Summary

When it comes to editing video, it doesn't get better than CyberLink's PowerDirector 11. While the software doesn't have the name recognition of some other brands, it has all the tools and features you need to create, edit and produce professional-looking video projects. With CyberLink PowerDirector 11 Deluxe, you'll be sure to have a great experience turning your home videos into movies that your friends and family will enjoy watching.

Help & Support

CyberLink PowerDirector has an online community called DirectorZone that offers more than 200,000 effects, templates and tutorials. This allows users to upload their timelines and completed projects to the site so that others can see how they made them. CyberLink's website has a searchable FAQs section, tutorials and downloadable user manuals. You can reach tech support by email if necessary.

Ease of Use

yberLink PowerDirector provides a drag-and-drop timeline, which allows you to reorder clips as well as add effects and transitions to make your movie look its best. It also only takes a click of your mouse to trim footage from the ends of your film, adjust volume levels and more. The menus and tools are clearly labeled and simple to learn.

Supported Formats

Importing Files
You can import video in more than 20 file types, including MPG, MP4, MOV, WMV and AVCHD. The software is compatible with Canon and Nikon DSLR video files, as well as DSLR video clips in H.264 format with LPCM audio. You can also use CyberLink PowerDirector to capture full HD video directly from your HDV camcorder. This digital format does not require conversion before you can start your edits. Similarly, you can capture DV footage without having to convert it. Batch capture is particularly convenient for capturing multiple video clips automatically. You can also grab individual segments using the single scene capture mode.

You can even transfer the footage from your camcorder directly to a DVD using CyberLink PowerDirector's DV backup functionality. Of course, camcorders are not the only devices that can transfer files to CyberLink PowerDirector video editing software. You can also capture scenes from a webcam, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, CD, microphone and even a TV signal. Regardless of the format or source of the material, the content all appears in the Media Room, where it's ready for you to start editing and adding to your video projects.

PowerDirector allows you to import WAV, MP3, WMA and M4A audio files. You can also import AAC, Dolby, DTS, WAVE and MPEG-1 Layer III audio formats. When it comes to importing photos files, PowerDirector supports RAW, JPG, GIF, PNG, TIF and BMP.

Exporting Files
For exporting, PowerDirector supports 3GPP2 for 3G mobile phones, AVCHD for SD Card, AVCHD, MPEG-2 HD, WMV-HD, DV-AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MPEG-4 AVC, QuickTime, RealMedia and WMV files. This means you can play your videos on smartphones, PlayStation 3 and PSP, Xbox and Zune, among other devices.

When you've finished editing your movies, this video editing software makes it easy to upload them to YouTube, Facebook and other popular video sharing sites. It's also easy to burn your finished movies to disc. You can choose to burn to single- or dual-layer DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. The software includes the ability to add professional-looking title sets and chapter navigation.

Editing Tools

This video editing software provides you with standard tools such as the ability to trim footage from the beginning and end of clips, as well as sections in the middle. You can also trim audio in the same way. The best part is that you can trim and adjust clips without worrying you'll lose your original content. PowerDirector saves your edits as another file, keeping your original files untouched and safe from unwanted editing.

With this movie editing software, you can crop, zoom in on a selected portion of a clip, play a selected clip in reverse, adjust the video speed, freeze a frame and even rotate a clip within the video. Adding picture-in-picture images is a snap. The ability to upscale standard-definition video content to HD quality is among our favorite features. You can also enhance image details, naturalize colors and automatically adjust chroma and luminance when you edit videos. You can remove annoying grain from film clips and stabilize shaky images in real time.

CyberLink PowerDirector offers transitions, titles and effects that make your videos look even more polished and professional. It's easy to add them on the timeline. All you have to do is drag and drop them.

You can edit audio, including the volume, pitch and playback speed. You can separate the audio from the video for greater flexibility and creative control. This version of PowerDirector offers a Beat Marker, which analyzes your audio content and places markers at prominent beat locations. This is hugely useful for timing transitions and applying other editing techniques. The auto-normalizer adjusts all audio files in the timeline so that the volume is consistent throughout the movie.

The Magic Fix function can remove shakiness from footage, remove red eye and enhance the focus of photos. The Magic Motion Designer allows you to pan and zoom within a scene. It helps you animate still photos. The Magic Cut feature automatically condenses long clips into shorter ones that contain only the highest quality footage. Magic Style gives you the ability to add pre-designed style templates for a professional look.

The workspace provides you with 200 video and audio tracks, which is probably far more than most people will use. However, it gives you the flexibility to create complex projects. We noticed, though, that the more tracks, transitions and special effects you use, the more it computer resources it requires to operate the application. When we were working with it on large projects, it crashed several times.

CyberLink PowerDirector combines software and hardware to optimize its performance for a significant speed boost. The newest version is 38 percent faster at rendering than the previous version of PowerDirector.

The Verdict

PowerDirector 11 enables you to create professional movies that combine many video and audio clips, special effects and transitions. To use the software to its fullest, you need to be sure that your computer exceeds the minimum system requirements.

Cons

Although this software enables you to create complex movies, the amount of resources your computer has will influence how well the software works. You may experience crashes if you use large files and have many transitions and effects.

Pros

PowerDirector 11 Deluxe enables you to trim video clips. With this application, you can also add audio and still images. It provides tools to string your movies together, complete with professional transitions, effects and more. This software also has a strong online community of users who share techniques to help each other improve their filmmaking.