This review was originally posted December 31, 2011.
CyberLink PowerDirector 10 Ultra
I have used PowerDirector 6 Boxed and PowerDirector 9 Ultra – 64 before trying CyberLink PowerDirector 10 Ultra
The only negative thing about PowerDirector 10 Ultra is the loss of the randomness of the Movie Magic Wizard. In version 6, I was able to select the entire library of contents and a time frame for the movie and the wizard would spit out a movie with random photos and videos from the library cut to fit the time allotted. In version 9, the movie wizard would cram every pic and video in the exact order they appear in the library into my movie — sped up to a dizzying pace when I elected to have a very short movie. Version 10 is a little better. It does speed up the pics to fit the movie but I also noticed some videos were left out if there wasn’t enough time. I can also quickly rearrange the photos and videos after the wizard is done and have the wizard redo the movie, which is better than having to go back to the library to rearrange everything.
After making my video via the wizard, I then tamper with it in the main screen. That’s the beauty of having a powerful editor coupled with the wizard. We get simplicity and versatility in one. I can add and subtract from the movie. Of course, movies can be made without the wizard. I choose not to.
Smartsound is nice. I’ve never used it before because it didn’t work well, but it does now. Basically, it’s a whole library of music that plays in some sort of endless loop that I can use for my videos. I can just tell it how long the video is and the music will automatically be adjusted to fit the timeline. The library is fairly large, including a wide variety of music and some sound effects such as animal sounds and footsteps. I can usually find something appropriate. We also have the option of using our own music and capturing our own sounds.
Rendering is quick and easy. Whereas in the past, this was where my computer would crash and burn, it no longer does. I like being able to render the video into so many different formats. I can even make it 3-D, and the box comes with a pair of 3-D glasses just in case I feel the desire to do so. I can automatically publish it to YouTube or Facebook and a copy of the video stays on my hard drive. It’s so simple, I’ve already placed a few videos on YouTube over the last couple of days.
Overall, I like this version very much. It’s faster and more stable than ever before, and the Smartsound works. Just hoping they’ll fix the Magic Movie Wizard to be like it was in version 6 and everything would be perfect.
This product was provided for review by the Amazon Vine program.