Newly added FireTV, Apple TV, and cloud versions of PowerPlayer let you stream and share your movies via Cyberlink’s Cloud service with anyone on nearly any device. PowerDVD 21 itself offers only mild improvements.
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The latest iteration of PowerDVD, version 21, features only a few very minor improvements. Its release, however, coincides with the introduction of additional PowerPlayer clients for CyberLink’s share-your-media-across-every-device infrastructure; specifically, Apple TV and Fire TV.
The company has also added browser-based playback so you can stream your media on platforms PowerDVD doesn’t support natively, such as macOS and Linux. Roku still supports streaming, but via an older app.
CyberLinkCyberLink’s PowerDVD 21 allows you to upload media to the CyberLink Cloud, and you can share media to any device that has CyberLink’s free PowerPlayer app installed.
If you’re not familiar, CyberLink’s PowerDVD (for optical discs) and PowerPlayer (for other storage media, including the cloud) leverage the CyberLink Cloud storage service/web portal to stream videos to any device with a version of either app.
IDGCyberLink Cloud’s browser interface lets you view media online. Forgive the lack of content in this screenshot, my annual subscription had lapsed, and for some reason was not automatically renewed when I installed PowerDVD 21.
You must have a paid CyberLink account to stream videos (you get 100GB of cloud storage), but that’s free for a year with the purchase of PowerDVD 21 Ultra ($100). After that, you can renew your cloud subscription for $120 annually (PowerDVD comes with a perpetual license). If you think you’ll like the cloud storage, the smarter alternative would be to sign up for a PowerDVD 365 subscription that costs $55 per year. That also includes a cloud account, but you must renew each year to keep using PowerDVD.
Note that while at least one paid account is required, you can share your media with any device or user with one of the free PowerPlayer app or a web browser. Just send them the PIN and they’re good to go.
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Jon is a Juilliard-trained musician, former x86/6800 programmer, and long-time (late 70s) computer enthusiast living in the San Francisco bay area. [email protected]