CyberLink PowerDirector 21 Ultra - Easy Video Editing | Easy-to-Use Video Editing Software With Thousands of Visual Effects | Slideshow Maker | Screen Recorder [Retail Box with Download Card]

I’ve used professional video editing software for years, including Sony Vegas Video, before switching to Adobe Premier Pro. I thought I’d try PowerDirector to see how easily I could turn separate images into a cool video slideshow. I wasnt disappointed. This feature is excellent and uses advanced templates, a palette of FX transitions, and the ability to add amazing text effects to turn your images into compelling video slideshows. PD’s work area reminds me of Premier Pro, and it has a moderate learning curve, even for those seasoned in video editing software. I spend some time learning how to put interesting captions with effects at the bottom of each image, which wasn’t intuitive for me. But once I figured it out by watching a how-to video or two, I added this skill to my video editing toolkit. The software allows me to split, delete, and reorder video slices, add professional transitions between scenes, speed up a scene or the entire video or present it in slow motion, create an audio track or add to an existing audio track, along with a long list of other features. PowerDirector offers just about everything you might need to make interesting videos for business or personal projects, including YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, etc. My PC (i9 processor with 32GBs of RAM) had no trouble keeping up with the software’s requirements, and all functions responded smoothly with no hiccups or crashes. The price point is excellent and offers a solid on-ramp for those interested in creating stylish videos. Recommended.

I bought this version due to building and upgrading my own custom PC computers. I built my gaming machine for gaming and I wanted to use Power Director 21 on it. I bought my copy from Amazon and had a lot of trouble installing it from the DVD/CDs it came with. I tried the digital download that came with it but it kept saying my serial number was either used or out wrong. I finally cleaned the disks media and got it to work and it took my serial number. The box appeared to be unopened. Strange. I did contact Support and they did send me the download version link in an email. I love the program but the install was extremally ruff.

For basic video editing software, this works fine. Installation was easy, with no issues in Windows 10 Pro. I use Adobe Premiere Elements primarily, which I prefer - but it is more complicated to use. If you need good, basic video editing with a few extra bells and whistles, this is a nice software package.

Long time user of PowerDirector 14 software. Editing functions about the same, but PD 21 supports 9:16 format. There are glitches in the sound of produced videos like an old record player skipping. Also skips in the video. Have made at least 15 videos and all have skips in different places. Skips are not at clip changes or music changes, just random. Same videos produced with PD 14 do not have the glitches.

Very easy to use. Walks you through the process no matter what you want to do with your video. I have this installed on a Windows 10 operating system. Plenty of youtube videos show you how to do different projects. Highly recommend.

A bit of background for reference. I am a novice when it comes to video editing. I previously purchased a product called Adobe Premier that was my first attempt at editing home videos. Although I was able to use it a little, it proved way too complicated for a beginner. I picked up this product hoping it will be easier to learn and use. The short answer is no, this program isnt for someone wanting to just do simple drag and drop editing. I found the controls a bit clunky and unrefined in ways. For example, trying slow reverse or forward to the exact spot to cut was ridiculously difficult. Cut and delete vs cut and keep seemed backwards. You would think everything between the beginning and end markers would be deleted but not with this product. Rendering a 1 hour 1080P video is excruciating slow, especially for a workstation with an AMD Ryzen R9-5950 processor and RTX-3070TI gpu. All in all from the perspective of a newbie, I found this product not that easy to learn and some of features did not meet my expectations. For experienced users, they may be able to get more productivity from the product since there are many features available. For the casual user who just wants to create quick videos, maybe not.

I know many will wonder and ask, so the box clearly states this was made in Taiwan. Now on to other details, for anything photos or video related you will need a bit of a workhorse computer to run this software at its peak. There will be computers that can run it but it will lag. My laptop, while still considered good, is older and I have some lag. IT has no problem running some older photo editing software but this newer video editor is a bit harder for it to keep up. Something to keep in mind. This has a different layout than other programs that I am more familiar with. I am familiar with photograph editing software like Corel and Adobe Photoshop. So, learning video editing takes a bit. Some of the basics remain the same, removing objects, color correction. That becomes just learning the program. The system is fairly easy to navigate. I would make sure you have a backup of your original media file before you edit. Then just go to town, push buttons, see what you can do with the program, have fun. The worst you are looking at is junking the file and starting over but really you learned a bunch along the way. If you have experience in video editing, then unless you lost all your gear and everything else most likely you have good programs that you like and are comfortable with using. This is good for someone wanting to test the waters in video editing and media manipulation. You may find that there are other programs that you like better or this really suits your style.

Despite buying a disc copy of the program and installing it, it will not run without online activation. Comes with a product key to type in to activate it. I have Windows 7, 64 bit and cannot get this program to activate. I keep getting the same error message saying there is a problem connecting to the activation server and to check my internet connection. My internet connection is good. My product key code is valid. And yet I cant get the product to activate. Tryed a few suggestions such as turning off anti-virus and firewall protections. Still cant get it to activate. So this has been a waste of $80. If I could rate zero stars I would because customer support has been a joke. Emailed them twice with my issue and both times I got the same generic message saying my concern has been addressed in the FAQ. Basically.....figure it out for yourself. Great support.

It is really easy to use, and gives you tools to edit your videos to perfection.

I was excited to get this Power Director 21 and start editing like a pro, but after reading system requirements on the side of the box, I learned that my PC is a little dated already and I’ll need to upgrade my Graphics card. As soon as I upgrade my system and I’m editing like a pro..I will be sure to update my review. Thanks for reading and I hope you found this helpful:)