The DVD format is now unavoidable when it comes to watching videos; it would be unthinkable to turn back to the old school VHS format. With improved video and audio quality and many bonuses included on blockbuster DVDs, this format has become a new standard. The Taiwanese software developer, Cyberlink, has quickly understood this and has proposed to us for several years the well known product PowerDVD. PowerDVD is software that playbacks DVDs on computers that are equipped with a DVD-Rom drive. With today’s powerful computers, hardware DVD decoders are totally useless and software like PowerDVD is definitely the ideal solution to watch DVDs on your PC.

=============================
WHAT'S NEW IN POWERDVD XP 4.0
=============================

For more details and further explanations of each function, refer to the online 
help or user's guide.

-------
 Audio 
-------

 * Certified multi-channel DTS digital surround decoder to play DTS DVD-titles and 
   DTS Audio CDs. (*) 

 * Dolby Pro Logic II decoder that processes stereo sources such as MP3, Audio CD, 
   Video CD, Super Video CD and LPCM/MPEG Audio DVD into surround sound in a 
   multi-speaker environment. (*)

 * SRS TruSurroundXT(tm), an audio package containing TruSurround, Focus and TruBass, 
   provides enhanced virtual surround sound and virtual bass experience through 
   2 speakers. (*)

 * Allows interactive virtual speakers positioning by utilizing A3D and Microsoft 
   DirectSound3D technologies.

 * Supports Dolby Digital Dynamic Range Control for Quiet, Normal or Noisy environments.
   Also useful for boosting the audible volume on a notebook or laptop.

 * Option to mix Low Frequency Effect for headphones, 2- and 4-speaker systems.

 * Supports 8-channel sound cards like Guillemot GameTheater XP to play DVD titles with
   Dolby Digital Surround EX tracks and provides 8 discrete audio channels output. (*)

 * Supports DTS/Dolby Digital multi-channel or SPDIF output under Windows XP and 
   Windows 2000 (with Service Pack 2 installed) in Microsoft WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE 
   interface. (*)

 Note(*): Full multi-channel DTS/Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II decoder, 
          Dolby Headphone and SRS TruSurroundXT features are all optional and may not 
          be available in your PowerDVD XP version.

-------
 Video
-------

 * Full range video adjustments including newly added contrast and saturation controls
   along with original brightness, yellow/blue and red/green controls.

 * Four default video profiles : Original, Vivid, Bright, and Theater.

 * The ability to create, define and save video profiles of your own!

 * New Microsoft DirectX Video Acceleration WHQL certified. Supports DVD video playback 
   by utilizing hardware MPEG video decoding circuits in ATI, Intel, NVidia, PowerVR
   and SiS display chips/integration chipsets under Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME
   and Windows 98.

 * Supports full range of dual view display cards/chipsets such as ATI Radeon 8500/7500, 
   Radeon VE, NVidia GeForce2 MX/MX200/MX400, Matrox series and SiS 315/650.

 * Enhanced screen capture by utilizing CyberLink's proprietary interpolation technology. 
   Option of capturing as original DVD video frame size (video source) or current video 
   window size is available.
    
 * Enhanced video de-interlacer and UV up-sampler.
 
 * Widescreen monitors are supported with correct aspect ratio display of 16:9 movies 
   and letterboxed 4:3 movies.

------------------
 Playback Formats
------------------

  * Supports playback of all DVD formats: DVD Video, DVD Video Recording (on DVD-RAM 
    or DVD-RW), cDVD (DVD on CD-R/RW), cdDVD, and miniDVD. 

  * Supports playback of Super Video CD and Video CD 2.0 discs.

  * DVD files can be played and previewed directly from any folder in your HDD. 

  * Compatible with new DVD-RAM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+RW or DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive with 
    1394, ATAPI, SCSI or Card Bus interface.

------------------------------
 Navigation and User Controls 
------------------------------

  * Enhanced Toolbar navigator: speed slider added. Customize your toolbar by deciding 
    what functions you would like to include. Options of showing toolbar only under full 
    screen mode is also provided.

  * Video windows always on top option.

  * Mouse scrolling setting: customized mouse scroller functions include "Shuttle Reverse/
    Forward", "Previous/Next Chapter", "Volume Adjustment" or "Time Seek".

  * Time Seek with duration from 1 to 600 seconds by using "Page Up" and "Page Down". 

  * DVD Auto-Resume playback: if a movie playback is interrupted, the next time you will 
    have the freedom to view from the beginning of the movie or resume from the point of 
    interruption.

  * Slow/Fast/Step forward/backward playback from speeds of 1/8X (Express Menu only) to 32X!

---------------
 Miscellaneous 
---------------

  * Microsoft WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Lab) certified with Windows XP, Windows 2000,
    Windows Millennium and Windows 98. New look-and-feel of Windows XP windows and dialogues 
    are fully integrated. 

