Cyberlink PowerDVD 23 Ultra Blu-ray player software for the year 2024 (user review) - Blu-ray Forum

HDTV1080P · 02-04-2024, 05:20 AM

Cyberlink PowerDVD 23 Ultra (latest 64 bit Blu-ray player software for the year 2024 (user review)

On January 3rd 2024 the retail box version of PowerDVD 23 Ultra was listed for pre-ordering on the Amazon website for $99.99. However, it is my understanding that Cyberlink did not officially release PowerDVD 23 Ultra until sometime around the last week of January 2024. One negative about PowerDVD 23 Ultra according to the Amazon website is that the retail box appears to not ship with a CD-ROM installation disc like all prior versions of PowerDVD offered, since the product description on the Amazon website only says “Retail Box with download card” and the installation disc is not mentioned in the product description (however today I noticed that if one zooms in on the picture of the retail box on the Amazon website it says “Includes an installation disc and digital download”). So, it is unclear if this year Cyberlink stopped offering physical optical CD-ROM installation discs, since the product description just says retail box with download card, but zooming in on the retail box suggests the installation disc might come with. While I understand that if one was in a retail store it would make sense to buy the retail box version with a download card, however if no installation CD-ROM is offered anymore going directly to Cyberlinks website and paying $99.99 and bypassing Amazon directly makes perfect sense, since then one does not need to wait for the product key download card to arrive, and instead Cyberlink can email the product key with download link instantly after purchase. As a fan of physical media, I will miss the optical installation CD-ROM discs and DVD-ROM discs that so many companies use to offer with software installations (at least Intuit TurboTax every year still offers a physical optical disc for installation). Currently only Microsoft offers DVD-ROM discs for Windows installations and most other companies have gone to the download link method with a product key. So currently for new PowerDVD 23 Ultra customers that have never owned prior versions of PowerDVD, there is currently two choices, one either pays $99.99 and buys the retail box at Amazon with the download card (which might also come with a CD-ROM according to the fine print on retail box), or one pays $99.99 directly from Cyberlinks website to download PowerDVD 23 Ultra directly. However, if one is an existing PowerDVD 21 Ultra or PowerDVD 22 Ultra owner they can upgrade to PowerDVD 23 Ultra download version at 50% off for only $49.99 instead of $99.99. Every year I pay around $99.99 plus taxes for the retail box version, but since this year Amazon product description only said “Retail Box with download card”, I went to Cyberlink directly and downloaded the software. But today as I was writing this user review, I zoomed in on the small print on the retail box and see that the retail box claims both an installation disc and digital download is included. So, I missed out on getting the retail box from Amazon since it was unclear what I was buying from them.

PowerDVD 23 Ultra retail box with download card at Amazon for $99.99

https://www.amazon.com/CyberLink-PowerDVD-Award-Winning-Software-Virtually/dp/B0CRFBDG4G

PowerDVD 23 Ultra direct download from Cyberlink website is $99.99 for new customers, or $49.99 for existing PowerDVD 21 Ultra and PowerDVD 22 Ultra customers

https://www.cyberlink.com/store/powerdvd-ultra/upgrade_en_US.html

PowerDVD 23 Ultra is officially compatible with the Windows 11 operating system, however even though my 9 year old desktop computer has the latest TPM 2.0 chip with secure boot technology, my PC lacks the latest CPU requirements to use the Windows 11 operating system, and therefore I am using the Windows 10 Professional 64 bit operating system instead. Windows 11 requires a recent new desktop or Notebook computer with the latest CPU within the last 3 to 4 years. However, PowerDVD 23 Ultra is fully functional with both the Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating system.

Is PowerDVD 23 Ultra a downgrade or an upgrade when compared to prior versions of the program?

