CyberLink launched PowerDVD 8

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... CyberLink PowerDVD 8 introduces new ways for consumers to enjoy movies beyond just watching.

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It's interesting that this comes out shortly after the release of WinDVD 9. I still do not see an upconverting feature for DVD 480i to 1080P. Although in WinDVD 9 it doesn't seem to work as well as a dedicated harware upconverting player. I'm still bummed that PD will not play BD or HDDVD rips from your harddrive (removed with one of the 7.3 updates I think). Even with AnyDVD HD I can't get this to happen...unless I've just got it screwed up.

And they removed HD-DVD support in this release - how stupid is that? There are still MANY discs out there that people would like to be able to watch, and to take something that was working fine in PowerDVD7 and REMOVE features... well, that's just amazing to me. We're talking a software player here, no dedicated hardware or anything... Guess it's time to check out the competition.

I bought an LG dual format drive which is blu ray burner-reader and HD-DVD reader.
I can report the following...

1) the cyberlink power dvd suite that came with the burner left me with no alternative but to format my HDD to recover the operating system - it was that bad and i'm certainly no noob !

2) win dvd9 trial version is not capable of playing blu ray or HD-DVD discs - you have to buy the licence and when you do you discover it refuses to play either format on a post Vista SP1 PC. Just spinning donuts and MFC errors.

3) Nero has a HD-DVD/Blu Ray plug in that you can buy for £ 16 that plays both formats perfectly in Nero Showtime

Those of you having problems with playing bck HD files on the PC - it could well be the hardware spec rather than the software program.

A minimum of Intel Dual Core E6300 is recommended along with 2 GB Ram and a pretty high end graphics card NVidia 7800 GT or up and on the Radeon side - ATI Saphire x1950 minimum.

Of course the other point as mentioned here is if you don't have AnyDVD-HD ( not just the ordinary version ) - then unless you have an HDCP compliant monitor - you won't see anything

the previous PowerDVD did what it was made to do just fine for me. pop in a dvd, and play it. thats all i need and it sure did it well. i dont really see any large improvements they can do with this software.

I'm still on PowerDVD 5 and 6. They work ok for me. I'm gonna save my money.

Cyberlink shot themselves in the foot with this version, !. Removing HD support, 2. not allowing Bluray playback from your hdd. It is now a real waste of money.

PowerDVD is turning into crap with these latest versions. Version 6 works fine for me.

Most of you probably know that - depending on your needs - it isn't even necessary to own ANY dedicated Software Player (like Power DVD) to play back standard DVD discs.

Microsoft's by-now-very-old Media Player 6.4 ("Classic"), has been heavily modified by the open-source community into the simplest, easiest-to-use software DVD Player on the planet.

It's just a single .exe file !! You don't even have to install the thing. Just run it!!! (Type in it's name or double-click on it). It provides playback capability for most file-types, and will directly open a dvd disc in your burner.

You may recall that version 6.4 was originally around before Microsoft went all beserk with the DRM-restrictions it incorporated into all of it's later Media Players. It may not be fancy-looking, but neither is it "Bloated" software (like most software dvd players). It works beautifully, and it costs $0.00.

You can get the newest version (it's constantly being updated by the open-source community) right here in Afterdawn's download section.

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_...yer_classic.cfm

Take a look at the positive user-comments, and notice that it's been downloaded from the (above) link over 3-1/2 *million* times!

get yahoo the hell off evertime download I have go to control panle and remove 2or3 toolbars IT SUCKS