Review by Erich Maria Remarque

The box version did NOT require online activation. I disabled my network card, placed the PowerDVD disc in the drive, installed, entered an activation key (which was accepted offline and without phoning home), launched the application and played a DVD movie without ever having to connect to the internet. That’s good! :)nnYes, as one other reviewer mentioned, there are a couple of services installed with this program. All you have to do though is disable them afterwards (either in Services or Run->msconfig). Not a biggie and I didn’t notice any adverse effects in my system.

I’ve been using PowerDVD for years have have seen it grow from a snappy app to a bloated monster. But much like the recent versions of Nero, there is still a solid program underneath all the useless fluff, and it’s always been stable in my system.