If one owns a large collection of Blu-ray 3D discs and native 4K Blu-ray discs then upgrading to PowerDVD 23 Ultra is a downgrade since the Cyberlink company no longer supports Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray discs (Only standard 2K Blu-ray discs, 480i DVD discs, and audio CD’s are supported when it comes to physical optical disc media). Many years ago PowerDVD 10 Ultra added Blu-ray 3D disc playback. And PowerDVD 17 Ultra added native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc playback. For those that need Blu-ray 3D support they should stick with Cyberlink PowerDVD 19 Ultra since that was the last official version that supports Blu-ray 3D discs. In PowerDVD 20 Ultra Blu-ray 3D support was removed (or I should say never supported Blu-ray 3D). For those that need native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc playback they should stick with PowerDVD 22 Ultra since that was the last official version that supported native 4K Blu-ray discs (make sure one does not install the latest firmware update or software patch that removes native 4K Blu-ray disc support). In PowerDVD 23 Ultra native 4K Blu-ray disc support was removed (or I should say never supported 4K Blu-ray). Of course, those consumers that need both Blu-ray 3D and native 4K Blu-ray disc playback from a Windows PC should be using PowerDVD 19 Ultra since that software is the last software that supports both Blu-ray 3D and native 4K Blu-ray discs. However, to play the latest new release Blu-ray disc movies with the latest AACS security keys a firmware update is needed once every 6 months or so. Installing the latest firmware update will most likely remove Blu-ray 3D support and native 4K Blu-ray disc support. Also, at a certain point Cyberlink will stop supporting older versions of PowerDVD and a firmware updates will stop and customers will need to pay around $99.99 to upgrade or sometimes $49.99 to upgrade to the latest version of PowerDVD Ultra which currently for the year 2024 is PowerDVD 23 Ultra. There is a possibility that one day that Cyberlink might drop native 2K Blu-ray (100% standard Blu-ray disc) playback from a future version of PowerDVD Ultra in 3 to 5+ years. But that is just speculation after long time consumers have seen the company drop Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray playback. If standard 2K Blu-ray disc support is ever dropped, then I will never be upgrading to a newer version of PowerDVD again, since that is the main reason many people purchased PowerDVD Ultra in the first place. Worst case scenario is that one day Cyberlink might drop 480i DVD disc playback and audio CD playback, and become a Cloud based media download player, but the player would need to be called something like PowerMedia player instead of PowerDVD player if DVD player support is dropped. In Cyberlinks defense the company was forced to drop both Blu-ray 3D and native 4K Blu-ray disc playback, since that feature was removed from all PC hardware as soon as consumers started installing the latest firmware updates to graphics cards, motherboards, etc. Nine years ago, in the year 2015 I built a high-end Intel based desktop computer with a native 4K HDCP 2.2 computer monitor that could stream and download native 4K content from the web, however when the 4K Blu-ray format launched in 2016, I and the 99% of other consumers that owned a PC with a native 4K BD-ROM drive could not play 4K Blu-ray discs since it required a special Intel CPU and motherboard that used SGX hardware-based security technology. But the problem is only 1% of the Intel based computers on the market had that SGX security technology and 99% of the other new computers lacked that technology. And SGX security was only offered on low to medium end computers and not the high-end motherboards. To make matters worse the Blu-ray Disc Association only approved Intel based SGX security technology as the only security technology allowed to playback native 4K Blu-ray disc, and just a few years ago Intel stopped making CPU’s and motherboards with the SGX technology. To make a long story short SGX is a dead security technology and since all new firmware/software updates to computers remove the ability for consumers to playback Blu-ray 3D discs and 4K Blu-ray discs, Cyberlink had no other choice but to remove both Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray disc playback capability from its PowerDVD Ultra product line. At this point the only way to playback Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray discs is to purchase a standalone 4K Blu-ray player from Sony or Panasonic or another company that is not Windows based.

Windows Media Player dropped native DVD support and only the playback of audio CD’s occurs starting with Windows 10. There are over 1.4 billion Windows 10 and Windows 11 users combined, and the ability to playback Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray discs from a Windows PC is not possible anymore, and might never be possible. At this point the only thing that could bring back both Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray disc playback to a Windows PC, would be if the Blu-ray Disc Association makes a business deal with Microsoft. Microsoft has knowledgeable computer programmers that could make a secure software, secure hardware, or secure hybrid software/hardware technology around the TPM 2.0 chip or other security technology that would allow all Windows based AMD CPU’s and Intel CPUs to playback both Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray discs. It would also be ideal to have a Windows Media Player that supports DVD-Audio disc and Super Audio CD (Blu-ray Audio is already supported on 100% of Blu-ray players since the year 2006). If Windows 12 becomes a reality one day all new Windows 12 PC’s could ship with a new version of Windows Media Player that supports 4K Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray 3D disc, 2K Blu-ray discs, 480i DVD discs, and audio CD’s. Maybe even a new 4K Blu-ray Windows Media App one day that can be downloaded from the Microsoft store for existing Windows 10 and Windows 11 users. The Blu-ray Disc Association if they want to restore 4K Blu-ray disc playback and Blu-ray 3D playback from a Windows PC are going to need to make business deal with Microsoft. For now, 4K Blu-ray disc playback and Blu-ray 3D playback is not possible on a Windows PC anymore.

One might be wondering why I purchased PowerDVD 23 Ultra if both Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray disc playback is not supported. The answer is I personally never owned the equipment to playback Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray disc from a Windows PC. So, for me and my family members I have been using a year 2016 OPPO UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player to playback native 4K Blu-ray discs. While many consumers lost the ability to play Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray discs from a Windows PC, those were features I wanted to use but personally lacked the computer hardware technology to playback those formats. So, my point is PowerDVD 23 Ultra is a very small upgrade for people that only need to playback standard 2K Blu-ray discs, 480i DVD discs, and audio CD’s. But a big downgrade for people that lost native 4K Blu-ray disc playback and Blu-ray 3D playback.

Some positives and a few negatives of Cyberlink PowerDVD 23 Ultra (mostly a 64-bit application).

