Review by ConsumerAdvocate (dakotad555) at (gmail) dot (com)

Unfortunately, a program like PowerDVD is a necessary evil if you want to watch Blue-Rays on your computer. Until Microsoft decides to natively decode blue ray through Windows Media Center (or whatever replaces it in Windows 8), you need a separate piece of software like this one.

For reference, I have an HTPC with a dual core 2.4ghz processor, 8gb of ram, and a blue-ray player connected to my plat panel TV.

PowerDVD is par for the course these days–sloppy, poorly coded garbage full of unnecessary bloat, with no option to install only the components you want or need. It reminds me of the way NERO went from a streamlined, easy to use program to a boat-fest resource hog. I also dislike how (as other reviewers noted) PowerDVD installs services that work in the background, sending your private data to corporations. Unless you manually stop them, they will track everything you watch and send that data off to marketing companies.

I didn’t have any issues installing the software. Things went smoothly, and I was able to easily play a DVD. However, I elected NOT to keep this software on my computer, largely because a much easier solution exists for me. (I don’t need it to play anything but Blue-Rays; I use XBMC for playing all my other media). An easy, frustration free way to play Blue Rays is with VLC (a free, excellent media player). Just use it to make .MKV files from each Blue Ray disk and then play them with VLC. For complete instructions, check the comments section of this review.

Basically, this is an overpriced, largely problematic software that you don’t really need unless you just have to play Blue-Rays and don’t want to mess around with VLC to rip them to .MKV files. I don’t see a benefit to buying it unless you are willing to put up with frustration, turn off services sending away your private data, and don’t have another option for a media suite.