PowerDVD 9 with native Media Center UI goes live
by Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Mar 2nd 2009 at 8:43AM
We've given up on waiting for Microsoft to natively support Blu-ray in Windows Media Center, but the good news is that the 3rd parties seem motivated to fill in the gap and the latest player from Cyberlink leap frogs ArcSoft's TotalMedia nicely. Although there are some additional under the hood enhancements -- still no HDMI 1.3 support, but seems to be coming with some sort of "Advanced Pack" -- that are welcomed, the big news in PowerDVD 9 is the Windows Media Center interface. Rather than just add a shortcut to the main menu that launches the application, Cyberlink has done some good work building a native MCML application. It pretty much looks exactly like it did when we filmed it at CES, and for the most part we like it, but we still think it could be a little more like the Media Center UI -- mostly we're referring to the scrub bar.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
nossy @ Mar 2nd 2009 9:24AM
Does it include bitstreaming DTS HD MA and Dobly trueHD @ 192KHz res? Right now it's crappy 48KHz. Wake me up when that happens else $99 + a bunch of "advance packs" is a little steep. I'd just stick with the OEM PDVD7 and live with launching it from the desktop.
Eric @ Mar 3rd 2009 5:59PM
crappy 48KHz? Only 10 discs out of 1000+ releases actually have audio frequencies higher than 48KHz.
Benj @ Mar 2nd 2009 10:14AM
The latest builds of FFDShow will decode Dolby TrueHD and output as PCM @ 192KHz.
Leo Davidson @ Mar 2nd 2009 10:24AM
Why do you say it leap-frogs ArcSoft's TotalMedia? Is PDVD better or do you just mean it's caught up?
I got sick of waiting for PDVD to support MCE -- and also sick of PDVD's bugs, slow download servers (coupled with the constant need for patches for Blu-Ray playback bugs/compatibilty/improvements) and upgrade policy/pricing -- so I was about to give TotalMedia Theater a try. Having not tested it out yet I'd be interested in knowing how they compare.
Ben @ Mar 2nd 2009 10:25AM
The MC integration of PDVD9 is much better than the current version of TMT. All TMT does is launch its own 10' UI on top of MC. This is an actual native Media Center application.
DustoMan @ Mar 2nd 2009 11:56AM
Does this open the door for Media Center Extender support of playing back DVDs and BDs?
aaron @ Mar 2nd 2009 12:58PM
if somebody is able to figure out how to do it I would go out an buy a bluray drive for my media sever tomorrow but as it stands w/o extender support this is useless to me.
Keith @ Mar 2nd 2009 1:41PM
Correction to the story according to CyberLink (click the Read link to the story):
"NEW HDMI 1.3 Support: HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) simultaneously transfers 8 channels of audio over a single cable"
Peter F @ Mar 2nd 2009 1:46PM
I'm still going to need ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre since PowerDVD decided to completely remove HD-DVD support!!!! I
Alex @ Mar 2nd 2009 3:08PM
I don't yet own a bluray player so I don't know if this is 'acceptable' but there was 1 minute 20 secs between when they selected the addin and when the video started. Is that comperable to the standalone player experience? Howabout the powerdvd 8 experience?
Maybe it's just an early version and it isn't running at full speed yet. Here's hoping.
madgamer @ Mar 2nd 2009 5:22PM
That was horribly slow. I think I would have alt-tabbed and killed it before it ever started, assuming it was frozen. I have a combo drive in my computer and with PDVD8 the start up time is just a few seconds. That (the video) may be comparable to some standalone units, but that is certainly not representative of PC blu-ray playback.
Nate @ Mar 2nd 2009 5:30PM
Some of the early stand alone decks took several minutes to start. I don't know if that is an issue with newer decks. I would second the fellow above me by saying that PowerDVD 8 is very fast loader. Overall, very happy with v8.
hdjunkie @ Mar 2nd 2009 5:57PM
I tested the trial version, and it sucks. There's a huge movielive sidebar even after skipping installing it, and it won't play any of my bluray isos now. Looks like a step back to me so far...I'm going back to powerdvd 8.
Nate @ Mar 2nd 2009 7:59PM
I just tried it too, seeing the same thing. The codec handling DVD playback and the TrueTheater motion is impressive though.
jc @ Mar 2nd 2009 9:35PM
WOW dude thats is a really longggggggggggggg time, no way I could sit there and wait that long for a movie to start!!
Karmond @ Mar 2nd 2009 11:29PM
It was run on a netbook in that video, Microsoft was showcasing how well performing Windows 7 was.
jc @ Mar 3rd 2009 1:04AM
Hmmm guess I missed that part. Why would they use a netbook to play Blu-ray? Just to show they can? thats pretty dumb. I have a pretty beefy HTPC to play my blu-rays and would never use a netbook for that.
rita hainsworth @ Mar 3rd 2009 5:25AM
I stream blu ray to my netbook all the time.
Arlentcolvin.copp @ May 23rd 2009 3:39AM
That was horribly slow. I think I would have alt-tabbed and killed it before it ever started, assuming it was frozen. http://www.cddvdripper.com I have a combo drive in my computer and with PDVD8 the start up time is just a few seconds.