We look to 'enrich our digital life'...
Okay, then
Is this the ultimate multimedia package?
CyberLink has certainly thrown everything it can at this suite, which consists
of no fewer than 11 tools to enable you to, as CyberLink puts it, 'Enrich Your
Digital Life'.
CyberLink has released some of my favourite
media packages of late, including PowerDirector and PowerDVD, and they are both
included here.
Alongside those tools, Media Suite 10
offers data burning suite Power2Go 8, media management package MediaShow 6,
Blu-ray/ DVD producer PowerProducer 5.5, audio editor WaveEditor 2, simple file
convertor MediaEspresso 6.5, backup tool PowerBackup 2.6, DVD copy utility
PowerDVD Copy 1.5, disc label package LabelPrint 2.6 and drag-and-drop writing
app InstantBurn 5.
You'd be right in asserting that some of
these are essentially here to make up the numbers, but that's the nature of
multimedia suites. I'll focus on the core tools here, as these will colour your
decision on whether to buy.
CyberLink
Media Suite 10 Ultra
If you're looking for a fully-featured,
quick and stable consumer video editor, PowerDirector 10 is one of the best on
the market right now. You can access a full editor or a quick editing tool,
depending on how confident your skills are and how involved you want to be.
Being the HE3D version, it has some limitations compared with the full version.
For example, there's no full HD preview, the number of tracks is limited to
just 4, TrueTheater video enhancements are missing and editing effects are
missing the likes of a Particle Designer, while video output lacks QuickTime
and MPEG-2 with Dolby 5.1 options.
For video playback, PowerDVD 12 BD Express
is strong, supporting 3D, Blu-ray and offering built-in support for browsing
YouTube, Facebook and Flickr. Audio support includes Dolby True-hID 5.1
channels and 3D playback is included, too. Finally, the tool integrates with
the 7digital music store, which is a nice touch, although we'd prefer a deal
with Spotify.
MediaShow 6 is a decent, intuitive media
management tool that does a good job at ensuring that you don't mislay any
family photos or videos and Power2Go 8 offers enough burning options, including
mounting a disk image as a virtual drive, to satiate most disc jobs, although
the lack of a system recovery disk option is a shame.
Holding this functionality is the job of
the PowerStarter navigation tool. With clear, task-based tabs leading to the
package's functionality and quick boot-up times, it's a sensible approach that
pays off.
As does the entire package, on the whole.
It's more expensive than the obvious competition -that would be Nero - but
you're still getting a good deal, here. The interaction between all of the
tools is excellent and this is a solid, intuitive set of tools which have a
sense of class about them, both in terms of display and functionality.
My only words of caution would be that you'd
better get used to CyberLink's near-constant peddling of its upgrade options,
which becomes rather tiresome.
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Details
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Price
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$159.984
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Manufacturer
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CyberLink
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Website
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www.cyberlink.com
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Required spec
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Pentiums Core 2 Duo E6400 or e Athlon 64
X2 5000+ (AVCHD a nd MPEG-2 HD), Pentium 4 2.2GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2200+ (DVD
quality)/512MB required (2GB DDR2 or above recommended for* editing HD
videos) / 5GB HD space, 10GB for DVDs 60GB for Blu-ray discs / Windows XP or
later
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