  * Title information and dynamic bitrate monitor displays current position in title and 
    video bitrate (fixed or variable), audio encoding type, channel information and audio 
    bitrate.

  * Optimized for Intel SSE2 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 2) and AMD 3DNow! Professional
    (in new generation of Athlon and Duron processors) instruction sets.

  * New i-Power DVDonet.com portal for the latest DVD news and resources. Portal pages can be 
    updated and viewed later offline.

  * Minimized  Skin Technology: four newly designed and revised skins including Crystal XP,
    Oscar XP, Neo XP and Epiphany XP. With each skin, you can toggle between the full 
    functioning version and a minimized version for desktop space efficiency.

  * Import and export your favorite DVD bookmarks from/to another computer.


======================================
ADDITIONAL FEATURES OF PowerDVD XP 4.0
=================================-====

 * Dolby Headphone support (*)

 * AB repeat function

 * Proprietary "Dual Subtitles" technology. Suitable for language learning along with 
   AB repeat function

 * Closed Captioning decoder

 * Digital Zoom function  

 * System diagnostic tools including a DMA enabling/status detecting tool for all kinds 
   of system chipsets from Intel, VIA, SiS, ALi and AMD. Supports Windows XP, 
   Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows 95 OSR2.

 * Supports Microsoft HID (Human Interactive Devices) interface for HID compliant 
   multimedia keyboards like those from Logitech, Microsoft, or other input devices 
   to control PowerDVD XP directly . 

 * OSD (On Screen Display) support. Can change font type, font size, font color, 
   display duration, display location and background OSD color.

 * Information page in PowerDVD XP 4.0 configuration displays player status, display 
   mode, video/audio/subpicture attributes and complete hardware information.

 * Visual bookmark viewer and flexible bookmark management. No need to manually write
   scene descriptions for each bookmark.

 * Visual chapter viewer

 * Multi-user parental control and user management

 * Flexible screen capture to any folder, Windows desktop, or Windows Clipboard

 * Option of displaying widescreen movies in Letterbox or Pan&Scan mode. Under 
   Pan&Scan mode, you can hold down the mouse button and drag in order to pan the video.

 * Plays a wide range of media files as well as audio CD and Video CD

    Audio CD Tracks (*.CDA) 
    DVD-Video object files (*.VOB)
    DVD-Video Recording object files (*.VRO)
    Dolby Digital AC-3 audio files (*.AC3)
    MIDI Audio files (*.MID; *.RMI)
    MPEG-1/2 files (*.MPG; *.MPEG)
    MPEG-1 Audio Layer-2 files (*.MP2)
    MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 files (*.MP3)
    Playlist files for MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3 (*.M3U)
    Playlist files for PowerDVD (*.PLS)
    MPEG-1 Video files (*.M1V)
    MPEG-2 Video files (*.M2V)
    Microsoft Waveform audio files (*.WAV)
    Windows Media files (*.ASF; *.WM; *.WMA; *.WMV)
    Video for Windows files (*.AVI)
    Video CD files (*.DAT)

 Note(*): optional features


======================
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY
======================

 * Complete multi-channel (4 or 6) and SPDIF/Toslink sound device support, including 
   (but not limit to) those made by Analog Devices, Aureal, Creative, Cirrus/Crystal, 
   CMedia, ESS, Fortemedia, KCTech, Philips/VLSI, Realtek, Sigmatel, SiS, TI, Yamaha, 
   VIA and any other sound device that supports the Microsoft WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE 
   interface. 

   Popular sound cards supported include but not limited to:

     Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 family
     Creative Sound Blaster Audigy family
     Hercules GameTheater XP 
     Philips Acoustic Edge
     Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
     VideLogic Sonic Fury

   It is recommended that you always install the latest driver from the original 
   card/device maker but not use any Windows built-in drivers in order for this function 
   to work properly. 


 * Supports video playback acceleration hardware in display chips or integrated chipsets 
   from ATI, Intel, NVidia, PowerVR, SiS, Trident and VIA/S3. Acceleration functions
   include Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform (iDCT; only for ATI), Hardware Motion 
   Compensation and Subpicture Alpha Blending units. 

   Display cards from any other vendor that provide DirectDraw overlay capability are 
   also supported.  
   
   With the newly evolved Microsoft DirectX Video Acceleration API, DVD acceleration 
   hardware can be utilized not only under Windows ME and Windows 98 but also under 
   Windows XP and Windows 2000. PowerDVD XP 4.0 is fully compliant with DirectX VA and 
   is Microsoft WHQL certified.

