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 | |
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
41 Comments
View All Comments
sholling - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
It seems like the only real change from 11 to 12 is the ability to get rid of the giant advertizement screen. The settings screen still doesn't let you change audio defaults or at least make them stay changed, and it still doesn't support ISOs despite the feature chart. I wish the reviewer had actually tested that feature because it would have saved me $50. Net time I'll be a lot less trusting when a reviewer here makes a claim.ganeshts - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
Whoa! Of course it plays ISOs when it is mounted with Virtual Clone Drive. Definitely tested and it works.ganeshts - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
And of course, I have mentioned that in the concluding section too:Next time around, it would be really nice to not blame the reviewer when the necessary information is actually available in the review and is clearly explained.
sholling - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
If BD ISO is going to be claimed in the table then it needs to be in reference to direct support not through a some 3rd party tool that's doing the heavy lifting. Any program can access an ISO if a 3rd party program is doing the work for it. The author needs to go back and correct the table to read "ISOs supported through 3rd party tools only". Many readers are going to be coming from appliances alike the WDTV Live and NeoTV550 where BD ISO support actually means BD ISO support.sholling - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
BTW Other than the ISO thing it was a nice review.cjs150 - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
I have had bad experiences - never again.If I like a Blu ray I will rip it off the disc down to my NAS (any number of programs can do this) and then replay using a low power HTPC (still looking for the perfect one).
Yes it may be a grey area but my standalone Blu-ray player does a brilliant job - until you get to a quiet bit in the movie. I want to hear the movie not the Blu-ray player (to be fair it is probably just sound of disc going round at high revs).
I particularly enjoyed the lack of support for forced sub-titles - so when I watch Battle of Britain and Germans are speaking German I will not get the sub-title translations?
ganeshts - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
Forced subtitles work off Blu-rays, just not off standalone files.The advantages of ripping a Blu-ray to disk are many, but not everyone wants to do that (and it is definitely a legally gray area at least in the US)
Golgatha - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
There is nothing grey about it. The DMCA makes it completely illegal to do a legally grey thing. Namely the exercise of your fair use rights. Sorry to derail the thread. Nice review of apparently improved software (since I last used it anyway). Customer service, cost of upkeep, and support of the product should be in the review too. Those are the main reasons I chose ArcSoft's TMT5.maglito - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
It seems no software player supports this niche. It makes plenty of sense for current HTPC projector owners to get a 2nd projector identical to their current one(cheaply on the used market), some passive filters, cheap $1/pair glasses and possibly go to a silver screen depending on what they use(if their current screen won't maintain polarization of the reflected light). In fact JVC projectors are ideal for this as all colors are already polarized at 0 degrees (I have a JVC RS-1 from back in 2006 and I know Anand got a RS-2 shortly after).If any video card manufacturer or media player software supported this output type from 3d Blu Ray or 3D MKV files that would help many people investigating this solution out tremendously. The current work arounds to make this work are a bit of a joke.
As usual, nice write up Ganesh.
justniz - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
I never liked the way PowerDVD apparently has to take over your whole system just to play a DVD.Does PowerDVD 12 still need to switch your whole GUI from glass mode to basic mode when it runs? That was always retarded, especially on PCs with high end video cards.