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Rating: 
Summary: Can't get it to work - useless tools and painful support
Review: I carefully read the box before purchase to be sure my system met the specs. Did a custom install. Even though I told it to install on drive F: it created a directory on C: and put files there. An error free install. Ran included diagnostic without error as far as I can tell. Fired it up to find no audio and 1 frame displayed each 3 seconds. However InterActual player and MS Media player using the PowerDVD decoder ran flawlessly. The manual gives a tech support web site (elibrium) which doesn't have PowerDVD listed as a supported product. If you dig a bit you discover there is another web site (gocyberlink - not in the manual) where there is an appropriate tech support message board. (You have to pay for dial up support which is only open 5 days during normal work hours.) The support web page asks a ton of questions the average user would never know. (All in XP System Info though.) A day after my initial query tech support responded with the instructions to uninstall and reinstall plus directions on how to clean up the files that uninstall isn't intelligent enough to deal with. This didn't fix anything. Recontacted tech support. The next day they told me to uninstall and reinstall again, this time with instructions on how to edit the registry to clean stuff up. They also told me to download and install a 6.6 MB patch file to PowerDVD plus to find, download, and install any and all audio and video board driver updates that might exist. Six hours later I was in exactly the same place as after the initial install. Besides all the other issues: Why don't they have a system diagnostic that tests the system for compatibility and lets you know of issues? (The diagnostic displays a test pattern and asks you if it is OK without telling you what OK is.) Why doesn't the diagnostic collect the readily available system info and provide a report that is useful instead of asking for manual entry of this info in the support query? Why doesn't uninstall really uninstall the program? Why does tech support only have one answer (uninstall and reinstall)? Why the shotgun approach (update everything and try again)? For these reasons alone I would not recommend this program. After 2 weeks of email back and forth I've given up on getting this SW to work. The last two suggestions were: "Replace your soundcard" and "Backup your entire disk and reinstall Windows XP." Again, techsupport has done no troubleshooting and no other SW is giving me any problems.
Rating:
Summary: Can't get it to work - useless tools and painful support
Review: I carefully read the box before purchase to be sure my system met the specs. Did a custom install. Even though I told it to install on drive F: it created a directory on C: and put files there. An error free install. Ran included diagnostic without error as far as I can tell. Fired it up to find no audio and 1 frame displayed each 3 seconds. However InterActual player and MS Media player using the PowerDVD decoder ran flawlessly. The manual gives a tech support web site (elibrium) which doesn't have PowerDVD listed as a supported product. If you dig a bit you discover there is another web site (gocyberlink - not in the manual) where there is an appropriate tech support message board. (You have to pay for dial up support which is only open 5 days during normal work hours.) The support web page asks a ton of questions the average user would never know. (All in XP System Info though.) A day after my initial query tech support responded with the instructions to uninstall and reinstall plus directions on how to clean up the files that uninstall isn't intelligent enough to deal with. This didn't fix anything. Recontacted tech support. The next day they told me to uninstall and reinstall again, this time with instructions on how to edit the registry to clean stuff up. They also told me to download and install a 6.6 MB patch file to PowerDVD plus to find, download, and install any and all audio and video board driver updates that might exist. Six hours later I was in exactly the same place as after the initial install. Besides all the other issues: Why don't they have a system diagnostic that tests the system for compatibility and lets you know of issues? (The diagnostic displays a test pattern and asks you if it is OK without telling you what OK is.) Why doesn't the diagnostic collect the readily available system info and provide a report that is useful instead of asking for manual entry of this info in the support query? Why doesn't uninstall really uninstall the program? Why does tech support only have one answer (uninstall and reinstall)? Why the shotgun approach (update everything and try again)? For these reasons alone I would not recommend this program. After 2 weeks of email back and forth I've given up on getting this SW to work. The last two suggestions were: "Replace your soundcard" and "Backup your entire disk and reinstall Windows XP." Again, techsupport has done no troubleshooting and no other SW is giving me any problems.
Rating:
Summary: Kludgy Software. Poor Tech support
Review: My experience was similar to that of topher666. On a brand new laptop, on which the OEM DVD player ran fine, this software ran extremely slowly with no sound. Tech support was of no help. After filling out a long form on the gocyberlink website, they do not even respond directly to you. You have to login into your account to check if a response has been posted. This is anyway just a form response, to reinstall the program after first editing your registry (something most people are rightfully reluctant to do) to complete the uninstall. The form has to be filled out all over again for each follow-up. I gave up after three weeks of fruitless exchanges, after having sent at their request several diagnostic files, with not a single constructive suggestion.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty impressive
Review: This is the software that I used for my school computers. It handles multiple regions from what I've seen, which is good as I use it for Japanese movies that aren't shown in Region 1. It also returns to the last viewing, which I have found is essential whenever I get interrupted frequently. I prefer this over WinDVD any day, though my home computer happens to run on that software. It also lets you adjust for noisy environments, and is slightly more compatible than WinDVD for troublesome drives.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty impressive
Review: This is the software that I used for my school computers. It handles multiple regions from what I've seen, which is good as I use it for Japanese movies that aren't shown in Region 1. It also returns to the last viewing, which I have found is essential whenever I get interrupted frequently. I prefer this over WinDVD any day, though my home computer happens to run on that software. It also lets you adjust for noisy environments, and is slightly more compatible than WinDVD for troublesome drives.
Rating:
Summary: Nice software, reliable, plays mpg, svcd, dvd, vcd...
Review: This software is great. It works flawlessly with windows. I've never had it crash. The picture is very sharp, and the sound is wonderful. Plus the controller can be shrunk, and is skinable. When watching widescreen dvds I use the 'mini control' so that I can see the scene/time information and have the dvd options at hand. you can also take high res still shots of dvd images (saves as bmp), which is nice. There is also a 'show info' option, which gives you detailed info on the file you're playing. You can choose video color to enhance video and a variety of audio options as well. I also like being able to keep this player onto of windows, for example, when I'm typing. This is achieved by selecting 'video always on top.' I recommend this software. There are lots of rebates available out for it, so look around.
Rating:
Summary: Nice software, reliable, plays mpg, svcd, dvd, vcd...
Review: This software is great. It works flawlessly with windows. I've never had it crash. The picture is very sharp, and the sound is wonderful. Plus the controller can be shrunk, and is skinable. When watching widescreen dvds I use the 'mini control' so that I can see the scene/time information and have the dvd options at hand. you can also take high res still shots of dvd images (saves as bmp), which is nice. There is also a 'show info' option, which gives you detailed info on the file you're playing. You can choose video color to enhance video and a variety of audio options as well. I also like being able to keep this player onto of windows, for example, when I'm typing. This is achieved by selecting 'video always on top.' I recommend this software. There are lots of rebates available out for it, so look around.
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