CyberLink Power2Go 10 Platinum Review - All-round and Speedy Data Burner

excellent
key review info
application features
  • Disc burner
  • (17 more, see all...)

Containing a generous set of tools dedicated to disc burning, the platinum edition of CyberLink Power2Go is designed for PC users looking for a reliable and approachable software application suite that's versatile enough to perform different kinds of tasks.

This suite includes burners for data and photo galleries (CD, DVD, Blu-ray), video (VCD, DVD disc, DVD folder) along with music (audio, WMA or MP3 CD, WMA or MP3 DVD, CUE audio disc). It also contains a media downloading feature, disc copier, media converter, and various handy utilities. Less experienced users should be able to quickly figure out how to work with it.

Compared to the previous edition, the freshly released edition of CyberLink Power2Go Platinum brings several new features to the table, such as the ability to prepare videos, audio and audio CDs for mobile devices, as well as to rip audio CDs to AAC (.M4A) format.

License type and installation

The trial edition can be tested for 15 days without any feature restrictions. Once this period expires, you can purchase the full package for $69.95 / €59.82.

The setup procedure may take a while. It should be noted that Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer are required for the app suite to fully work.

Simplistic and elegant interface

The software application adopts a clear-cut interface with a simplified look that doesn't include any cluttered elements, thus allowing you to easily discover its features.

All primary components are organized into separate categories, and although it doesn't include a welcoming tutorial, the program lets you start with any type of task.

How to burn files

When it comes to burning data CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs, Power2Go supplies you with a built-in file browser for exploring disk directories to select and include files in the burning operation while keeping a close eye on total space and current size to make sure you don't step over the limit. Plus, the files can be filtered by type when looking for them.

Burn an audio, WMA or MP3 CD, WMA or MP3 DVD, or audio CD from a CUE file
Burn an audio, WMA or MP3 CD, WMA or MP3 DVD, or audio CD from a CUE file

It is possible to rename the disc compilation and organize the files into new folders, save the project to file and later resume it, pick the burner device, as well as to create a secure area on the disc using 128-bit or 256-bit encryption. The application comes bundled with its own image burner that enables you to compile files into a .p2i-formatted image (recognized only by Power2Go).

During a disc burning task, you can ask the tool to automatically power off the computer once it's done.

Customize preferences and examine information

An autoplay menu can be generated and embedded into the disc. What's more, you can change the disc icon, automatically split content by disc capacity, set the file system, enable or disable buffer underrun protection, run a simulation before actually burning the disc to check it for any errors, verify recorded data afterward to make sure it's intact, as well as modify the burned file dates (original, current, custom).

Information about the burning device can be inspected in a different area. The writing speed and number of copies may be modified, while the tags can be customized (e.g. video, photo, music, document).

Different burning modes and extra features

Power2Go comes loaded with other powerful features too. It can erase rewritable discs, copy content from disc to disc, save disc images to the hard drive, burn disc images, rip an audio CD and save the files to WAV, MP3, WMA, FLAC, APE or M4A format with the preferred quality level, create movies for CDs or DVDs (DVD folders can be burned too), as well as put together music discs (audio, WMA or MP3 CD, WMA or MP3 DVD, CUE audio).

A portable photo gallery disc can be compiled on CDs, DVDs or Blu-ray, while YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Vimeo media can be downloaded to the hard drive as well as backed up to CDs, DVDs or Blu-ray.

We tested the burning speed by creating an audio CD
We tested the burning speed by creating an audio CD

It is possible to mount disc images with .p2i, .rdf and .iso file extensions as virtual drives, create audio CDs that also contain data files, use a disc manager to browse a library for burned discs and edit their information, as well as create a burn system recovery discs that contain OS files.

The media converter is pretty flexible. Power2Go is able to prepare audio and video items along with audio CDs for playback on mobiles by converting them to supported file types. It can also convert audio files to other formats or extract them from clips to do the same task.


The Good

It is compatible with Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7 and Vista (XP is not supported).

With this app suite you can burn data, photo galleries, music, movies, DVD folders and OS recovery discs, along with mixed discs (e.g. data and music). It offers support for CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

The program is also capable of downloading media from YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Vimeo, converting media to various formats and transferring it to mobile devices, encrypting disc data (128-bit or 256-bit), ripping audio CDs, erasing rewritable discs, copying discs, as well as saving, mounting and burning disc images. It has its own image burner, and it can run simulations and verify data after burning.

When it comes to importing files, it offers support for popular types of audio (WAV, FLAC, APE, WMA, MP3, M4A) as well as video (MKV H.264, FLV H.264, AVI, MPEG, MPEG-2, MOV H.264, WMV, MP4 H.264, DVR-MS, TS H.264, MPG, ASF, M2T H.264, M2TS H.264, MTS H.264), VOB, VRO, MOD, DAT, TOD, WTV single channel, videos with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio soundtracks).

As far as supported file types for exporting are concerned, the program is able to produce FLAC, APE, WMA, MP3, M4A AAC and Dolby Digital stereo for audio, along with MP4 AVC-H.264 and WMV for video.

Help documentation is included.

We tested the program on an Intel Core i5-3470 @ CPU 3.20GHz with 12GB RAM and TSST corp DVD+-RW SH-216BB (Samsung) on Windows 8.1 Pro, in order to test burning speed. We submitted the test 12 tracks with an accumulated time of 43 minutes and 44 seconds for creating an audio CD, and selected the lowest writing speed available (16x). The task was over in 3 minutes and 18 seconds. CPU and RAM consumption was normal.

The Bad

Taking into account its abilities to work with VCDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs, CyberLink Power2Go needs a significant amount of space for each task type (1GB for VCDs, 5-10 GB for DVDs, 25 GB for Blu-ray Discs).

On several occasions in our tests, the app had a slow response time to commands.

The Truth

Taking everything into account, CyberLink Power2Go proves to be a reliable disc burner filled with a wide array of extra options to ease your work. Wrapped in a highly intuitive interface, the application is suitable for less experienced and advanced users alike.

user interface 5
features 5
ease of use 4
pricing / value 3


final rating 5
Editor's review
excellent
 
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