Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is the third version of my review of this product. It originally received a 2 star rating from me because of software problems, but there was an undocumented fix, and the issue has been solved. But a stern warning to those who are considering the purchase of this program. Do not base your final decision to buy PD7 based upon the trial version. The trial works fine, but the full retail version has issues and bugs that may cause the program to be either severely disabled or run erratically.
Now for the review:
PD7 has a very well rounded suite of special effects, titling routines, automatic color balance, photo adjustments, and a series of "magic" effects that will help you to assemble a slide show, add music to your videos, correct for defects and a host of other things with just a few clicks of your mouse.
The layout for the editing screen is non-cluttered and well designed. For those who are familiar with video editing, it will only take you a day to get used to the operation of how to perform all the tasks. For those who are new to the world of video editing, it will take a little longer, but since the software is easy to learn, you'll have a minimum of problems.
Rendering of your videos for DVD, YouTube, and other devices is lightning quick, depending on the power of your PC's processor. I have an Intel Core 2 Duo running at 3.0GHz and rendering a one minute test video complete with sound track, 23 special effects, scrolling titles, and many graphic transitions took 64 seconds to render. Truly amazing. Burning a DVD is a snap as the menu system takes you through the steps quickly and efficiently. PowerDirector also provides an assortment of pre-made menus for your videos, if you can make them work.
PowerDirector also has an extensive online community where you can get free downloadable member created templates for your video productions.
The primary reason why this otherwise excellent video editing software doesn't score a higher rating is due to some of the serious bugs found in this program. One glaring one has to do with burning DVD menus with your production. The module is broken and will crash the program. Users have been complaining about this problem and others for many months without a fix. Although the incidents are well documented, Cyberlink has not fixed the issues and usually sends out a form email asking users to do horrendously complicated things with their PCs to try to solve the problem. If you are not PC savvy, you can literally damage your PC until it won't run at all.
The bottom line is that even if you are a PC whiz, the advice from customer support does nothing to fix the problem. Other customers report other bugs and are left in the lurch with no solution.
Hopefully, these issues will be fixed in the very near future, but if you are looking for a solid video editing program, you'll be taking your chances with Power Director 7 because you'll never know if you are one of the lucky where PD7 might be compatible with your PC.
If not for the broken modules, this would be an easy five-star program. As it is now, it seems to be a software program in progress and there is still a way to go before Power Director 7 can be considered fully functional.
Power Director 7 is a very powerful program, but the lack of bug fixes, modules that don't work, compatibility problems, and a customer support department that only sends out boiler plate emails to their customers instead of addressing the problems they are having is a major drawback for those who are contemplating the purchase of this program.
At the moment, I will keep the software in the hopes that CyberLink will fix the bugs, but so far, it doesn't look too promising.
UPDATE: PD7 is not compatible with all DVD burners it would seem, according to their members. But the issue of not being able to burn their final DVD projects has a temporary solution.
The forums, which serve as a means to help users out of their problems, is filled with old timers whose only solution to your problems is to "reinstall the software." There is rarely any sympathy for anyone who says they have a problem. You'll get an earful of "Well, this never happened to me," or the more frequent, "It's not the program, it's YOUR fault," or words to this effect.
Customer service, while quick to answer, will give you loads of advice that usually boils down to, "reinstall the program." The senior members of these forums really need to take a step back and realize that new comers and people who experience problems with their software are a result of the software bugs that are in the program and that the idiotic mantra that they all spew..."reinstall the program," is as much help as a rock falling on your head.
PD7 is extremely powerful but also, it would seem, very sensitive to what is on your computer as well as the type of hardware you have on your computer. If it works, it gets a solid 5. But because of the unresponsive forum help and customer service which is fast, but not very helpful with solutions, I would not recommend this program to anyone who isn't already extremely computer literate. If you don't know how to clear your registry, update your drivers, or swap out a DVD drive, you may be in for some serious headaches if you start to encounter problems with PD7.
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