Most PCs equipped with a disc drive come with PowerDVD preloaded. But that version is a basic disc player. Home theater enthusiasts will want to consider upgrading to the ultimate in CyberLink's video consumption offerings: the Ultra edition of PowerDVD 17 ($99.95 or $14.99 for a 3-month subscription). The newly released software not only adds support for the latest video technology and standards, but improves how older content looks, too.
The three big, new PowerDVD features are the ability to play 360-degree VR content, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, and HDR10 content, which increases a video's color gamut appreciably. In fact, CyberLink reps claim it's the very first piece of software in this category with official support for Ultra HD Blu-ray and HDR10.
CyberLink's SVP of Global Marketing, Richard Carriere, explained "Our approach is to make any content look the best it can on any device you have."
Of course, the biggest problem with any new video standard is finding content to play. With 360-degree VR, though, it recently gained support in Vimeo and has been available on YouTube for a couple years. HDR10 is supported by LG, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Vizio TV models. You can already get 4K Blu-rays that include HDR at BestBuy, and more are available for pre-order. Note that all your equipment will have to be HDCP 2.2-compliant—for good old DRM.
Even if the content you're playing isn't full 4K, but you want a better image on your 4K television, PowerDVD can upscale it and simulate HDR with its TrueTheater technology. So you can take advantage of an HDR-capable TV even when your content isn't HDR.
VR and 360-Degree Video
PowerDVD 17 lets you not only play 360 VR videos, but it supports playing them on two of today's most-popular VR headsets, the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive. CyberLink demoed a VR video, which convinced us that being in a movie could be a lot more fun than merely watching one.
Carriere admitted that the VR technology still had some way to go to get to resolutions and framerates that produce a truly convincing virtual scene, but added, "Our goal has always been to offer the latest first."
But PowerDVD isn't just for video. It supports ripping to lossless formats and lets you extract audio from your video sources. The software also lets you stream music, photos, and video to HDTVs via Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku, and PowerDVD Ultra includes 30GB of cloud storage for photos, videos, and music.
You can read more about the new PowerDVD 17 on CyberLink's website, and look for an updated review on PCMag in the coming days.
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