PowerDirector 7 Ultra [OLD VERSION]

by Cyberlink

Product Features

• Full support for Blu-ray Disc authoring and end-to-end high-definition video support including AVCHD.
• Support for 6 independent PiP video tracks, 3D engine for photo slideshows, new styles and soundtrack beat detection for synced, video-like results.
• Disc authoring with stunning new menu templates and real DVD subtitles option. Key frame control editor for video effects, new preset motion paths for animating photos.
• Improved Magic Tools for fixing, enhancing and editing videos with one click. New online community, DirectorZone, for sharing templates, effects, and ideas.
• Direct access to photos on Flickr, audio on Freesound. Adjustable user interface and better media management.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000RI2WNI
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 24, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,729 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)

Product Description

Winner of PC Magazine's "Editors' Choice" award in June 2008, CyberLink PowerDirector 7 is a comprehensive, semi-professional video editing software, featuring end-to-end support for high definition video, from importing to editing and output, and includes advanced authoring features for Blu-ray Discs and DVDs. With HD camcorder prices continuing to drop, creating high-definition video content is now more affordable then ever. Amateur directors and home video enthusiasts are looking for a way to edit videos quickly and easily, while preserving their high-definition quality: PowerDirector 7 does just that, with powerful tools that deliver pro-like results. To enhance users’ creativity even more, PowerDirector provides direct access to countless resources on DirectorZone, CyberLink's online community dedicated to video editors. DirectorZone is both a creative platform and library; it is a place for users to share effects they have customized themselves using PowerDirector's built-in design tools, and lets them contribute to a growing catalog of effects that other PowerDirector users can download for their projects.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A comparative analysis of the software, September 9, 2008

By 

B. Wong - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PowerDirector 7 Ultra [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

My Sony TRV310 camcorder and ancient pinnacle DV200 capture card has been a pain on many software before this. In fact, this is the first software I EVER owned where I could recognize the camcorder with no problem. My relatives also have plugged in their camcorders, all of which were recognized flawlessly. That is the good news.

The capturing feature however has some issues. If you taped something at 9am for 5 separate days, the camcorder stamp may show up as 9:00, 9:00, 9:00. This software struggles to tell the difference between any of the 9:00. It works sometimes, but fails other times. My recommendation is to use manual capture all the time, preferably rewind to the very second where you're about to start capturing. It also has problem locating timecodes every once in a while, but I am not sure if this is related to my camcorder. The issue is noticable from tapes 10 years old to 1 week old. Cyberlink really could add a "save batch" button in the future though. Do they really expect users to have a 60 minute batch list, not to be saved?

The non-real time capture button pretty much guarantees no frame drop. This is a real plus, and a big selling point for people who are capturing on machines with just 1GB of RAM or less. The user interface is truly one of the best designed. And I have compared everything from low end to high end like adobe premiere. So far I have gone from capturing to burning 5.1 dolby digital dual-layer DVDs without reading a page of instructions. Undeniably this is the easiest time I EVER had using this type of software! The amazing thing is that it packs a ton of features into an interface without making it look complicated. Simply put, I am not overwhelmed by buttons, and I don't need to be an expert to maximize the software use. If not for the capturing hiccups, I'd give this 5 stars.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good product - support stinks, October 9, 2008

By 

Hardy52 - See all my reviews

This review is from: PowerDirector 7 Ultra [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

Good product. Simple and fast. Only a rare crash when trying to scanning digital TV channels using Hauppauge HVR-950. Everything else reliable.
The PC I use has a quad-core Q6600 and plenty of RAM and separate HDs for video. PowerDirector makes good use of all of these. If you have a lower spec machine don't expect miracles performance wise.

Only used it to edit avi and mov files so far. Imported mov (Quicktime) video doesn't look so good after import - but that could well be my setings (haven't investigated further).

PROs
Simple, slick interface.
Fast and easy to edit video.
6 PiPs
Some "special" effects (a bit cheesy to be honest, but there there)
Handles everything from capture to DVD creation

CONs
Only two audio tracks (music and dialog)
No Flash FLV/SWF export
DVD title editor is just bizarre - not good at all (but you can get most things done eventually). Hopefully Cyberlink improve this with a patch.

BIGGEST CONs
Unprofessional, agressive, obnoxious Cyberlink staff on Cyberlink forum. Don't worry they remove the posts that show them to be complete lunatics.
Fast but useless support. (Maybe run by the same people?). Ignore issue posted and tell you to edit the registry, turn off firewall, etc. Just ignore them - you'll end up doing more damage.

SUMMARY
Product: 4-5 stars
Cyberlink forum: -10 stars
Support: 0 stars

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Beware for AVCHD 4.1 camera users, May 20, 2009

By 

Embedded EE (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PowerDirector 7 Ultra [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

This product was highly reviewed for video editing. In fact, on many sites, this product was ranked higher than Sony Vegas, Adobe Elements, and a multitude of others.

Being cautious, I downloaded the evaluation version (free from Cyberlink's website). This free evaluation does not allow for HD content burning, but was enough to play with the look and feel of the product. It seemed like a reasonable product, so I bought a copy from Amazon.

This product was advertised as supporting AVCHD. Buyer beware that there are different versions of AVCHD.

Very Basic Summary:

AVCHD 4.0 = up to 17 Mbit/s transport stream.
AVCHD 4.1 = up to 24 Mbit/s transport stream.

Now I have a Cannon Vixia HF S10. This supports 24 Mbit/s video output/quality, and basically conforms to the AVCHD 4.1 specification. My hope was to buy PowerDirector 7 Ultra and use it's advertised AVCHD and BD (blue ray disk) burning support to create HD home movies for the family.

After playing with the product for a couple of days, it became very obvious that the product did not support AVCHD 4.1. Again this was not documented anywhere (online, in the user manual, etc.). So what does this mean? All video captured with my camera is down sampled to 17 Mbit/s. This wouldn't be so bad, if the stream was a steady 17; however, the codec PowerDirector uses does not work this way. My 22-24 Mbit/s source video (which looks great by the way), is down sampled to 12-14 Mbit/s. This results in very grainy and choppy looking video.

This in itself would have put the product at 2-3 stars. I'm giving Cyberlink's PowerDirector 7 Ultra a one star, because of the following.

Before writing off the product as unusable, I contacted their customer support about the issue. Their turn around on posted issues is ~1 week. My first post was just a general question about how to preserve my video quality, and described the drop in quality from the 24Mbit/s source. The response I got was a canned answer to try a very basic burn. Being patient, I tried this and provided feedback that this didn't work. Realizing the quality of tech support at this point, I changed my tactic to ask directly if the tool supported AVCHD 4.1. It took three exchanges (so three more weeks go by), before they answered my direct question, and stated the following:

"In regards to your concern related with the droping of video quality we would like to inform that PowerDirector doesn't support H264 Main-Profile, Level 4.1 = 24Mbps max."

Now that I have confirmation from them that this product does not support my needs, I start the process of requesting a return and refund of the product. I then get sent between Digital River, and Cyberlink customer support three times, each stating that the other group is responsible for the refund and return of the product.

I'll be contacting Amazon shortly, and see what they might be able to do for me, but my hopes are not that high.

Conclusion:

If you have a camcorder which does not support AVCHD 4.1, and you do not mind dealing with tech support for multiple weeks for simple direct questions (or don't need tech support at all), then this product is probably great. Otherwise, I would suggest looking elsewhere.