CyberLink PowerDVD

# PowerDVD 7 Readme

01/19/2006

Thank you for using CyberLink PowerDVD 7!

This Readme file contains the latest information about PowerDVD 7. For complete instructions on using PowerDVD 7, please refer to the user's guide or online help.

This Readme is divided into the following sections:

- What's New in PowerDVD 7
- PowerDVD Versions
- Hardware Compatibility
- General Playback Performance and Quality Issues
- CLEV-2/CLPV-Related Issues
- Technical Support

## What's New in PowerDVD 7

### Audio

- New! - DTS-ES*
- New! - DTS Neo:6*
- New! - DTS 96/24**
- New! - AAC support**
- DTS 5.1**
- Dolby Digital 5.1
- Dolby Digital EX**
- Dolby Pro Logic IIx**
- Dolby Headphone**
- Dolby Virtual Speaker**
- CLMEI-2
- CyberLink Virtual Speaker
- CyberLink Headphone
- MLP lossless
- SRS TruSurroundXT*
- Pitch scaling technology
- Audio equalizer presets
- Audio visualizations
- Direct 96/24 output
- MP3, WAV

* - Available on Advance Audio Pack only

** - Available on Deluxe version

### Video

- New! - MPEG4 AVC H.264 High-Definition Video
- New! - Adaptive CLEV-2 for video quality enhancement
- CLPV - Non-linear stretch technology
- Video smart de-interlacing

### Playback Formats

- New! - VCPS for DVD+R with content protection
- New! - CPRM for DVD-R with content protection
- DVD-Audio
- External subtitles
- DVD files (DVD-Video, DVD-VR, DVD+VR) from any folder in your hard drive

### Advanced Features

- New! - UPnP Support - Access your media from a Home Network
- New! - Say-It-Again - Automatically repeats the last movie scene
- New! - See-It-All - Automatically speeds playback to show as much of the movie as possible
- New! - Read-It-Clearly - Moves subtitles from the viewing screen
- New! - Freestyle User Interface offers 5 different ways of using PowerDVD

## PowerDVD Versions

To find the version of your copy of PowerDVD, click About on the PowerDVD player, then click Activate on the About page. The version is displayed at the top of the dialog box that opens. If you enter an activation key in this dialog box, you can upgrade to a new version of PowerDVD in order to activate even more features.

Feature | Deluxe | Max | Standard | Express | OEM 6ch | OEM 2ch | Trial
Audio Features and Processing Technologies
Proprietary Headphone Technology (CLHP) | After registration | After registration | After registration | After registration | After registration | After registration | After registration
Proprietary Virtual Surround Technology (CLVS) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Proprietary Channel Expansion Technology (CLMEI-2) | Yes | Yes | Yes | -- | Optional | Optional | Yes
Dolby Headphone | Yes | Yes | -- | -- | Optional | Optional | Yes
Dolby Virtual Speaker | Yes | Yes | -- | -- | Optional | Optional | Yes
Dolby Digital EX | Yes | Yes | -- | -- | Optional | -- | Yes
Dolby Digital Decoder | 5.1 ch | 5.1 ch | 5.1 ch | 2 ch | 5.1 ch | 2 ch | 5.1 ch
Dolby Pro Logic IIx | Yes | Yes | -- | -- | Optional | -- | Yes
MLP Decoding | Yes | Yes | -- | -- | Optional | Optional | Yes
DTS Decoding | Yes | -- | -- | -- | Optional | Optional | Yes
DTS 96/24 | Yes | -- | -- | -- | Optional | Optional | Yes
Audio Time Stretch | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Audio Equalizer Presets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Audio Pitch Scaling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Video Features and Processing Technologies
Adaptive Dynamic Video Enhancement Technology (CLEV-2) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Smart Video Stretching (CLPV) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Smart Video De-Interlacing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Supported Disc and File Formats
DivX Pro Files | Yes | Yes | -- | -- | Optional | Optional | --
WMV-HD Files | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
H.264 Files | Yes | Yes | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
DVD-Audio | Yes | Yes | -- | -- | Optional | Optional | --
DVD-VR on DVD-RAM/RW | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
DVD-VR on DVD-R | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
DVD-VR on DVD-RW/ DVD-RAM with CPRM | -- | -- | -- | -- | Optional | Optional | --
DVD-VR on DVD-R with CPRM | -- | -- | -- | -- | Optional | Optional | --
DVD+VR/Random Access | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
IFO | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Interactual® Support | Yes (add-on pack) | Yes (add-on pack) | Yes (add-on pack) | Yes (add-on pack) | Yes (add-on pack) | Yes (add-on pack) | --
General Playback Controls and Features
Dual Subtitles/Bilingual Captions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
UPnP Support | Yes | Yes | -- | -- | -- | -- | Yes
Say-It-Again | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
See-It-All | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
read-it-clearly | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Selection of Control Panel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Prolonged Playback on Mobile Platforms | Yes | Yes | Yes (add-on pack) | Yes (add-on pack) | Yes (add-on pack) | Yes (add-on pack) | Yes
Bookmark | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Digital Zoom | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Pan & Scan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
Snapshot | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes

## Hardware Compatibility

PowerDVD 7 offers complete multi-channel (4/6/7/8) and S/PDIF sound device support, including (but not limited to) devices from Analog Devices, Aureal, Creative, Cirrus/Crystal, CMedia, ESS, Fortemedia, KCTech, Philips/VLSI, Realtek, Sigmatel, SiS, TI, Yamaha, VIA, and any other sound device that supports the Microsoft WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE interface.

