Tech Bitch

Corel bought DVD software maker InterVideo for $196m (£125m) at the back end of 2006, thus becoming owner of the leading DVD and video playback software on the PC (over 200 million copies shipped). InterVideo has been a major player in PC DVD software market for years now and its most famous product is its DVD player application, WinDVD. The company also develops a variety of other DVD-related products, including DVD backup software called DVD Copy and DVD creation program called WinDVD Creator. So has changing hands altered WinDVD in any way? Yes, it has actually, and in a totally positive way.

WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray (£65/$99) features a new, sleeker Windows Media Player-like user interface, new video technologies including advanced upscaling that enables near-high-definition viewing with standard-definition DVDs, enhanced Blu-ray Disc playback (also supports HD DVDs) up to 1080p, as well as the latest in high-definition surround sound. This is all good news because WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray is designed for the demanding movie buff and not the casual trans-Atlantic commuter.

The new ‘Graphite’ user interface looks spiffy and makes viewing and navigation easier. And because it has been de-cluttered the whole package looks cleaner and is more intuitive. Corel has been busy behind the scenes too, with a range of impressive features that help to improve both picture and audio quality. In particular, WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray does an impressive job of converting standard-definition DVDs and videos to near-high-definition video without the added expense of high-definition drives and media. There’s also technology that removes digital noise from MPEG, H.264 and VC-1 low-resolution video to provide clearer images, in addition to removing the judder effect from fast-motion scenes for smoother playback.

Full BD-J support means the software is ready for next-generation Blu-ray interactivity including pop-up menus and picture-in-picture - all without interrupting the movie - and support for HDCP, AACS and BD+ content protection systems means you shouldn’t have any problems playing your original discs. Furthermore, WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray supports playback of video from AVCHD camcorders copied from the camcorder hard disk drive, on AVCHD disc or memory card.

It’s great to see that Corel hasn’t neglected laptop users, especially as a growing range of machines from the likes of Dell and Sony are now being offered with integrated Blu-ray drives. WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray optimises the on-the-go movie viewing experience with a TimeStretch utility that increases video and audio playback speed so you don’t miss the end of a movie while travelling. Smart Stretch provides standard or widescreen viewing for varying movie and laptop types, and there’s even support for virtual surround sound technologies even when listening on headphones and stereo speakers.

WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray is an excellent all-rounder. Its new video and audio standards, such as nVidia’s PureVideo HD, ATI’s Avivo, Intel’s Clear Video processing technologies, Advanced Video Codec High Definition (AVCHD) recording format, and Trimension All2HD advanced upscaling technology all do a great job, and the addition of DTS 96/24 decoding to provide a 96KHz sampling rate where available (in place of the 48KHz standard) is also welcome.

Whereas some might prefer the traditional interface and stability of CyberLink’s PowerDVD 8 Ultra (£65/$99), WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray is definitely the current champ. Having said that it’s not without its faults. Most noticeable is that you can’t select WinDVD 9 for playing only some video and audio file formats, as it does not use file associations. This means you can’t designate it as your default player for MPEG-2 HD and use something else for MOV and WAV files. Also, load times for movies stored on your HDD are long. Still, while it’s not entirely perfect, Corel has a winner on its hands - at least until the next release of PowerDVD. [9]

Symantec’s all-in-one software security solution now includes backup to iPod, Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. The newest version also includes Symantec’s patent-pending ‘Browser Protection’ technology, which defends against drive-by downloads and other new or unknown threats that exploit vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer.

Designed to protect on multiple fronts, Norton 360 includes anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, intrusion protection, and SONAR behavioural detection technology. There is now also Norton Identity Safe, which stores passwords and other personal information securely, in addition to automatic form-filling capabilities and one-click log-in to trusted sites.

Fans of the product’s backup feature now have even more options. Local backup options now include Blu-Ray, iPods, HD-DVD discs, or shared drives, in addition to internal drives, CD/DVD drives, USB drives, mapped network drives, or external hard drives.

Also new to Norton 360 is Network Monitoring, which checks the status of wireless security, maps connected devices, alerting you when you are connected to an unsecure network. Smart Background Scheduler has been enhanced with the ability to prevent tasks from initiating automatically while in battery power mode and now throttles bandwidth for online backups to minimize impact on performance. Finally, you now have the option to manually scan individual files and folders and to shutdown your computer upon completion of a task.

Norton 360 version 2.0 is available now for £47.99 (includes 1-year service subscription and protection updates) and can be installed on up to three PCs. The product includes 2GB of online storage, though additional online storage can be purchased.

Yeah, I had to read this twice before I believed it too … The UK is apparently at the forefront of the high definition (HD) revolution and is leading the way in Europe in next generation disc sales. Clipboard meisters DEG Europe claims the volume of next-generation DVDs being sold in Europe increased 85 fold between 2006 and 2007 and is expected to rise exponentially into 2008.

Although consumers are continuing to purchase standard definition DVDs (those bargain bins are great, aren’t they!), the growth curve is falling off with a marginal increase in volume sales of just 4.2%. In terms of who’s buying the most DVDs, uber-geek Brits are leading the HD revolution with 34% of total next generation DVD sales.

Yves Caillaud, senior vice president international, Warner Home Video, said: “In 2007, we saw over 2.5 million units of high definition DVDs sold within Europe. To put this in context, when compared to the transfer from VHS to DVD in 1998, only 1,480,000 DVDs were sold in the first year. This clearly demonstrates the rapid consumer adoption of HD technologies.”

Hardware sales of next generation DVD players also look sweet. According to GfK tracking, 11,100 units were sold in January 2007 which soared to 124,000 by December 2007, showing a sharp increase towards the end of the year. But standard definition (SD) players are not going away and are still the most popular choice in the market with over 33 million more units being sold in the UK compared to UK sales of next generation players. The fact that SD players are the cheapest they have ever been, averaging at just £37 a player, is a plus I guess.