Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

So you want to watch Blu-ray movies on a computer? Then PowerDVD Ultra 9 is the program for you. The latest version of Cyberlink’s media player, at a cost of $99, is all about high definition movies and Blu-ray, plugging the hole left Vista’s lack of native Blu-ray support. PowerDVD Ultra 9 is a solid step in the right direction. Nothing revolutionary but improvements all around.

PowerDVD Ultra New Features
Cyberlink was kind enough to provide me with a release candidate version of PowerDVD Ultra 9 to review for this article. From the press materials they provided me, the following features were added to PowerDVD:
• TrueTheater™ Technology up-scales DVD for playback on HD displays
• Cinema Mode provides seamless Blu-ray playback to Microsoft Windows Media Center PCs
• Up-to 8-channel high-definition audio is supported for Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound
systems
• FancyView enables easier, more pleasurable navigation of DVD titles, chapters and movie information.
Library features allow information to be stored about both DVD and Blu-ray titles
• MoovieLive.com enables sharing of stored movie information, personal ratings and reviews.

The Good
For me, PowerDVD Ultra 9 offers two main upgrades over version 8: tight integration with Windows Media Center and DVD upconverting through its new TrueTheater settings. Support for HD Audio codecs is once again included, as it was in version 8 (note: hardware is still not available to actually listen to these HD audio codecs and won’t be until Q3 of 2009).
Media Center integration works well. No dropping to the desktop or anything funky like that. The experience is almost seamless. Just don’t hit the “back” button too many times or you will get kicked out of Media Center. Third-party plugins are able to piggyback on to PowerDVD. This means programs like Open Media Library and Media Browser are able to launch ripped movies from the media center UI. Finally.

PowerDVD Ultra had been losing market share in the media center word to TotalMedia Theatre by Arcsoft, mainly because TotalMedia Theatre was integrated better with Windows Media Center. Cyberlink had worked with OEMs like Velocity Micro PC to develop a media center plugin but it was never made available to the public. PowerDVD 9 rectifies this and once again appears to be the top choice for watching Blu-ray movies on a PC.

The Bad
PowerDVD suffers from an odd design choice, the inability to play ripped Blu-ray movies. You have to rip movies as an ISO file and then use a virtual drive to “load” the discs. For media center users, playing digital movies from a hard drive is essential. This has nothing to do with piracy. People just want to organize their movies like they organize their digital music files.
Out of Cyberlink’s control, the copy protection for Blu-ray movies can be a real pain, especially on a computer. You have to have a video AND a monitor that both support HDCP. If you have a monitor or video card older than two years, you are most likely out of luck. I use a 24″ Dell monitor to watch Blu-ray movies on my desktop. I have to use AnyDVD HD to strip out out the content protection since my monitor does not support HDCP.

Moovielive.com also seems kind of pointless. I really am not too interested to see what other PowerDVD users are watching. It seems like everyone is trying to add social networking to their products. Moovielive.com information should be made available though the media center interface.

Conclusion
With Blu-ray drives now easily found for under $100, high definition movies are more attainable than ever for the home theater computer crowd. PowerDVD Ultra 9 is an evolutionary product that should be looked at by any media center user, especially those with Blu-ray drives. If you are just looking for a software DVD player, PowerDVD is overkill, with cheaper options available.