There are a lot of signs that the world is transitioning away from physical optical disc media to Internet cloud-based streaming or download media playing. The latest computer graphics cards and computer monitors support native 8K video playback (one of my family members owns an 8K graphics card but the graphics card is connected to a 1080P computer monitor, instead of a 4K or 8K computer monitor). I have owned a 4K computer monitor since the year 2015 but have not yet upgraded to an 8K computer monitor. YouTube is currently offering native 8K streams and possible one day around the year 2026+ Netflix, Amazon, VUDU, and other streaming providers might offer 8K movie streams with lossless audio or lossy audio. In addition, professionals and consumers starting around the year 2019+ could purchase an 8K camcorder to create homemade 8K family videos. In the year 2019 Cyberlink was smart enough to have their computer programmers add native 8K video playback support starting with PowerDVD 19 Ultra. And every year the 8K feature is improved upon. With PowerDVD 23 Ultra continuing the support for 8K video file playback. I do not personally own an 8K camcorder but one of my family members has an old year 2017 Sony 4K camcorder and I was able to use PowerDVD 23 Ultra on a native 4K computer monitor to playback 3840 x 2160P videos using the MPEG-4/AVC codec with studio master 2.0 LPCM stereo sound. But I do not own an 8K camcorder to test the 8K video playback capability of PowerDVD 23 Ultra, I am sure the software most likely does a good job with 8K videos. I searched on the Internet and with my Microsoft Edge 64 bit web browser I was able to playback native 8K YouTube demo videos, but they were downscaled to 4K quality on my 9 year old computer monitor. But the 8K YouTube streaming demo videos looked amazing even though I had to downscale them to 4K quality on my 4K computer monitor. But the 8K YouTube videos are being played back on the Microsoft Edge 64 bit browser, and YouTube is the most popular streaming service in the world, and most likely one main reason being that YouTube is free. However, I needed to try and find some 8K demo videos that I could download and play on my PowerDVD 23 Ultra software interface. The problem I ran into is I could not find any free native 8K demo material to download, the websites that claimed 8K video downloads were offering videos in native 4K quality and not true 8K quality. The one website that claimed to offer 8K demo video downloads wanted a minimum of around $300 for each download, therefore I passed on testing the 8K video playback feature with PowerDVD 23 Ultra. If I could have found a free 8K demo to download in theory PowerDVD 23 Ultra would have played the native 7680 x 4320P video back but it would have been downscaled to 4K quality due to the limitations of my 9-year-old desktop computer monitor. But that is one of the amazing features of PowerDVD Ultra, is that 8K has been offered since the year 2019, with the ability to playback native 8K video files downloads from the web or 8K camcorder video file playback.

PowerDVD 23 Ultra offers better HDR10 support for 8K and 4K web based video downloads but no HDR10+ or Dolby Vision HDR support. Also Intel and NVIDIA RTX Video Super Resolution is supported. I did not test all the new instant karaoke features that PowerDVD 23 Ultra supports.

PowerDVD 23 Ultra does not support Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray, and therefore when I insert a native 4K Blu-ray disc into the computers 4K BD-ROM drive the following PowerDVD 23 Ultra message pops up on the screen:

“There is a disc with an unsupported format in drive F:” (the drive letter for the 4K BD-ROM drive will usually be D, E, or F depending on one’s hardware configuration).

That being said playing standard Blu-ray discs, DVD discs, and audio CD’s was almost flawless on my 9 year old desktop computer system (PowerDVD 23 Ultra also appears to load faster when compared to prior versions). Mixing down 7.1 lossless audio tracks to 2.0 PCM by the software sounded fine with the Blu-ray disc titles I used. Bitstreaming lossless audio to a A/V receiver is a non-issue since the A/V receiver does the decoding of the audio. Also, I know people with a 17-year-old Notebook computer and a BD-ROM drive that are also having no problems with playing standard Blu-ray discs, DVD discs, and audio CD’s while using PowerDVD 23 Ultra. I tested the BD-LIVE function on some Blu-ray discs and it also worked perfectly fine (some studios like Showtime still support BD-LIVE for old legacy titles). PowerDVD 23 Ultra like almost all prior versions offers unlimited persistent storage for BD-LIVE, bookmarks, and resume play if one unchecks the box that says “Limit the size of cache storage to”. Also under more settings make sure the “Enable network for BD-live” is checked for those that want to use BD-LIVE (ones entire solid state drive is used for temporary cache storage). Clearing the cache storage fixes rare Blu-ray disc playback or disc loading issues sometimes for both standalone Blu-ray players and PowerDVD 23 Ultra. Scanning forward at 32 times speed and scanning backwards at 16 times speed was nice and smooth and is the maximum scanning speed possible by the program. PowerDVD 23 Ultra just like prior versions of PowerDVD automatically adjusts the graphics card frame rate (Hz) output from the default 60Hz mode to 30Hz (29.97Hz) when playing back material that is 30fps like DVD discs with 3:2 pulldown, and also some BD-LIVE material that was 30fps. Also, the graphics card switched to 24Hz (23.976Hz) when native 1080p/24 material was played from a Blu-ray disc. Since my computer monitor is native 3840 x 2160P with native 60Hz, any 24Hz and 30Hz material gets converted to 60Hz by the computer monitor. But if one hooks up an external display like a Pioneer plasma the native 1080p/24 from the graphics card well be triple flashed to 1080P at 72Hz by the Pioneer plasma display. Or native 2160P/24 at 96Hz if one hooks up a 4K LCOS projector and is able to play 4K camcorder images (some 4K videos might be 30fps or 60fps instead of 24fps).

