CyberLink Power DVD 10 Ultra

CyberLink's PowerDVD 10 Ultra offers an array of new features in the new version. The biggest boost, however, comes from 3D support. The most immediately noticeable change from PowerDVD 9 involves the new version's interface. Across the top of the player, just under the menu you'll now find three tabs: Movies, Video, and Music. The Movies section covers DVD and Blu-ray discs; Video keeps track of video files on your hard drives; and Music lists MP3 files and the like. The music and video sections panes appear as file browsers. For some reason, video files play over the file browser, meaning that you can't browse files while a video is playing. Another issue throughout is the user's inability to adjust the width of the columns in the otherwise attractive file browsers. And finally, the program is slow to enumerate files when you browse a media-filled folder.
In recent years CyberLink has produced a number of nice-looking but unfinished interfaces (as in its PowerDirector app), and PowerDVD 10 continues the trend. Still, the issues I've noted don't negate the PowerDVD 10's advances in overall usability, thanks the app's improved interface design for workflow and for access to options.