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| Corel WinDVD 9 Plus (Blu-ray) | 
 enlarge | From: Corel
Category: Software
List Price: $99.99
Buy New: $54.69
You Save: $45.30 (45%)
New (27) Used (1) from $54.69
Avg. Customer Rating:  97 reviews
Sales Rank: 491
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp
Media: CD-ROM
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 8 x 2.2
MPN: WD9PLBDENPC
Model: WD9PLBDENPC
UPC: 735163120448
EAN: 0735163120448
ASIN: B0015RTDI2
Release Date: March 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Impressive! October 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Let me just first off say that I don't own a Blu-ray player and my review is based on DVD's only. Most of the content however will most likely apply to Blu-Ray as well.
>> Video Enhancements
Here are just some highlights:
- De-snow, De-block, and up-sampling:
De-block reduces pixelation and up-sampling is a filter that fills in extra pixels to improve picture quality. I am unable to see an appreciable improvement in the picture quality of the DVD's with these enhancements turned on. The De-snow option, however, significantly reduced video noise and dramatically improved picture quality on some of the DVD's I played.
- Trimension All2HD:
Enabling this option helps convert standard videos into "high-definition". The improvements are definitely noticeable - Trimension All2HD reduces noise and makes the picture more crisp. However don't expect the picture quality to be "just like HD." There is even a split screen (or Demo) option where the left side of the screen has Trimension All2HD enabled and the right side doesn't so you're able to see the difference between them.
Here's a caveat - Trimension All2HD is CPU-intensive, so if you have a slower computer, it may slow the other programs running on your computer.
>> Color Adjustments
It goes without saying the WinDVD comes with the standard adjustsments such as Brightness, Contrast, Hue, Color, and Gamma correction. Apart from the Brightness, the colors look great on my player with the color adjustments left at their default values.
>> Audio Enhancements
- Virtual Surround Sound:
If you don't have surround sound speakers, you're in luck. WinDVD uses the patented SRS TruSurround XT technology, which takes 5.1 or 6.1 multichannel content and virtualizes the channels for output to 2 speakers. The result is an immersive audio experience - impressive and the best virtual surround sound I've ever heard coming from 2 speakers!
>> User Interface
The user interface is a pleasure to use. I've read complaints that the controls are not intuitive - I don't understand why - but for me I was thrilled at how quick and easy it was to control the application:
- Click once anywhere on the screen and the menu bar and play controls show up. Click again to hide them.
- Double-click to go into full-screen mode. Double-click again to restore.
- Right-click for a popup menu for some quick options like play, stop, repeat, forward, and most of the controls you'll need to navigate through your video.
- Audio/Picture enhancements and all other options come up in a window overlaid on the video. You can make adjustments (Trimension All2HD, De-snow, color, etc.) on the fly (dynamically) while still being able to navigate your video (pause, play, fast-forward, etc.) unlike some applications where you have to dismiss the windows before being able to access the video controls.
>> Usability
My biggest complaint about usability is the application can be sluggish at times particularly when Trimension All2HD, SRS TruSurround XT, and other CPU-intensive options are turned on. On my 2.5 GHz computer, WinDVD can take a couple of minutes to respond to mouse-clicks while it changes the mouse pointer into an "hour glass." Even though the video playback is smooth, it can become out of sync with the audio at this time. However, once the options are fully enabled, video playback returns to its full functioning capacity.
Overall, despite some issues with the application being sluggish at times, I'm very impressed with the Video/Audio quality. Plus, WinDVD gets high marks for its very user-friendly interface. I was especially blown away by the virtual surround sound feature. So to wrap it up, WinDVD has my vote on being one of the best players!
 No luck in loading this program onto a Vista machine October 16, 2008
Repeated attempts to load this program onto my Vista laptop have resulted in failure. It hangs at a key point in the process resulting in a forced exit from the loading program. No significant assistance from Corel has been forthcoming. There appears to be a problem which I have been unable to overcome. My experience with Corel products has been a good one thus far so I'm surprised by the difficulty. If there's a change in the future I will revisit this review.
 WINDVD 9 October 14, 2008
I bought this product to provide software updates on a Dell 1520 laptop running Vista. I anticipated problems with the installation and usage but there were none so far. I have not tried to use a BluRay DVD with the drive and this software so can not comment on it.
Of all the gin joints, in all the world ... October 14, 2008
Having been a longtime user of WinDVD in its earlier versions, and long before Corel bought them, I was glad to come across this product as I badly needed to replace my 2002 version that I was still running.
I installed this on a relatively new version of Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 and experienced absolutely no problems at all. Just a word to those installing this program though for the first time. This program forces you to add the dashes ( - ) when you're inputting the serial code to authenticate the installation. In all the years of inputting serial codes, this must be the first time I had to put in the dashes. After it errored out several times and I kept checking it, I scratched my head in wild wonder until it occurred to me to make the adjustment.
You also have the choice to install Quicktime, which most people should already have and Real Player. In the old days Real Player was the absolute last thing that you would want to put on windows as it had a nasty habit of corrupting the registry. These days, it plays nice and gets along well in the classroom with others. I've used Real Player without any issues for the last two years.
Even though this program advertises clearly on the box that it's for Blu-ray, you do not have to have a Blu-Ray player to install and use it. One of the benefits of the program is that it has some of the best 1080i upsampling capabilities of any program currently on the market for the same money.
Out of curiosity I was able to watch several movies that were graphically superior with the program. I watched The Prestige, Blade Runner - The Final Cut, Casablanca (a must see in high def) and Harold and Maude (a real "film" with film qualities and drawbacks and a good test DVD to check out all the cool features offered. The All2HD feature on Casablanca does an incredible job with the blacks and multi-gray tones. But I don't recommend it for older color films that haven't yet been restored as the program works overtime trying to really make it "pop", which causes repetitive video lagging. In these cases I recommend:
In Enhance Video: Cinema Enhancement - Upsampling - Sharpness.
If you check these boxes, you'll see a fantastic image without the interference of lag. The audio enhancements are also interesting, but limited depending on the system that your using or connected to. I didn't do anything greater than the default settings as adjusting the audio just caused the sound to seem artificial. These settings are more for home movies or lower-budget films that could benefit from such tampering.
This is a fantastic program and from what I can see, and the best program to have on your PC to watch movies with.
The screen cap feature is also easy to use and produces nice quality caps for those that run websites dedicated to just such a thing. I placed two up in the photo section. No, that's not me holding that newborn.
I guess since I mentioned this, I might as well put in a link just in case you weren't aware.
DON'T BUY IF YOU ARE RUNNING VISTA!!! October 11, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The application simply will not play a DVD at all nor will it even stay running for any length of time without crashing from a 'WinDVD MFC Application has stopped working' error.
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