PowerDVD 23 Ultra has an optical disc information screen that shows basic information like the video and audio codec located on the disc, disc resolution, and audio and video bit rates. However, PowerDVD 23 Ultra still does not show the frame rate on the disc and if the source material is interlaced or progressive. Therefore, movie reviewers still need to use the 2016 OPPO UDP-203 Blu-ray player that mentions the native frame rate of the disc and if the image is progressive or interlaced. Plus, the OPPO UDP-203 informs one what the output frame rate and output resolution is. Hopefully a future version of PowerDVD well offer frame rate and progressive/interlace information. Next to the resolution all they need to do is place a letter “I” or a letter “P”. Then have a native Hz info on screen also. But for some reason PowerDVD Ultra does not offer the same level of detail as one gets from a high-end standalone 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc player.

My desktop computer uses a Windows 10 Professional 64-bit operating system. Programs that run in 64 bit mode instead of 32 bit mode are more powerful and faster (that is true 99% of the time as long as the programmer designed the program correctly). Cyberlink PowerDVD 19 Ultra was the very first PowerDVD software program to offer native 64-bit software code for the main program. While it’s true that PowerDVD 23 Ultra also runs in 64 bit mode, that is only true for the main program and many times PowerDVD 23 Ultra runs in a hybrid 64 bit and 32 bit mode. For example, when playing an audio CD, PowerDVD 23 Ultra runs in 64-bit mode, but when one plays a video from a DVD, or Blu-ray disc, PowerDVD Ultra must access 32-bit software code to play that video. In the ideal world when and if Cyberlink makes PowerDVD 24 Ultra for the year 2025+, they should rewrite the program so that its 100% 64-bit application code running instead of the hybrid 64 bit and 32-bit code that is currently being used for video. For example, while viewing the “Platform” column under “Details” tab in Windows Task Manager, one gets to see all the 64 bit and 32-bit software programs that are running. As soon as one clicks on the PowerDVD 23 Ultra desktop icon, the main core program called “PowerDVD.exe” well run-in 64-bit mode on a 64-bit Windows operating system. Then for a second or two “PowerDVD22Agent.exe” which is also 64 bit well briefly run and then close as soon as “PowerDVDMovie.exe” software is launched automatically. The problem is the “PowerDVDMovie.exe” software is only running in 32-bit mode. While audio CD’s only use the 64 bit “PowerDVD.exe” program, when one wants to play any video-based program from a DVD or Blu-ray they are accessing the 32 bit “PowerDVDMovie.exe” software code. Therefore PowerDVD 23 Ultra is not 100% 64 bit and only the main program, therefore it has to always access 32-bit software code in order to play video-based material. In the ideal world the next version of PowerDVD, which in theory will be called PowerDVD 24 Ultra, most likely will be released in 2025+, and hopefully the Cyberlink company programmers will have re-written the software so that the “PowerDVDMovie.exe” portion of the software uses 64-bit code instead of 32-bit software code. If that was to occur then the program would no longer be a 64 bit and 32-bit hybrid but 100% 64-bit software program.

If one does not need support for playing back Blu-ray 3D discs or native 4K Blu-ray discs, I highly recommend PowerDVD 23 Ultra. Overall PowerDVD 23 Ultra appears to be a little bit better when compared to PowerDVD 22 Ultra. PowerDVD 23 Ultra is also the best Blu-ray software for a Windows PC for those that own a BD-ROM drive and want to playback standard Blu-ray discs, DVD discs, and audio CD’s. Its true that PowerDVD 23 Ultra is the best and number one software to use to playback standard 2K Blu-ray discs and 480i DVD discs (plus audio CDs are supported). However, many consumers are going to instead purchase a standalone 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc player from Sony or Panasonic so that they can playback native 4K Blu-ray discs and Blu-ray 3D discs. I always wanted to playback 4K Blu-ray discs on a Windows computer when doing brief user reviews, but for the past 8 years all my 4K BD-ROM drive was good for is getting the GB information from the 4K Blu-ray disc (PC built in 2015 but first 4K BD-ROM drive came out around 2016). I really wish the Blu-ray Disc Association would make a business deal with Microsoft and fix this issue of Windows no longer supporting native 4K Blu-ray disc playback and no longer supporting Blu-ray 3D playback. With over 1.4 billion Windows devices in use, it should be possible to get 14 million consumers out of the 1.4 billion to purchase an internal or external 4K BD-ROM drive if 4K Blu-ray support were to return to Windows one day. Its all up to the Blu-ray Disc Association if they want to get this issue resolved.