PowerDVD 7 offers support for popular sound cards including, but not limited to, the following:

- Creative Audigy2 ZS
- Intel High Definition Audio
- Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 6.1
- Creative Sound Blaster Audigy
- Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 family
- Hercules DIGIFIRE 7.1
- Hercules GameTheater XP 6.1/7.1
- M-Audio Revolution 7.1
- Terratec Aureon 5.1/6.1/7.1 family
- Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
- VideLogic Sonic Fury

It is recommended that you install the latest driver from the original card/device maker, not a Windows built-in driver, in order for multi-channel output to work properly.

PowerDVD 7 supports Microsoft DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) in display chips or integrated chipsets from ATI, Intel, NVidia, SiS, and VIA/S3. Acceleration functions include Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform, Hardware Motion Compensation and Subpicture Alpha Blending units.

If "Hardware Acceleration" is enabled, some systems might display subtitles incorrectly. This is because the display driver only supports an old format of the Microsoft DXVA interface. It is recommended that you install the latest driver from the original card/chip maker in order for this function to work flawlessly.

PowerDVD 7 is fully optimized for multimedia instruction sets, such as AMD 3D Now! Professional, Enhanced 3D Now!, 3DNow!, Intel Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (SSE2), SSE, MMX, and the Hyper-Threading technology.

PowerDVD 7 is compatible with new DVD-RAM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+RW, DVD-Multi, DVD-Dual or DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drives with IEEE 1394, USB 2.0, ATAPI, SCSI or CardBus interface, as long as the drive conforms to the SFF8090 command set and SBP-2 (if applicable).

PowerDVD 7 is compatible with all Centrino, Socket 478, Socket 423, Socket 370, Slot 1, Socket A and Slot A chipsets from Intel, VIA, SiS, ALi, NVIDIA, and AMD. Also compatible with Transmeta Crusoe systems.

## General Playback Performance and Quality Issues

Enabling video color profiles such as "Vivid", "Theater" or "Bright" (instead of "Original") consumes extra CPU power. It is recommended that you use a system running at least 400MHz in order to use these color profiles.

To enable audio effects such as Dolby Headphone, Dolby Virtual Speaker, SRS, CLMEI-2, DSP, and Dolby Pro Logic IIx decoder, or to play DVD titles with DTS digital surround tracks, it is recommended that you use a 400MHz or higher processor system and have at least 128MB of system RAM.

External subtitle loading: For loading external subtitles, you should name the subtitle file with the same file name as the playback video file.

### DMA Mode:

It is HIGHLY recommended that you enable the DMA function of your DVD-ROM in order to reduce CPU loading when accessing DVDs. Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows ME all contain built-in DMA support. To enable the DMA setting, open the Control Panel, double-click System, then click the Hardware tab. Click the Device Manager button, then open the IDE/ATAPI controllers option. Double-click Secondary IDE Channel, then click the Advanced Settings tab. In the Transfer Mode drop-down box, choose DMA if available.

The CyberLink system diagnostics utility launches automatically after PowerDVD 7 is installed to help you activate the DMA option. However, only Windows XP shows the DMA status of your DVD-ROM drives since Windows XP enables DMA support during its setup process by default.

### Display Issues:

To ensure that PowerDVD works properly, please install DirectX version 8.1 or higher.

PowerDVD 7 requires the DirectDraw overlay surface for optimal playback performance and video quality. Almost all current display cards support this feature. If the DirectDraw overlay surface cannot be created, PowerDVD 7 will use a slower mode called the DirectDraw off-screen mode. The reasons why the DirectDraw overlay surface cannot be created can be because the color depth, desktop resolution, or the screen refresh rate is too high, leaving insufficient bandwidth to sustain the creation of an overlay surface, or else the display card requires the installation of the latest DirectX Runtime. If the DirectDraw overlay surface cannot be created, try lowering the desktop resolution, color depth, or refresh rate, then try again.

It is highly recommended that you NOT run PowerDVD under 640x480 resolution, since the resolution of DVD video is greater than 640x480.

## CLEV-2/CLPV-Related Issues

To use CLPV, it is highly recommended that you use a graphic card with 8MB or more video memory.

CLPV and CLEV-2 are sophisticated video processing technologies that require higher CPU power. If both of these functions are enabled (especially in conjunction with other audio effects), it is recommended that you use at least a 1.0GHz system for optimal performance.

CLPV and CLEV-2 are implemented within a CyberLink proprietary video decoder, thus, they are not available when hardware video acceleration is enabled.

## Technical Support

- Customer service:

http://support.cyberlink.com/ (English)

http://support.cyberlink.com.tw/ (Chinese)

- CyberLink corporate web sites:

http://www.cyberlink.com/ (English)

http://tw.cyberlink.com/ (Chinese)

http://jp.cyberlink.com/ (Japanese)

Copyright © 2006 CyberLink Corp. All rights reserved. Dolby, Pro Logic, MLP Lossless, Surround EX, and the double-D symbol
are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories.