is cyberlink PowerDirector 5 good or bad?

[sarmin]

i'm going to maybe buy cyberlink PowerDirector and money is not a big problem for me so don't say it's to expensive. i just care about quality and features. i'm going to use it as a converter and i'm going to convert video files to divx and xvid. so is this a good software for the job or is there a better software for this kind of stuff. if there is plz say the name of the software and why it's better. also give me the pros. and cons. of PowerDirector 5

[harley2ride]

I would say it is ok, but for the same money, you can get better. I would suggest Ulead Studio 8 or 9, Ulead DVD Movie Factory 4 or 5, Sony Movie Studio ( a lite version of Vegas), or Adobe Premiere Elements. Then there are the single function programs such as using HuffyUV for capture, TMPGENC for editing/authoring and encoding, virtualdub, etc. The all-in-one solutions are thought to be not quite as good as using individual programs for specific functions. I doubt anyone could see much difference using individual programs vs Sony Movie Studio, or a similar program.

[edDV]

If you're looking just to covert formats, you may prefer Canopus ProCoder. Read the reviews.

http://www.canopus.com/products/ProCoderExpress/index.php
http://www.canopus.com/products/ProCoderSW/index.php

[pachlin]

PowerDirector is very easy to use, in my persion opinion. Ulead's products are more difficult to use. I use PowerDirector from it's version 3 and now the version 5 is even better. I used to use Ulead software before using PowerDirector, but I found the MPEG quality is not as good as PowerDirector. I suggest you to download the trial version and test it before you buy.