On The Right Track. (Cyberlink PowerDirector Ultra 7)

Member Name: boredindunoon

Product:	Cyberlink PowerDirector Ultra 7
Date:	03/11/08 (222 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Vast Capabilities, Easy To Learn, Supports All File Formats.

Disadvantages: Sometimes A Bit Slow & Sluggish, Several Crashes.

PowerDirector 7 Ultra is the latest video editing software package from Cyberlink, and offers big improvements over previous versions. The most obvious being the support of Blu-ray discs and 5.1 surround sound, but the most welcoming bonus for me is the fact that it supports all camera and camcorder file formats which is especially useful if you use half a dozen different pieces of equipment.

PowerDirector's editing capabilities are vast, allowing you up to six picture in track (I doubt you would need more), and easily laying video effects. It also gives the ability to save custom presets which can then be uploaded directly onto Cyberlink's sharing site. The software also links to Freesound and Flickr. You can now create subfolders in the media library allowing you to organize your media better. The software interface looks great. It's well laid out and easy to learn and lets you customise the size of your preview windows. I also liked the dark grey colour scheme (similar to Adobe's Element's) that seems to be the style these days. The features included have been well thought out to provide the user (home movie guru or experienced soon to be Hollywood film producer) with the best possible combination of functionality and performance. Offering pretty much every tool I could personally think off. PowerDirector is also quite good value for money. The other version of this software (Deluxe) is cheaper but doesn't support Blu-ray discs nor does it write video back in high definition. So you're probably better paying a bit extra for this Ultra version.

There are a few flaws. The software seems a bit slow and sluggish. It also crashed suddenly several times. They're might be fixes and patches that would prevent this from happening, but I had trouble updating the software, so for the moment I will have to suffer. Also the image-improvement tools can't be key framed with seems rather unusual.

Competition from Ulead, Pinnacle and Adobe is intense, and it makes selection of a product all the more difficult. Nevertheless considering the improvements made over previous versions, Cyberlink is definitely on the right track and PowerDirector is well worth considering.

(I'm a reviewer on Amazon, and some my reviews are copied from there to dooyoo. Please feel free to check out my Amazon profile under my real name of Mr Andrew M Kerr.)

Thanks for reading.

Summary: Movie Making Fun.

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