02-04-2024, 05:20 AM	#1
HDTV1080P Blu-ray Champion Top contributor Member since:Jan 2007 Blu-ray reviews: 205	Cyberlink PowerDVD 23 Ultra Blu-ray player software for the year 2024 (user review) Cyberlink PowerDVD 23 Ultra (latest 64 bit Blu-ray player software for the year 2024 (user review) On January 3rd 2024 the retail box version of PowerDVD 23 Ultra was listed for pre-ordering on the Amazon website for $99.99. However, it is my understanding that Cyberlink did not officially release PowerDVD 23 Ultra until sometime around the last week of January 2024. One negative about PowerDVD 23 Ultra according to the Amazon website is that the retail box appears to not ship with a CD-ROM installation disc like all prior versions of PowerDVD offered, since the product description on the Amazon website only says “Retail Box with download card” and the installation disc is not mentioned in the product description (however today I noticed that if one zooms in on the picture of the retail box on the Amazon website it says “Includes an installation disc and digital download”). So, it is unclear if this year Cyberlink stopped offering physical optical CD-ROM installation discs, since the product description just says retail box with download card, but zooming in on the retail box suggests the installation disc might come with. While I understand that if one was in a retail store it would make sense to buy the retail box version with a download card, however if no installation CD-ROM is offered anymore going directly to Cyberlinks website and paying $99.99 and bypassing Amazon directly makes perfect sense, since then one does not need to wait for the product key download card to arrive, and instead Cyberlink can email the product key with download link instantly after purchase. As a fan of physical media, I will miss the optical installation CD-ROM discs and DVD-ROM discs that so many companies use to offer with software installations (at least Intuit TurboTax every year still offers a physical optical disc for installation). Currently only Microsoft offers DVD-ROM discs for Windows installations and most other companies have gone to the download link method with a product key. So currently for new PowerDVD 23 Ultra customers that have never owned prior versions of PowerDVD, there is currently two choices, one either pays $99.99 and buys the retail box at Amazon with the download card (which might also come with a CD-ROM according to the fine print on retail box), or one pays $99.99 directly from Cyberlinks website to download PowerDVD 23 Ultra directly. However, if one is an existing PowerDVD 21 Ultra or PowerDVD 22 Ultra owner they can upgrade to PowerDVD 23 Ultra download version at 50% off for only $49.99 instead of $99.99. Every year I pay around $99.99 plus taxes for the retail box version, but since this year Amazon product description only said “Retail Box with download card”, I went to Cyberlink directly and downloaded the software. But today as I was writing this user review, I zoomed in on the small print on the retail box and see that the retail box claims both an installation disc and digital download is included. So, I missed out on getting the retail box from Amazon since it was unclear what I was buying from them. PowerDVD 23 Ultra retail box with download card at Amazon for $99.99 https://www.amazon.com/CyberLink-PowerDVD-Award-Winning-Software-Virtually/dp/B0CRFBDG4G PowerDVD 23 Ultra direct download from Cyberlink website is $99.99 for new customers, or $49.99 for existing PowerDVD 21 Ultra and PowerDVD 22 Ultra customers https://www.cyberlink.com/store/powerdvd-ultra/upgrade_en_US.html PowerDVD 23 Ultra is officially compatible with the Windows 11 operating system, however even though my 9 year old desktop computer has the latest TPM 2.0 chip with secure boot technology, my PC lacks the latest CPU requirements to use the Windows 11 operating system, and therefore I am using the Windows 10 Professional 64 bit operating system instead. Windows 11 requires a recent new desktop or Notebook computer with the latest CPU within the last 3 to 4 years. However, PowerDVD 23 Ultra is fully functional with both the Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating system. Is PowerDVD 23 Ultra a downgrade or an upgrade when compared to prior versions of the program? If one owns a large collection of Blu-ray 3D discs and native 4K Blu-ray discs then upgrading to PowerDVD 23 Ultra is a downgrade since the Cyberlink company no longer supports Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray discs (Only standard 2K Blu-ray discs, 480i DVD discs, and audio CD’s are supported when it comes to physical optical disc media). Many years ago PowerDVD 10 Ultra added Blu-ray 3D disc playback. And PowerDVD 17 Ultra added native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc playback. For those that need Blu-ray 3D support they should stick with Cyberlink PowerDVD 19 Ultra since that was the last official version that supports Blu-ray 3D discs. In PowerDVD 20 Ultra Blu-ray 3D support was removed (or I should say never supported Blu-ray 3D). For those that need native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc playback they should stick with PowerDVD 22 Ultra since that was the last official version that supported native 4K Blu-ray discs (make sure one does not install the latest firmware update or software patch that removes native 4K Blu-ray disc support). In PowerDVD 23 Ultra native 4K Blu-ray disc support was removed (or I should say never supported 4K Blu-ray). Of course, those consumers that need both Blu-ray 3D and native 4K Blu-ray disc playback from a Windows PC should be using PowerDVD 19 Ultra since that software is the last software that supports both