Review: Cyberlink Power DVD 8 Ultra media software

Most PCs already come with some kind of built-in DVD playback feature; Vista Home Premium and Ultimate can play DVD movies directly in Windows Media Player or Media Center, for example.

With many cheaper options available – including an set-top DVD players for under £20 – it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to splash out £55 on DVD software.

Well, with Power DVD 8 Ultra you get high-definition disc playback – that's assuming you have a Blu-ray drive and your PC meets the higher HD system requirements (see right). Support for advanced uncompressed eight-channel audio formats (such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) is also included. Downloading a 62MB patch will add support for Blu-ray profile 2.0 and, consequently, BD Live features.

HD DVD playback has been unceremoniously dropped from this version of the software altogether. This is not particularly surprising given the format's recent misfortunes, but slightly disappointing nonetheless.

Playback was good on our test system – motion was smooth and the picture was sharp for both Blu-ray and standard DVD. There are also lots of options for customising the viewing experience. Cyberlink claims that its Truetheater technology can enhance lighting and naturalise colours, but we found that this largely comes down to personal taste.

Perhaps the most significant new feature of Power DVD 8 is its attempt to reach beyond being just another DVD player, encouraging users to catalogue their movie collections and share opinions online. Pop in a disc and the program will download a selection of info about the film, a bit like a movie version of CDDB. You can rate, review or even remix films and share all this excitement with other users at Cyberlink's "community website for movie lovers" at www.moovielive.com. It’s a clear attempt to exploit the current social networking boom and, given that there are so many established free alternatives, isn't a major selling point.