   If "Hardware Acceleration" is enabled, on some systems you might notice subtitles in 
   interesting colors. This is because the display driver only supports an old format 
   of Microsoft DirectX VA interface. It is recommended that you install the latest driver 
   from the original card/chip maker in order for this function to work flawlessly.

   However, if the problem still persists after using the latest driver, under Windows 2000
   or Windows XP, you will have to disable the the "Hardware Acceleration" option. Under 
   Windows ME and Windows 98, renaming the file "CLDXVA.AX" under the CyberLink PowerDVD  
   program folder will force the program to use the vendor-specific proprietary interfaces 
   and not DirectX VA. Thus, the acceleration hardware may still be utilized through this 
   method.  

 * PowerDVD XP 4.0 is fully optimized for multimedia instruction sets such as
   AMD 3D Now! Professional, Enhanced 3D Now!, 3DNow!, Intel Streaming SIMD Extensions 2
   (SSE2), SSE and MMX.

 * Compatible with new DVD-RAM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+RW or DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive with 
   1394, ATAPI, SCSI or Card Bus interface, as long as the drive conforms to the SFF8090 
   command set and SBP-2 (if applicable).

 * Compatible with all Socket 478, Socket 423, Socket370, Slot1, SocketA and SlotA 
   chipsets from Intel, VIA, SiS, ALi and AMD. Also compatible with Transmeta Crusoe 
   systems.
 

===============================================
GENERAL PLAYBACK PERFORMANCE AND QUALITY ISSUES
===============================================

 * To enable Dolby Headphone, SRS TruSurroundXT or Dolby Pro Logic II decoder or to play 
   DVD titles with DTS digital surround tracks, it is recommended to use a 400MHz or higher 
   processor system and at least 128MB of system RAM.

 * In 2 Speaker Mode (Audio Configuration), the "A3D/DirectSound3D" selection may have 
   weaker audio volume as compared to using "Stereo" or "Dolby Surround". This is a normal 
   occurrence.

 * Enabling video profiles like "Vivid", "Theater" or "Bright" instead of "Original" 
   consumes extra CPU power. It is also recommended to use a system running at least 
   400MHz.

 * Limitations about playing DVD files on a HDD:

   - The user should open "VIDEO_TS.IFO" (For DVD Video Format) or "VR_MANGR.IFO" (For DVD 
     Video Recording Format)to play the file set.
   - DVD Auto-Resume function will be unavailable.
   - Bookmarks may be set during initial playback but will not be available for recall when 
     playing the file set again.

 * Enabling the DMA mode of DVD-ROM drive to enhance playback performance:

   It is HIGHLY recommended to enable the DMA function of your DVD-ROM in order to 
   reduce the CPU loading when accessing DVD discs. Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME, 
   Windows 98, Windows 98SE and Windows 95 OSR2 all contain built-in DMA support. 

   The CyberLink system diagnostic utility will be automatically launched after PowerDVD XP 
   4.0 is installed to help you activate the DMA option. However, under Windows XP it only 
   shows the DMA status of your DVD-ROM drives since Windows XP will, by default, enable DMA 
   support during its setup process.

 * Display issues:

   PowerDVD XP 4.0 supports Microsoft(tm) DirectDraw, DirectSound and DirectSound3D. It 
   is recommended to run PowerDVD XP 4.0 with the latest Microsoft(tm) DirectX Runtime 
   installed. 

   PowerDVD XP 4.0 requires the existence of the DirectDraw overlay surface for optimal
   playback performance and video quality. Almost all display cards nowadays support this 
   feature. 

   If the DirectDraw overlay surface cannot be created, PowerDVD XP 4.0 will use a slower 
   mode called the DirectDraw off-screen mode. It is either because the color depth, desktop 
   resolution or screen refresh rate is too high and leaves insufficient bandwidth to 
   sustain the creation of an overlay surface, or the display card requires the installation 
   of the latest DirectX Runtime. You can try to lower the desktop resolution, color depth 
   or refresh rate and then try again. 

   It is suggested not to run PowerDVD under a 640x480 desktop resolution, since DVD-titles' 
   video resolution is higher than 640x480.


=================================
MICROSOFT (tm) DIRECTSHOW SUPPORT
=================================

 * PowerDVD XP 4.0 is Microsoft (tm) DirectShow complaint. Interactive DVD titles or games 
   can utilize PowerDVD DirectShow filters to decode high-resolution MPEG-2 video clips or 
   high quality Dolby Digital audio files inherent in such titles or games.

   The newest DirectX Runtime must be installed for the filters to work properly.


================================
LIMITATIONS UNDER Windows NT 4.0
================================

 * Service Pack 5 or above must be installed for PowerDVD XP 4.0 to work properly under 
   Windows NT 4.0. 

 * Toolbar Navigator control is not available under Windows NT 4.0.