Blu-ray 3D and native 4K Blu-ray discs. However, to play the latest new release Blu-ray disc movies with the latest AACS security keys a firmware update is needed once every 6 months or so. Installing the latest firmware update will most likely remove Blu-ray 3D support and native 4K Blu-ray disc support. Also, at a certain point Cyberlink will stop supporting older versions of PowerDVD and a firmware updates will stop and customers will need to pay around $99.99 to upgrade or sometimes $49.99 to upgrade to the latest version of PowerDVD Ultra which currently for the year 2024 is PowerDVD 23 Ultra. There is a possibility that one day that Cyberlink might drop native 2K Blu-ray (100% standard Blu-ray disc) playback from a future version of PowerDVD Ultra in 3 to 5+ years. But that is just speculation after long time consumers have seen the company drop Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray playback. If standard 2K Blu-ray disc support is ever dropped, then I will never be upgrading to a newer version of PowerDVD again, since that is the main reason many people purchased PowerDVD Ultra in the first place. Worst case scenario is that one day Cyberlink might drop 480i DVD disc playback and audio CD playback, and become a Cloud based media download player, but the player would need to be called something like PowerMedia player instead of PowerDVD player if DVD player support is dropped. In Cyberlinks defense the company was forced to drop both Blu-ray 3D and native 4K Blu-ray disc playback, since that feature was removed from all PC hardware as soon as consumers started installing the latest firmware updates to graphics cards, motherboards, etc. Nine years ago, in the year 2015 I built a high-end Intel based desktop computer with a native 4K HDCP 2.2 computer monitor that could stream and download native 4K content from the web, however when the 4K Blu-ray format launched in 2016, I and the 99% of other consumers that owned a PC with a native 4K BD-ROM drive could not play 4K Blu-ray discs since it required a special Intel CPU and motherboard that used SGX hardware-based security technology. But the problem is only 1% of the Intel based computers on the market had that SGX security technology and 99% of the other new computers lacked that technology. And SGX security was only offered on low to medium end computers and not the high-end motherboards. To make matters worse the Blu-ray Disc Association only approved Intel based SGX security technology as the only security technology allowed to playback native 4K Blu-ray disc, and just a few years ago Intel stopped making CPU’s and motherboards with the SGX technology. To make a long story short SGX is a dead security technology and since all new firmware/software updates to computers remove the ability for consumers to playback Blu-ray 3D discs and 4K Blu-ray discs, Cyberlink had no other choice but to remove both Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray disc playback capability from its PowerDVD Ultra product line. At this point the only way to playback Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray discs is to purchase a standalone 4K Blu-ray player from Sony or Panasonic or another company that is not Windows based. Windows Media Player dropped native DVD support and only the playback of audio CD’s occurs starting with Windows 10. There are over 1.4 billion Windows 10 and Windows 11 users combined, and the ability to playback Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray discs from a Windows PC is not possible anymore, and might never be possible. At this point the only thing that could bring back both Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray disc playback to a Windows PC, would be if the Blu-ray Disc Association makes a business deal with Microsoft. Microsoft has knowledgeable computer programmers that could make a secure software, secure hardware, or secure hybrid software/hardware technology around the TPM 2.0 chip or other security technology that would allow all Windows based AMD CPU’s and Intel CPUs to playback both Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray discs. It would also be ideal to have a Windows Media Player that supports DVD-Audio disc and Super Audio CD (Blu-ray Audio is already supported on 100% of Blu-ray players since the year 2006). If Windows 12 becomes a reality one day all new Windows 12 PC’s could ship with a new version of Windows Media Player that supports 4K Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray 3D disc, 2K Blu-ray discs, 480i DVD discs, and audio CD’s. Maybe even a new 4K Blu-ray Windows Media App one day that can be downloaded from the Microsoft store for existing Windows 10 and Windows 11 users. The Blu-ray Disc Association if they want to restore 4K Blu-ray disc playback and Blu-ray 3D playback from a Windows PC are going to need to make business deal with Microsoft. For now, 4K Blu-ray disc playback and Blu-ray 3D playback is not possible on a Windows PC anymore. One might be wondering why I purchased PowerDVD 23 Ultra if both Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray disc playback is not supported. The answer is I personally never owned the equipment to playback Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray disc from a Windows PC. So, for me and my family members I have been using a year 2016 OPPO UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player to playback native 4K Blu-ray discs. While many consumers lost the ability to play Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray discs from a Windows PC, those were features I wanted to use but personally lacked the computer hardware technology to playback those formats. So, my point is PowerDVD 23 Ultra is a very