Review by Dougie Fresh

The last media create/editor/organizer package I used was Roxio Creator 2009 but I got tired of it not really being supported on Windows 7 so seeing this package and it also having blu-ray support and Windows Media Center TV file support I jumped on it.

Here are the specs for the system I am using it on (DIY system)nIntel Core i5-3570K CPUnIntel 180GB SSDnHIS 512MB HD5670 GPUn8GB DDR3-1600 RAM (2 x 4GB)nLite-On IHBS112 blu-ray burnernnThe first thing that attracted me to this package was the claim of WMC TV file support. I’ve used the very excellent VideoRedo in the past but it’s twice as much as this whole package. I knew this didn’t have automatic commercial detection but if I could at least trim the beginning and end and convert the files to MKVs, I’d be happy. So, the first thing I tried was to load a WTV file and I was able to do that, even a big 11GB file. It took a while to get used to the video editor but I was able to trim the beginning and end of a video. Converting it to MKV however was a different story. While the Video app supports WTV, for some reason the Recode app does not. I was able to get it to load a DVR-MS file (the old kind). Like MKV, DVR-MS is just a container. In this case the stream is MPEG2. I wanted to write out a MKV with MPEG2 so I would not have to convert it but for some reason the option to change the stream from H.264 to MPEG2 is grayed out so it required conversion to change the container.

The next thing I tried was the Blu-ray player. The whole package is half the price of most commercial software blu-ray players so if this worked, it’s worth it alone even if nothing else does. I was able to watch a Blu-ray the first time but the second time when I went to play the Blu-ray the move just hung. I had to reboot to get it to work again.

That’s about as far as I’ve gotten. There are three other things I’ll want to do at some point I used to always do with Roxio Creator that’ll come up as needed:nnCrop an MP3 file for using as a ringtonenBurn a DVD with menusnand the new one I want to try is burning videos to a Blu-ray.

I won’t be using all the library and organization tools (Nero MediaHome) since I already use Windows Media Center and MediaBrowser 3 for those (if you haven’t checked out MediaBrowser3 it’s amazing).

So far, I am pretty happy with it. We’ll see how it goes with a big movie project. I have quite the backlog of home movies but it’s so hard to find the time to edit them and put them onto a disc. New ringtones will probably be first since that’s quick. I don’t expect any issues there since MP3s are so lightweight.

[Update]nThe Blu-ray support in this package is really a hidden gem. Given the price compared to WinDVD, TMT, etc. I wouldn’t hesitate to get this if you want a software Blu-ray player. Even recent titles like Gravity and Enders Game worked.

After quite a bit of searching through each of the Nero modules, I was surprised to find the package actually does not include any sound editing tools. It turns out there’s a free download from the Nero website for Nero WaveEditor. So, if you’re looking for something to edit MP3s, this package doesn’t have it. I am surprised.