HomePage 23 of 24: What's New in PowerDVD 11
Note : This is an archived review for an older version of PowerDVD. For the latest review, please refer to this page.
What's New in PowerDVD 11
This page tries to list all the significant new features of PowerDVD 11 (as compared to PowerDVD 10) - if you want to see a complete review of the latest version of PowerDVD, please refer to the next page.
Here’s a list of all the new features found in PowerDVD 11 - the following apply to all editions of PowerDVD (Standard, Deluxe and Ultra) unless otherwise stated:
- Multimedia Support:
- Playback recorded 3D TV (ISDB-T Standard) [Ultra]
- 3D Photo support (MPO/JPS) [Deluxe, Ultra]
- Instant Seek for DVD movies
- TrueTheater™ Technology:
- TrueTheater 3D for photos [Deluxe, Ultra]
- TrueTheater 3D on photos from Facebook/ Flickr [Deluxe, Ultra]
- TrueTheater Enhancement of videos streaming from smart devices/DLNA servers/YouTube
- Smart Device Support, including PowerDVD remote app (free with Deluxe and Ultra versions)
- Social Media Support:
- YouTube video playback
- Facebook, Flickr playback & download
- Add comments to Facebook/Flickr photos
- Upload video to YouTube/Facebook
- Upload 3D video to YouTube [Deluxe, Ultra]
- Home Media Support:
- Stream content with DTCP-IP protection [Ultra]
Let's go through the main new features one by one.
Photo Support (and 3D Photos)
PowerDVD has always covered videos, and in the last version, music support was added. Now, there's a new "Photos" tab in the main PowerDVD interface that allows you to use PowerDVD to manage your photo collection as well, including slideshow support.
Not only that, 3D photos are supported in two major ways. First of all, if you have a 3D camera that can take native 3D photos in MPO or JPS format, then you can view them in the Deluxe and Ultra version of PowerDVD 11 in their 3D glory. If you're like me and haven't completed embraced 3D photography, then PowerDVD 11 (again, Deluxe and Ultra) will let you convert any existing 2D photo to 3D. It's the same kind of simulated 3D that some TVs have, and similar to the effect you get with the previous version of PowerDVD and videos. Like all 3D effects in PowerDVD, you can select the type of 3D technology to use, including those old red/cyan glasses. The review will cover the actual quality of the 3D conversion process, but it's actually better than you would expect.
And while PowerDVD 11 manage your local photo collection, it also now allows you to link to your Facebook/Flickr photos, and even convert those to 3D.
Social Media Support
You can't get away from social media these days, and PowerDVD is the latest software to integrate the social media experience. But it's actually not as vague as it sounds, because the first feature, YouTube playback, is less social media, and more Internet TV (or Blu-ray player). You can now play YouTube videos right in PowerDVD without starting your browser, and it gives you a similar interface to what you would expect from Internet connected TVs and Blu-ray players that also have YouTube integration.
Of course, social media these days means Facebook. You can select your locally stored videos and upload them to Facebook (or YouTube) by clicking a single button (once you've connected to your Facebook account, of course). And you can do the same with photos and your Flickr account as well.
With YouTube uploads, you can even upload the video file as 3D, with the option of side-by-side or over/under 3D formats.
Smart Device Support
The only thing more popular than social media these days are smart devices, your phones, tablets and everything in between. PowerDVD 11 supports iPhone, iPad and Android devices in doing a few neat things.
First up, there's a remote control app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices, that you get from the respective app store/market (free for Deluxe, Ultra users, but you must get the paid version if you use PowerDVD standard). The coolest bit is that you can use your smart device as a mousepad, not only to control the mouse pointer in PowerDVD, and anywhere in Windows (tested in Windows 7), as long as PowerDVD is started up. It's a perfect complement to your HTPC, allowing you to control your HTPC via your smart device.
The second major feature is the ability to stream content from your smart phone to your PowerDVD enabled PC, including all photos and videos (no audio support). For Apple devices, not that only videos located in the "Camera Roll" can be streamed.
New Interface
A new version of PowerDVD always means a new interface, but PowerDVD 11 largely remains faithful to the interface use in PowerDVD 10.
