Customer Reviews

PowerDVD 9 Ultra

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

PowerDVD 9 Ultra usually works OK, but not a great program for the price. I am running Windows 7 Premium x64 on a i7 2.8 GHz system with 8 GB memory.

Like many others here, I did not want the MoovieLive feature running. I am tired of the marketing people at these software houses that keep trying to push more and more internet content on the user. Jeeze folks, I just want to watch a movie!

To disable MoovieLive, go to the PowerDVD9 installation directory. Rename file "2cMovie.dll" to something such as "2cMovie.dll.old". This will eliminate any MoovieLive functions.

If having problems playing some movies with PowerDVD9 Ultra try this: When installed, the shortcuts to PowerDVD9 point to file "PDVDLaunchPolicy.exe" in the PowerDVD9 directory. Add additional shortcuts on the desktop or start menu and point them to "PowerDVD9.exe" in the installation directory. Try playing from the new shortcuts which will bypass PDVDLaunchPolicy.exe.

I also disabled Cyberlink's brs.exe (using msconfig) which always runs after installing PowerDVD9 even when not using PowerDVD. This program has to do with Region Code. It is not needed to play discs.

This software comes with a "feature" called Moovielive. During the installation process, you are asked if you want Moovielive. If you say yes, it installs-- and if you say no, it installs anyway! Just like spyware, it worms onto your system regardless of whether you invite it.

Moovielive is a component of Powerdvd that slags ads for DVDs at you whenever you use the software--it tries to get you to go buy DVDs through a Cyberlink-owned service.

There is no way to disable this so-called feature in PowerDVD. The only way to get rid of it is by manually tinkering with your registry.

This is an excellent high performance player that will play your Blurays, DVDs and other media without skipping. It works great. You can also drag videos from a camcorder like the Canon Vixia HF S10 directly onto it and play them. It also works great under Windows XP 64 bit version.

I paid for this though, and still get advertisements for Cyberlink products, and also get this annoying "Moovie Live" screen which cannot be turned off -- I dont care what other people are watching -- I don't want to participate in their online community talking about movies or rating them.

I bought the full ULTRA version and paid for it. You'd think that would mean NO ads. Unfortunately not. I am sure it would take a simple checkbox to turn off the Moovie Live features, but evidently Cyberlink wants to force it in front of people. I wrote the company and asked, they replied there is no way to turn ads or Moovie Live off.

NOT recommended if you cannot turn a blind eye to these annoyances.

PowerDVD is the absolute worst software I've had to use in 10 years. It will not play back your movies for such a wide variety of stupid reasons that I'm not even going to go into details. Suffice it to say that you should spend your money elsewhere. Do not give these glorified spyware pushers any money if you value the freedom and usability of your computer. Thank you.

Upon initial installation, PDVD asked to perform an update. Everything went normally and we were able to watch several Blu-ray disks with no trouble ... HDMI output to our 6 month old Denon receiver worked fine ... multichannel audio (DTS-HD MA).

Anyway, starting yesterday, PDVD has decided that our Denon is no longer HDCP compatible and refuses to send anything but stereo. 6 separate BR titles all exihibit this behavior with PDVD issuing an error message indicating that the display is not HDCP compatible.

Avoid this product. Cyber Link should be sued out of existence. They ripped us off.

Yet another example of poorly written overpriced software. I regret ever purchasing this program. I have run it on a Windows XP platform (32 bit) and also on Windows 7 64 bit. In each
case the program is very prone to freezing and/or failing to start properly. When playing typical mainstream DVDs on my PC using PowerDVD 9 Ultra, I experienced problems with blank screens with audio only, screens that appeared in all green with no audio, and poor graphics presentation. Blu ray disks were very problematic and many Blu Rays in my collection would not play at all. I installed the program on several different hardware platforms to rule out hardware issues, yet experienced the same poor performance on each machine.
It is ironic that a completely free video player, VLC player, was able to play all of my DVDs without a hiccup. In addition VLC player was more configurable, loaded faster, and did not attempt to slyly install other software components as PowerDVD did. The DVD presentation looked great too. It just goes to show you that expensive commercial software written by programmers of questionable competence does not always outperform well written open source software.
Please save your hard earned money and DO NOT purchase this sad excuse for a video program. There are completely free alternatives such as VLC Player and GOM Player that do a much better job
and will not make the simple act of watching a movie a hair pulling nightmare.

Stupid me. I thought that by buying the updated software, it would get rid of the inadequacies of V.8., but, alas, I spent another $80 thinking that this would work. After I bought a BR player and tried to play one, it stopped working altogether and then on removal corrupted windows enough that I'm thinking I'm going to have to reinstall... what do they say?...Caveat Emptor - which I think means that you've been warned so proceed at the risk to your own pocketbook and sanity.

OH, and did I mention the other 10ish programs that install with the DVD player and insert themselves into the startup menu - why can't they just make a good player at a reasonable price. People that want to edit movies, can buy the extra s.... AND THE MOOOVIE LINE CRAP IS INEXCUSABLE (whether or not it can be disabled.)

I have had issues running new blu-rays. Got the new x-men blu-ray last week and it would not work. It is quite the let down to get the family to gether for movie night and just get an error massage. I had to download a patch the next day then it would play the movie. Last night we got another new blu-ray and got the same error message except now there is no new patch so I am out of luck. We have a $30.00 blu-ray and can only look at the cover art. Do not wast your money.

I have been playing with this software for almost a year now. One day it works, the next it doesn't. I have NEVER spent so much time debugging in my entire life. Buy this ONLY if you have hours and hours available for installing and uninstalling, debugging, resetting your computer controls, emailing CyberLnk technicians, on and on and on and on. I have had this installed, like I say, for about a year. I have not yet been able to just insert a disc and play it without first uninstalling and reinstalling the software or something crazy! Some days I cannot get it to play no matter what I do! It's not that my expertise is lacking - I was an IT debugger for a mainstream computer company for 10 years; I traveled the world fixing hardware and software problems for IBM, DEC, and a few others.

Heed my warning! I am NOT exaggerating one iota! Buy this and you'll be kicking yourself ten minutes later. You will hangup the idea of playing Blu-ray and go back to regular DVD's. Mark my word!

robert! L.
Fresno, California
USA

My problem with PowerDVD: I have 2 displays: primary (computer monitor), and secondary (TV). PowerDVD was working ok on TV for some time. But, after TV had been disconnected for a few minutes (of course, it is reconnected), PowerDVD stopped working. My secondary display (TV) is connected correctly because I have a dozen other applications that work with TV without any problem. The only problem is PowerDVD.

I contacted Cyberlink's support. First few advices were how to connect secondary display. Obviously, it is not my issue because I have many other apps working with TV. The last advice was to reinstall all drivers, remove all codecs, reinstall PowerDVD... They must be kidding me. The number of actions and involved time is almost like installing the system from scratch.