PowerDVD

Even though there are numerous applications on the market for playing media files and video DVDs, most of them don't offer the right balance between ease of use and functionality. Still, there are some programs which do offer this and one of them is the PowerDVD application. Having DVD written in the program's name doesn't mean that it can only play DVDs. The truth is that PowerDVD is a complete media player, offering support for a wide range of audio and video formats.

After the program has been installed, the user is presented with a welcome screen, which will guide him through the process of configuring the application's functionality. As such, PowerDVD can automatically scan the user's personal folders for media content. After the scanning process is over, the user will be presented with the actual interface of PowerDVD.

A simple menu will be displayed in the left part of the interface, which allows selecting the type of files that should be played. The navigation is easy to use and resembles Windows Explorer. PowerDVD is able to display thumbnails for every found media file and one will be able to play it with a single mouse click. When playing audio files, the program is able to read the ID3 tag and display various information regarding every song, like the artist, album, genre, release year and so on.

A feature which makes PowerDVD different from other media players is the possibility of simulating the 3D effect when using 3D compatible monitors and displaying any picture or movie in 3D. Besides a compatible monitor, this feature also requires a fast graphical adapter. Besides playing media files, PowerDVD can also play Blu-ray and DVD movies and supports single layer and double layer discs as well.

When playing optical discs, the application is able to skip menus and go directly to the main movie. Another interesting feature is the possibility of buying music albums and tracks directly from the program's interface, as it features an online media store, which includes the latest releases. If you have an iOS or Android enabled mobile device, you will be able to use it as a remote for PowerDVD, by installing the special application into the device.

By accessing the options section of the program, the user will be able to select his speaker configuration and to customize hardware decoding settings for video, in case he has a compatible video card.