio but without the video, it's crap. What a waste of money and can't get a refund either. And also, they have one of the worse customer service. I swear to avoid any Corel products form now on.

I tried to buy this product directly from Corel -- and their system malfunctioned after charging my card, but before providing the product key. I tried again, and got the product key, but my card was charged AGAIN. So, now I have a VERY expensive version of the product.

I installed the product on a brand new computer, but I can't get it to launch. It pops up for a second, then crashes. Tech support suggested that my video card may be insufficient. I'm running a new Radeon 8570 with the latest drivers, which is one of the fastest on the market. Then tech support decided that the problem must be that I need more RAM, 8 gigs may not be enough to play a video. At some point in time, it became obvious that the program was a steaming pile, and tech support was determined to place the blame on random components rather than admit they have a problem.

By the way, their technical support has a Byzantine array of automated menus, including a number of alternate phone numbers that you may have to dial, and a lot of "premium" support. Callers are repeatedly warned that if your question was answered somewhere in their support materials, they will charge another $15.00 to answer it. After navigating the gauntlet, you get to sit on hold for fifteen or twenty minutes.

So, I'm out a pile of cash with absolutely nothing to show for it. Corel used to be a decent company, but they're declining in quality, reliability, and their tech support is terrible. They've lost my business. Run, don't walk, from this sub-standard piece of garbage produced by what has become a sub-standard company.

Unstable & crash happy. "Tech support" only can tell you to upgrade your drivers. Purchased this for blu-ray support on my hp laptop no video but it does play menu music. Dunno the reason fresh Windows 7 64bit install with the newest drivers.

i came to backup the first reviewer of this product

this program really does cause you computer to freeze, enough that you'd have to reboot rather than try to close out the program or wait

this also doesnt seem to play the english track on pretty much every blue ray movie i've put in (i know the english audio format is different than the rest)
I also know that it doesnt play blu ray folders like a disc (it does so with DVD folders)
you have to click every individual file to play the video (again, the english track doesnt work

Like many here, this program was totally useless to me. But the strange thing is, I didn't have any of the problems other people had. Startup was quick, the mouse works fine, and it didn't crash. The problem is: on my computer (a Sony Vaio laptop with Windows 7) it only works for DVDs!

I downloaded this because I lost my Intervideo WinDVD player, and I couldn't replace it because Corel has taken over the company. So apparently, this Corel WinDVD software is the successor to Intervideo users.

Well, it was useless to me. While the previous Intervideo Player had no problem with Blu-Ray disks, this one just says "Media not supported". What the hell? The whole reason for this software is to play Blu-Ray disks. If I just want to play regular DVDs, there's already a million free players for that. I updated all my drivers so that's not the problem. The problem is this player needs some very serious patches before it would be of any use to me. Thank goodness I got the limited time trial version.

I ended up downloading Cyberlink Power DVD9 instead and it worked just fine.

I got this program because of reliabilty of past products. This WinDVD 2010 the worst thing I ever installed on my PC (running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit) I would compare it to a virus. It should never have been released, very disappointed. Waste of money ($60) & time. Judging by all the bad reviews they should give refunds to all the customers. Bad customer support Corel. Does not play any media (Blu-ray, dvd, etc.)