![]() Needless to say, the content's visual quality is stunning, as I saw in a live demo provided by CyberLInk. You can already get 4K Blu-rays that include HDR at BestBuy, and more are available for preorder. If you plan to play 4K Blu-rays, you'll also need all your equipment-TV, PC, drive, and cables-to support HDCP 2.2 for DRM reasons. PowerDVD is the first software that supports 4K UHD Blu-ray drives, but those are pretty hard to come by, unless you live in Japan. Everything worked as advertised on a Razer Blade ($999.00 at Amazon) laptop, and I was able to look around my sample 360-degree video world. At first I was using a PC that didn't have the required graphics processor level, and though the HTC software worked, PowerDVD wasn't having it. The software provides a menu and instructions in the VR view for how to use it, and I was able to view digital still photos and both 2D and 3D videos through it. Believe me, being in a movie can be a lot more fun than merely watching one. The VR headset support is cool, and I saw an impressive demo of the software using and Oculus Rift, in which you can take part in both animated and live 360 productions. It can take a double circular image and convert that to an equirectangular view that you can navigate with the mouse cursor. PowerDVD now supports 360-degree video, such as that from the Samsung Gear 360 and the Nikon KeyMission 360 ($495.77 at Amazon), or from online sources, such as YouTube and Vimeo. The mere existence of mobile apps, by the way, is a big differentiator between PowerDVD and the Corel and Microsoft software, which lack remote control (or viewing) apps. When using TV Mode, you can't use the mouse for playback controls-only the keyboard, an on-screen remote, or the Cyberlink's remote mobile app. This view made playing a Blu-ray much easier than PC Mode in testing. As you'd expect, the TV layout features much larger buttons, and they're in a horizontal menu instead of the PC version's vertical layout. You can customize the menus so that only options you use frequently are displayed, and you can use wallpapers to gussy them up. There are sections for added media, CyberLink Cloud-stored media, local folders, playlists, online video (from YouTube and Vimeo), and devices (including DLNA-connected devices and attached storage). If you prefer one app to rule all your media, as opposed to using Windows 10's separate Movies & TV, Photos, and Groove Music apps, then PowerDVD will appeal to you. And those are all accessible from a left panel in the PC interface. In addition to being a player of disc-based video, PowerDVD handles all your media, including locally and remotely stored music, photos, and videos. ![]() You can set it to always go to one or the other if you prefer, and you can switch to the one you're not using at any time. PowerDVD's starting splash screen offers just two big option buttons: PC Mode and TV Mode. PowerDVD's UI is, however, more complicated than that of another important competitor, Microsoft's Movies & TV, which also plays your local video files and offers a movie and TV store-important because it's free and comes with every copy of Windows 10. PowerDVD's interface is more modern than that of its closest competitor, Corel WinDVD ( at Amazon), which looks somewhat stuck in the past. The PowerDVD installer also places a tray icon in the notification area of the taskbar, which pops up to import media when you insert a USB drive. A link from the setup wizard takes you to the cloud storage webpage, where you simply create or sign into an online account. Once you've entered the license key, you'll want to set up your media library and sign up for a cloud storage account. Note that the basic free version of PowerDVD bundled with new PCs lacks most advanced features mentioned in this review. A full-featured, free 30-day trial version is available for those who don't want to commit before trying. You can also get the software through a subscription to PowerDVD Live ($44.99 per year), which gets you all features and updates. Standard ($59.95) is just for basic DVD playing. The Pro version lacks UHD 4K Blu-ray, TV Mode, and other features ($79.95). The full PowerDVD 17 Ultra ($99.95) comes with all features-this is the version reviewed here. There are three levels available for purchase. It's a 32-bit application, but the software also runs on 64-bit PCs. PowerDVD is available for Windows 10 ($139.00 at Microsoft Store), 8.1, and 7.
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