small upgrade for people that only need to playback standard 2K Blu-ray discs, 480i DVD discs, and audio CD’s. But a big downgrade for people that lost native 4K Blu-ray disc playback and Blu-ray 3D playback. Some positives and a few negatives of Cyberlink PowerDVD 23 Ultra (mostly a 64-bit application). There are a lot of signs that the world is transitioning away from physical optical disc media to Internet cloud-based streaming or download media playing. The latest computer graphics cards and computer monitors support native 8K video playback (one of my family members owns an 8K graphics card but the graphics card is connected to a 1080P computer monitor, instead of a 4K or 8K computer monitor). I have owned a 4K computer monitor since the year 2015 but have not yet upgraded to an 8K computer monitor. YouTube is currently offering native 8K streams and possible one day around the year 2026+ Netflix, Amazon, VUDU, and other streaming providers might offer 8K movie streams with lossless audio or lossy audio. In addition, professionals and consumers starting around the year 2019+ could purchase an 8K camcorder to create homemade 8K family videos. In the year 2019 Cyberlink was smart enough to have their computer programmers add native 8K video playback support starting with PowerDVD 19 Ultra. And every year the 8K feature is improved upon. With PowerDVD 23 Ultra continuing the support for 8K video file playback. I do not personally own an 8K camcorder but one of my family members has an old year 2017 Sony 4K camcorder and I was able to use PowerDVD 23 Ultra on a native 4K computer monitor to playback 3840 x 2160P videos using the MPEG-4/AVC codec with studio master 2.0 LPCM stereo sound. But I do not own an 8K camcorder to test the 8K video playback capability of PowerDVD 23 Ultra, I am sure the software most likely does a good job with 8K videos. I searched on the Internet and with my Microsoft Edge 64 bit web browser I was able to playback native 8K YouTube demo videos, but they were downscaled to 4K quality on my 9 year old computer monitor. But the 8K YouTube streaming demo videos looked amazing even though I had to downscale them to 4K quality on my 4K computer monitor. But the 8K YouTube videos are being played back on the Microsoft Edge 64 bit browser, and YouTube is the most popular streaming service in the world, and most likely one main reason being that YouTube is free. However, I needed to try and find some 8K demo videos that I could download and play on my PowerDVD 23 Ultra software interface. The problem I ran into is I could not find any free native 8K demo material to download, the websites that claimed 8K video downloads were offering videos in native 4K quality and not true 8K quality. The one website that claimed to offer 8K demo video downloads wanted a minimum of around $300 for each download, therefore I passed on testing the 8K video playback feature with PowerDVD 23 Ultra. If I could have found a free 8K demo to download in theory PowerDVD 23 Ultra would have played the native 7680 x 4320P video back but it would have been downscaled to 4K quality due to the limitations of my 9-year-old desktop computer monitor. But that is one of the amazing features of PowerDVD Ultra, is that 8K has been offered since the year 2019, with the ability to playback native 8K video files downloads from the web or 8K camcorder video file playback. PowerDVD 23 Ultra offers better HDR10 support for 8K and 4K web based video downloads but no HDR10+ or Dolby Vision HDR support. Also Intel and NVIDIA RTX Video Super Resolution is supported. I did not test all the new instant karaoke features that PowerDVD 23 Ultra supports. PowerDVD 23 Ultra does not support Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray, and therefore when I insert a native 4K Blu-ray disc into the computers 4K BD-ROM drive the following PowerDVD 23 Ultra message pops up on the screen: “There is a disc with an unsupported format in drive F:” (the drive letter for the 4K BD-ROM drive will usually be D, E, or F depending on one’s hardware configuration). That being said playing standard Blu-ray discs, DVD discs, and audio CD’s was almost flawless on my 9 year old desktop computer system (PowerDVD 23 Ultra also appears to load faster when compared to prior versions). Mixing down 7.1 lossless audio tracks to 2.0 PCM by the software sounded fine with the Blu-ray disc titles I used. Bitstreaming lossless audio to a A/V receiver is a non-issue since the A/V receiver does the decoding of the audio. Also, I know people with a 17-year-old Notebook computer and a BD-ROM drive that are also having no problems with playing standard Blu-ray discs, DVD discs, and audio CD’s while using PowerDVD 23 Ultra. I tested the BD-LIVE function on some Blu-ray discs and it also worked perfectly fine (some studios like Showtime still support BD-LIVE for old legacy titles). PowerDVD 23 Ultra like almost all prior versions offers unlimited persistent storage for BD-LIVE, bookmarks, and resume play if one unchecks the box that says “Limit the size of cache storage to”. Also under more settings make sure the “Enable network for BD-live” is checked for those that want to use BD-LIVE (ones entire solid state drive is used for temporary cache storage). Clearing the cache storage fixes rare Blu-ray disc playback or disc loading issues sometimes for both standalone Blu-ray players and PowerDVD 23 Ultra. Scanning forward at 32 times speed and scanning backwards at 16 times speed was nice and smooth and is the maximum scanning speed possible by the program. PowerDVD 23 Ultra just like prior versions of PowerDVD automatically adjusts the graphics card frame rate (Hz) output from the default 60Hz mode to 30Hz (29.97Hz) when playing back