When it comes to video editing, I have been a long time user of Apple’s Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro on my Mac. But when I travel and want something out on YouTube, TikTok or social media while I’m in another location, I have used a Windows laptop and my go to software has been using CyberLink’s Power Director since version 12.
I have used CyberLink’s software because it’s affordable for many consumers and when it’s consumer-targeted, it’s typically for a demographic that wants to get into video editing and are more than likely not going to spend on a high end machine but has the appropriate operating system with enough memory and a good amount of free disc space.
For basic usage, it works great and if you want to invest in more plugins and effects, CyberLink offers them on their site ranging from $29.99-$49.99.
CyberLink’s PowerDirector 18 Ultra didn’t take too long to install. Mostly everything is on one DVD disc, the second DVD disc has extra installation content.
Installation didn’t take too long and it was quite quick. After installing the main software, then you can add the various plugins and I do recommend these for those who want visual effects and then the second disc afterward. It doesn’t take long. (NOTE: Installation speed is subjective to your PC/Laptop, whether your using an SSD drive or SATA drive, etc.)
As for learning curve, that depends on the user but the good news is that a lot of stuff can be found via tutorials online.
As I have used CyberLink PowerDirector 17 Ultra, I can discuss the difference with 18. It’s important to note that if you want the better version of Power Director 18, you will want to go with their pricier 18 Ultimate vs. Ultra. As Ultimate comes with advanced video editing features including 4K preview, shape designer, audio scrubbing, etc.
For one, Cyberlink 18 Ultra offers ready-made templates available at the go and you can select from Full Feature mode, Storyboard Mode, Slideshow Creator, Auto Mode or Learning Center.
A Video Collage Designer allows to combine videos, there are 18 new transition effects and there is also a 360 video as well. And also 1:1 square video creation.
Now when I moved from 12 to 17 Ultra, I wrote about how things work are much more intuitive. I was able to edit a 4K video and a 360 video.
Everything that I literally need this software does offer, adding many types of titles at the beginning of my video or doing an overlay. Adding transitions, especially the basic yet important fade in’s and outs in Designer (PiP Designer), ability to reverse or slow down a video or increase the speed (thanks to Video Speed Designer in Power Tools), the ability to unlike my video and audio, add audio fade outs and more.
But also importantly, making sure video export options are available, especially if I want to export to 4K and highest output.
Now, I’m going to touch upon a few things that I found. Positive and negative.
+ Uses the same style as 17, so no big jump in learning curve
+ More transitions, it looks like the titling is much better.
+ Faster render speeds and has support for opencl & multi-gpgpu acceleration
+/- Less crashing. It has happened to me a few times on 18 Ultra, but not as much as 17 Ultra. Needless to say, save often!
– I was able to import many videos from my many camera and smart phone camera on 17 Ultra and while the majority of them have worked on 18 Ultra, there were certain MP4 videos that I can view and play it but once I move it to the timeline, video refused to work (this is H.265 HEVC video), only audio will play. These are the same video files I have used on 17 Ultra without any problem but for some reason will not work on 18 Ultra when on the timeline.
I had no problems importing H.264 AVC but I had no luck with HEVC. I even went as far as to try the PowerDirector 18 hotfix file but to no avail. Tried disabling hardware acceleration and a few other things but unfortunately, HEVC files that are imported, will not work on the time line.
A lot of those general things that many people will need to make produce videos, may it be for social media or personal videos that require editing, this software does offer it. Granted, the more needs one will need for heavy editing and visual effects, that’s where the more expensive software comes into play or the purchasing of extra filter or sound effects for PowerDirector 18 Ultra.
But for those wanting to edit and produce videos for personal or business use but want to keep things on a budget, at under a $100, you can’t really go wrong with this latest version of Power Director.
Overall, while I’m not going to ditch my Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro for CyberLink PowerDirector 18 Ultra for all my video editing, whenever I’m traveling with my laptop, this has and will continue to be my go to software. It’s inexpensive, easy to learn and use, nor does it hog a lot of HD space but I do feel that the problems I have had with 18 Ultra with HEVC, which works on 17 Ultra has become a it problematic for me.
While most recording devices I use is H.264 AVC, my Smartphone is H.265 HEVC and I really don’t want to have to go back to 17 just so I can import and edit my HEVC files.
I shouldn’t have this problem with Cyberlink PowerDirector 18 Ultra and I checked the Cyberlink forums and while I found posts of past previous versions having problems with HEVC, not many for 18.
Overall, Cyberlink PowerDirector 18 Ultra is very good and aside from the HEVC problem, I prefer it compared to 17. So, for those who are new to video editing but also for those who are video editing on a budget. CyberLink PowerDirector 18 Ultra has a lot to offer and is recommended!
