CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra

About this release

PowerDVD is the desktop player for people who still care about how the thing actually looks and sounds. It handles optical media, local files and network shares from the same interface, and unlike most media players it takes the whole delivery chain seriously: high dynamic range passthrough, colour accurate output, multichannel audio bitstreamed to a receiver rather than mixed down, and disc menus that behave the way they were authored.

The Ultra tier is the one with everything enabled, including the high definition optical formats and the surround audio formats that need explicit support. Object based surround tracks pass through to a receiver intact, and where the room has no receiver the virtual surround processing does a considerably better job over headphones or stereo speakers than the usual downmix.

Format coverage on the file side is broad enough that a separate player is rarely needed. Modern high efficiency video codecs, the older ones nobody has re encoded yet, every common container, lossless audio formats and image slideshows all play, and hardware decoding is used where the graphics card supports it so a high resolution file does not put the fans up.

The library and network side turns it into the media hub for a house rather than just a player. Folders are watched and catalogued with artwork and metadata, network shares and media servers appear alongside local content, playback can be cast to a television, and playlists and resume positions follow across everything. The enhancement engine can upscale older standard definition material to a modern panel with results that are genuinely worth having.

What it does

Optical, file and network playback

Discs, local files, shares and media servers from one interface with proper menu support.

High dynamic range and colour

Passthrough and tone mapping handled correctly rather than flattened.

Multichannel audio

Object based surround formats bitstreamed to a receiver, with virtual surround where there is none.

Broad codec coverage

Modern high efficiency codecs and older formats alike, with hardware decoding where available.

Media library

Watched folders catalogued with artwork, metadata, playlists and resume positions.

Upscaling engine

Older standard definition material enhanced for a modern high resolution panel.

Changed in this version

• Improved hardware decoding on recent graphics hardware.
• Better tone mapping when playing high dynamic range content on a standard panel.
• Library scanning is faster on very large collections.
• Subtitle rendering reworked with better font and positioning control.
• Fixed audio passthrough on some receivers after a device change.

System requirements

Install order

1. Unpack the archive.
2. Update the graphics driver first, since decoding support depends on it.
3. Run the installer and choose which components to place on disk.
4. Set the audio output mode to match the receiver or speakers on first launch.

Worth knowing before you start

File details