material that is 30fps like DVD discs with 3:2 pulldown, and also some BD-LIVE material that was 30fps. Also, the graphics card switched to 24Hz (23.976Hz) when native 1080p/24 material was played from a Blu-ray disc. Since my computer monitor is native 3840 x 2160P with native 60Hz, any 24Hz and 30Hz material gets converted to 60Hz by the computer monitor. But if one hooks up an external display like a Pioneer plasma the native 1080p/24 from the graphics card well be triple flashed to 1080P at 72Hz by the Pioneer plasma display. Or native 2160P/24 at 96Hz if one hooks up a 4K LCOS projector and is able to play 4K camcorder images (some 4K videos might be 30fps or 60fps instead of 24fps). PowerDVD 23 Ultra has an optical disc information screen that shows basic information like the video and audio codec located on the disc, disc resolution, and audio and video bit rates. However, PowerDVD 23 Ultra still does not show the frame rate on the disc and if the source material is interlaced or progressive. Therefore, movie reviewers still need to use the 2016 OPPO UDP-203 Blu-ray player that mentions the native frame rate of the disc and if the image is progressive or interlaced. Plus, the OPPO UDP-203 informs one what the output frame rate and output resolution is. Hopefully a future version of PowerDVD well offer frame rate and progressive/interlace information. Next to the resolution all they need to do is place a letter “I” or a letter “P”. Then have a native Hz info on screen also. But for some reason PowerDVD Ultra does not offer the same level of detail as one gets from a high-end standalone 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc player. My desktop computer uses a Windows 10 Professional 64-bit operating system. Programs that run in 64 bit mode instead of 32 bit mode are more powerful and faster (that is true 99% of the time as long as the programmer designed the program correctly). Cyberlink PowerDVD 19 Ultra was the very first PowerDVD software program to offer native 64-bit software code for the main program. While it’s true that PowerDVD 23 Ultra also runs in 64 bit mode, that is only true for the main program and many times PowerDVD 23 Ultra runs in a hybrid 64 bit and 32 bit mode. For example, when playing an audio CD, PowerDVD 23 Ultra runs in 64-bit mode, but when one plays a video from a DVD, or Blu-ray disc, PowerDVD Ultra must access 32-bit software code to play that video. In the ideal world when and if Cyberlink makes PowerDVD 24 Ultra for the year 2025+, they should rewrite the program so that its 100% 64-bit application code running instead of the hybrid 64 bit and 32-bit code that is currently being used for video. For example, while viewing the “Platform” column under “Details” tab in Windows Task Manager, one gets to see all the 64 bit and 32-bit software programs that are running. As soon as one clicks on the PowerDVD 23 Ultra desktop icon, the main core program called “PowerDVD.exe” well run-in 64-bit mode on a 64-bit Windows operating system. Then for a second or two “PowerDVD22Agent.exe” which is also 64 bit well briefly run and then close as soon as “PowerDVDMovie.exe” software is launched automatically. The problem is the “PowerDVDMovie.exe” software is only running in 32-bit mode. While audio CD’s only use the 64 bit “PowerDVD.exe” program, when one wants to play any video-based program from a DVD or Blu-ray they are accessing the 32 bit “PowerDVDMovie.exe” software code. Therefore PowerDVD 23 Ultra is not 100% 64 bit and only the main program, therefore it has to always access 32-bit software code in order to play video-based material. In the ideal world the next version of PowerDVD, which in theory will be called PowerDVD 24 Ultra, most likely will be released in 2025+, and hopefully the Cyberlink company programmers will have re-written the software so that the “PowerDVDMovie.exe” portion of the software uses 64-bit code instead of 32-bit software code. If that was to occur then the program would no longer be a 64 bit and 32-bit hybrid but 100% 64-bit software program. If one does not need support for playing back Blu-ray 3D discs or native 4K Blu-ray discs, I highly recommend PowerDVD 23 Ultra. Overall PowerDVD 23 Ultra appears to be a little bit better when compared to PowerDVD 22 Ultra. PowerDVD 23 Ultra is also the best Blu-ray software for a Windows PC for those that own a BD-ROM drive and want to playback standard Blu-ray discs, DVD discs, and audio CD’s. Its true that PowerDVD 23 Ultra is the best and number one software to use to playback standard 2K Blu-ray discs and 480i DVD discs (plus audio CDs are supported). However, many consumers are going to instead purchase a standalone 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc player from Sony or Panasonic so that they can playback native 4K Blu-ray discs and Blu-ray 3D discs. I always wanted to playback 4K Blu-ray discs on a Windows computer when doing brief user reviews, but for the past 8 years all my 4K BD-ROM drive was good for is getting the GB information from the 4K Blu-ray disc (PC built in 2015 but first 4K BD-ROM drive came out around 2016). I really wish the Blu-ray Disc Association would make a business deal with Microsoft and fix this issue of Windows no longer supporting native 4K Blu-ray disc playback and no longer supporting Blu-ray 3D playback. With over 1.4 billion Windows devices in use, it should be possible to get 14 million consumers out of the 1.4 billion to purchase an internal or external 4K BD-ROM drive if 4K Blu-ray support were to return to Windows one day. Its all up to the Blu-ray Disc Association if they want to get this issue resolved. Last edited by HDTV1080P; 02-04-2024 at 08:13 AM.

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