CyberLink PowerDVD 12: Complementing Your Mobile Lifestyle
by Ganesh T S on January 31, 2012 9:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- HTPC
- Blu-Ray
- CyberLink
In our recent media streamer roundup, we discussed various commercial Blu-ray video profiles and presented our test suite for the same. We reused the same test suite for this review also. Before testing out the ISOs and folder structures which had their copy protection removed, we tested the original Blu-rays from an optical drive and also a few other unlisted Blu-rays such as 'Waltz with Bashir', 'FIFA World Cup 3D' and 'The Lion King'. CyberLink PowerDVD 12 was able to play back all the Blu-rays from the optical drive without issues.
The tables below present a summary of how CyberLink PowerDVD 12 fared in our local media test suite.
| Container Compatibility Details | |
| CyberLink PowerDVD 12 | |
| Version 12.0.1227.54 Ultra | |
| Container | Notes |
| DVD | Menus Supported |
| ISO Supported | |
| Folder Structures Supported | |
| Blu-ray | ISOs Supported |
| Folder Structures Supported1 | |
| BD Profile 1.0 Supported with Menus | |
| BD Profile 1.1 (Bonus View / PiP) Plays with Menus, PiP Available | |
| BD Profile 2.0 (BD Live) Plays with Menus, BD Live Available | |
| BD Profile 5.0 (3D) Supported | |
| Non-BD Profile 5.0 3D Blu-rays Play in 3D with Menus | |
| Seamless Branching Works Perfectly | |
| MKV | Supported Video Codecs: H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (DivX / XViD) |
| Supported Audio Codecs: AC3, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD HR2, AAC, MP3, LPCM | |
| Supported Embedded Subtitles: SRT, ASS/SSA | |
| Multiple Video Tracks Not Supported | |
| Multiple Audio and Subtitle Tracks Supported | |
| Forced Subtitle Tracks Not Supported | |
| Chapters Not Supported | |
| Header Compression Supported | |
| MKV3D (Stereoscopic Flag) Supported | |
| Half SBS / TAB 3D Plays Back with Manual TV Mode Change, Auto-Switch Spotty | |
| M2TS | Supported Video Codecs: H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2 |
| Supported Audio Codecs: AC3, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD HR, LPCM | |
| Supported Embedded Subtitles: PGS | |
| AVI | Supported Video Codecs: MPEG-4 (XviD / DivX), MJPEG |
| Supported Audio Codecs: AC3, MP3, PCM | |
| SBS 3D AVIs Don't Autoswitch Reliably | |
| MP4 / M4V | Supported Video Codecs: H.264 |
| Supported Audio Codecs: AAC | |
| Miscellaneous Containers | DVR-MS and TRP Supported |
| WTV Files Play Back with Audio Only | |
| TS and MTS Supported | |
| M2V Supported | |
| 1 Our BD Profile 1.1 ripped folder structure test stream (Band of Brothers (Disc 1)) failed to load beyond the initial startup screen. ArcSoft Total Media Theater 5 played back the same folder structure without issues | |
| 2 Our MKV test stream with AVC video and DTS-HD HR audio repeatedly crashed PowerDVD 12. Other MKVs with AVC video played back without issues | |
| Video Compatibility Details | |
| CyberLink PowerDVD 12 | |
| Version 12.0.1227.54 Ultra | |
| Codec | Notes |
| H.264 | 1080p60 Level 4.2 Camcorder Streams / Level 5.1 User Encodes Fully Supported |
| Maximum of 12 Reference Frames Supported (16 reference frame videos show heavy artifacting) | |
| Maximum frame size of 4096 x 2304 (multi-threaded software decode) | |
| 10 bit H.264 Decoding Not Supported (Blank Video Screen) | |
| Erroneous Bitstream Recovery OK | |
| Upto 80 Mbps H.264 Streams Play OK (over eSATA) | |
| VC-1 | Supported |
| 720p60 / 1080i60 (Interlaced Streams - Advanced Profile) Also Supported | |
| MPEG-2 | Supported |
| MPEG-4 (DivX / XviD) | Supported (up to 1080p24) |
| Global Motion Compensation with More Than 2 Warp Points Supported | |
| Real Media Video | Fully Supported (up to 1080p24 tested) |
| Miscellaneous Codecs | WMV8 Supported |
| VP6 Not Supported | |
| VP8 Not Supported | |
| Theora Not Supported | |
| MPEG-1 Supported | |
| Audio Compatibility Details | |||
| CyberLink PowerDVD 12 | |||
| Version 12.0.1227.54 Ultra | |||
| Codec | Bitstream | Decode | Downmix |
| AC3 (Dolby Digital) | Yes | Yes (up to 5.1) | Yes (down to 2.0) |
| DTS | Yes | Yes (up to 5.1) | Yes (down to 2.0) |
| Dolby Digital Plus | Yes | Yes (up to 7.1) | Yes (down to 2.0) |
| DTS-HD HR | Yes | Yes (up to 7.1) | Yes (down to 2.0) |
| Dolby TrueHD | Yes | Yes (up to 7.1) | Yes (down to 2.0) |
| DTS-HD MA | Yes | Yes (up to 7.1) | Yes (down to 2.0) |
| WMA Pro | No | Yes (up to 5.1) | Yes (down to 2.0) |
| AAC | Not Tested | Yes (up to 5.1) | Yes (down to 2.0) |
