If you’re looking for a full featured media player for your PC then powerdvd 16 ultra is worth a look. It plays just about any video, music and image file you can throw at it plus it does some upscaling which makes everything look a little bit better than if you were watching on a standard TV. It also supports master-quality sound technology from the likes of Dolby and DTS.
The software itself looks nice with a clean interface with icons running across the top of the screen for Movies (integrated with MoovieLive to give you information about movies in the theater), BD/DVD, Photos, Music, Cyberlink Cloud and YouTube. There’s even a 3D mode for the chapter view of DVDs and a fun 3D navigation system for viewing your movie collection (though it can be a little gimmicky, I found).
The main advantage of powerdvd 16 ultra over other versions is Blu-ray 3D playback with TrueTheater enhancements as well as support for wireless streaming to TVs through Roku and Apple TV. It can also do upscaled 4K with hardware acceleration. The software has some slick features too, such as an interactive timeline which shows you all of the content in your library and is easy to navigate. The program can also download and display high-quality photos directly from Instagram, Facebook and Flickr.
The one drawback is that CPU usage is fairly high when using some of the more intensive video features. In addition, the program can be a bit flaky and isn’t as stable as some other Windows-based media players I’ve tested. It’s still a great choice for any home cinema enthusiast, though.