Please note that this now is an Archived Review and has been retained for reference purposes. If you look to the sidebar menu you will see the review of the latest version of Cyberlink Power Director.
I have had Cyberlink Power Director as my first choice for video editing software for over a year now.
With the release of Cyberlink Power Director 8 I was pleased to note that Cyberlink have not been sitting around watching the grass grow for the past year.CyberLink Power Director 8 has built on the stability and usability of the previous version whilst introducing some great new features especially in the fast developing high definition area.
Once again choosing between the Ultra version and the Deluxe version is very simple.
If you have no need at the moment for Blu-Ray support, AVCHD support or High Definition capabilities then the Deluxe version is for you. If you are getting into that area now as it evolves then the Ultra version is the one. Basically that is the only difference between the two.
What’s New in CyberLink Power Director 8
The emphasis is definitely on the new High Definition video file formats, offering more editing options and video file output choices whether it be for Blu-ray discs, handheld sharing or uploading to the internet.
First let’s take a look at what has been added or improved in CyberLink PowerDirector 8
High Definition Upsampling
Allows you to take standard definition and upscale it to “close to” High Definition quality. Good for re-working that old footage and projects as well as mixing high and standard definition clips in a project.
Image Stabilization
This feature has been reworked considerably and can achieve reasonably good results without picture degradation. Of course if you were on the trampoline whilst holding the camcorder don’t expect too much!
Video Noise Reduction
Again with most consumer camcorders the white balance at the time of recording will usually be in auto mode.
That means the cam detects what it “thinks” is something totally white and adjusts from there. Often if you move from indoors to outdoors or the ambient light of what you are shooting changes the camcorder fails to adjust.
The result is that the overall color scheme of the shots becomes inconsistent.
This feature allows you to select something in the image that you know is white and the programs uses that to readjust the color balance.
Audio Noise Reduction
Pretty self explanatory. Any added audio feature in consumer video editing software is welcome!
TrueTheater© Motion Frame Rate Conversion
Allow me to translate for you! What this means is that the software has the ability to approximate a new frame in between two existing frames of video. Why bother? Glad you asked!
One of the greatest weak points on consumer video editing software is it’s ability to handle slow motion footage. This feature inserts imaginary frames based on the frames around it to give you totally smooth slow motion effects… pretty cool!
GPU Computing
GPU Computing – “tap the power of your graphics card, including full support for NVIDIA CUDA and ATI Stream video encoding, and 20 GPU-accelerated effects.”
Ok, I copied that from the press release!
If you have these types of video cards you will know what it means. If you don’t it simply means that to handle the new high definition formats they are using the processing power of the video cards to speed things up.
FaceBook YouTube Direct Uploading
You can create your final video file in the timeline and when done just directly upload to YouTube.
DirectorZone©
Free menu templates and effects. Not actually new but after a year or more of operation the sheer number of assets available for free online through DirectorZone is staggering.
Improved Design Tools
New design tools for creating unique effects, animations, titles, and disc menus (including a particle editor) – Pretty well represents a complete rework of most of the major effects, titling stuff although the interesting one is the particle editor so you can make you own snow… or rain… or whatever!
Photo Slide Shows
This was always a strong module in Power Director and they have added the ability to customize templates for slide shows as well as being able to time the show to the beat of any background music you have chosen.
Improved Power Director 8 User Interface
• 16 track timeline with 10 video tracks
• Dual monitor support
• Copy and paste sections of the timeline
• Frame-accurate trimming tool
• Resize any panel in the user interface
Overall this is a very well thought out new release. They have strengthened and enhanced what was already great consumer level video editing software.
CyberLink Power Director 8 is an excellent choice for a first time buyer whilst I will leave it to current owners to decide whether the upgrade cost for them is warranted.
As always, click the link below to take advantage of the free trial before deciding or click to go to the full Power Director 8 Review
Click Here to Take a Look at Cyberlink Power Director 8