| MP3 | Not Applicable | Yes | Not Applicable |
| FLAC | Not Tested | Yes (up to 5.1) | Yes (down to 2.0) |
| Cook (Real Audio) | Not Applicable | Yes | Not Applicable |
| Vorbis | Not Applicable | Yes | Yes |
| APE | Not Applicable | No | No |
| AIFF | Not Applicable | No | No |
| DVD-A | Partially Supported (AC3 Version) | ||
| SACD | Not Supported | ||
| BD-Audio | Supported with bitstreaming | ||
| Playlists | M3U and PLS files don't show up in the media library | ||
| Gapless Audio | Not Supported | ||
| Sampling Frequencies | Faithful Decoding to LPCM up to 192 KHz for all audio codecs | ||
| Subtitle Compatibility Details | |
| CyberLink PowerDVD 12 | |
| Version 12.0.1227.54 Ultra | |
| Format | Notes |
| PGS | Supported only in M2TS (PGS in MKV is Unsupported) |
| Forced Subtitles in M2TS Supported | |
| SRT | External Subtitles Supported for All Formats |
| MKV Muxed Subtitles Supported | |
| Automatic Subtitle Encoding Detection Works | |
| SUB/IDX | External Subtitles Supported, But SUB overlay blanks out the screen every time it appears |
| MKV Muxed Subtitles Not Supported | |
| ASS / SSA | Supported without Stylization or Font Effects |
| Image Formats Compatibility Details | |
| CyberLink PowerDVD 12 | |
| Version 12.0.1227.54 Ultra | |
| Format | Notes |
| JPG | Tested Upto 40MP ; Instantaneous Decoding and Scaling to 1920x1080 |
| GIF | Not Supported |
| JPS | Supported |
| Miscellaneous Formats | MPO Supported |
| DNG Supported | |
| TIFF Supported (Multipage Files Display First Page) | |
| PNG Supported | |
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41 Comments
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ganeshts - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
I am not going to disagree with this, but I did mention in the preamble to the piece that we are looking at avenues to enjoy commercial optical discs in the most legal manner possible. Usage of AnyDVD HD is very much in the grey area since it circumvents copy protection technologies (not that I agree with the law here, but we have to make do with whatever the politicians are putting out thanks to the bribes they get from the content owners (MAFIAA))Golgatha - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
I wonder if decrypting on the fly is really against the DMCA. You're not making a copy and the encryption isn't being removed...it's still on the disc ;-).Etern205 - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
The Ultra comes with the extra 2 features bundles while Pro and Standard makes you pay extra?I don't see the point of getting pro or standard cause by getting Pro you actually pay more than the ultra and standard is useless since you can't play Blu-Ray.
ganeshts - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
Well, not every customer wants a mobile app or mobile remote.. So, in that sense, the pricing strategy does seem OK..I agree that Pro is not a good choice if you want to play Blu-rays. I believe that tier was created for OEMs to snag (It is probably the version bundled with all the PCs having a Blu-ray drive)
erikstarcher - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
Nice review. Now can we get one on TMT5 and WinDVD please?CharonPDX - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
Yes, I know... But I have a combo HD-DVD/Blu-ray drive, and I still own a few movies on HD-DVD only. I know the older versions, that were current when HD-DVD was current, can play them, but have the newer versions kept that?piroroadkill - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
I know for a fact they removed HD-DVD support at some point for no apparent reason. I very, very much doubt they re-added it.shriganesh - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
Hi Ganesh!I am also Ganesh ;) Your reviews are detailed and very good esp regarding the CPUs used in devices and their architectures!
You have Engal Anna dvdrip! Are you Vijayganth fan??? ROFL!!
Ph0b0s - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
Finally it looks like PowerDVD can decode DTS-HD MA 7.1 for those of us with 8 channel PAP sound cards. Up until now it could only manage 5.1. This is good news and a big feature inclusion, shame it was not tested... The only thing missing I would like to see them do is Truetheater HD motion for Blu-ray movies, so Blu-rays can appear to be more than 24 fps, with in between frames inserted. Maybe next release.ganeshts - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
Yes, DTS-HD MA 7.1 decode is fully supported and confirmed to be working.