Video editing software
Cyberlink PowerDirector is a bundle of tools for video editing, providing its users with a powerful rendering engine to provide top-notch performance and enable advanced editing features. The program comes in an elegant design with a neat, intuitive interface, as well as an affordable price tag, making it a favorite of many looking to produce high-quality media content with ease.
Among the best mid-range video editors
PowerDirector is a series of ever-updated video editors by a Taiwanese company under the name of CyberLink. It's a highly usable, feature-packed editor at a reasonable price, offering more than enough features for everyday content creation, although it may be lacking for serious moviemaking If you’re looking for a tool for filming.
The tool isn't free, but it’s an excellent choice for mid-range editors. CyberLink also recently launched an edition called PowerDirector 365, which makes the suite available as a monthly or annual subscription, latest features included. This common move towards software-as-a-service may be advantageous for creators who are on a budget but still need access to programs that might be out of their price range.
All 365 subscribers also gain access to a massive range of download packs to add bells and whistles to your experience.
Interface Contents
PowerDirector editor boasts a high level of flexibility and a solid choice of interface options. You can pick between the Timeline, Storyboard, and Slideshow Creator modes, as well as a quick Auto Mode. So, there's something to suit everybody's level of experience.
The Timeline Mode features the most exciting effects. It presents you with a series of tracks of audio and video clips, allowing you to drag-and-drop elements and create your content.
On Storyboard, you'll find a large graphical display of all your content, from where you open files to edit. The Slideshow Creator is excellent for quick edits and reviewing your works.
Among the newest additions is the library playback, which gives you a glance at the impact of your edits. Also, the effects and titles you pick will now snap to align with timeline objects, which is a true time-saver.
This editor also supports dual screens and hotkeys to further facilitate your process.
What you can do with Cyberlink PowerDirector
With this Cyberlink's product, you may capture footage from various sources, from your screen to webcam or even a TV signal. Then, import it and start editing.
When it comes to audio mixing, there is a room dedicated to it, but the audio features themselves are not the most impressive.
As it regards to video, though, the PowerDirector app comes through with various color grading and adjustment tools that allow you to fine-tune the look of your content.
There is also a library of music, sound clips, effects, and plugins free for you to use in your process. You'll find a dedicated area for adding subtitles, as well.
In terms of video rendering, or the conversion of video files into editable content, there are separate areas for producing video files and disc burning. On the video render screen, you'll find all available formats and plenty of options, as well as device-specific output settings.
Through the disc-creation screen, you may add chapters and menus to create interactive DVDs, AVCHDs, and Blu-ray discs. Another option is to upload films to YouTube and Vimeo directly.
Features and effects
You'll find a robust feature set of effects, especially for specialized camera techniques. It offers sharp 360-degree editing, excellent stabilization, and a plethora of features for action cams and motion tracking.
The effect selection is separated into categories, and include all the usual blurs and stylistic transitions, overlays, caption boxes, animations, and particle effects. Additionally, PowerDirector offers you a choice of 20 preset options for quick editing.
Moreover, you can take advantage of AI-style plugins, which are system-demanding but super effective. They analyze the content of every image and replicate it in brush strokes or pencil lines of the style you choose.
Issues
There are not many drawbacks of PowerDirector, apart from the fact it provides weak audio filters. This is an important area for a video editor to get right; audio is an integral part of video content creation, so PowerDirector needs to improve here if it wants to be competitive. There are also occasional ads, which is incredibly frustrating for a paid program. Although you can run it on PCs from Windows 10 to Windows 7, a Mac-compatible version is still lacking, too.
Alternative video editors
If you're seeking alternatives, Kdenlive is intuitive and powerful, as well as compatible with most of the recent video tech and completely free.
Adobe Premiere Pro is a famously powerful video editing software. It has a plethora of features and a plug-in structure that PowerDirector falls short on. However, it takes a lot of time to get used to and isn’t as user-friendly at the start as PowerDirector is.
Avidemux is also free and straightforward, and KineMaster features an extensive library of themes and effects. Finally, OpenShot is surprisingly powerful for its uncomplicated design.
Ideal for most
PowerDirector provides enough features that allow you to grow your project as you hone your creative skills. Plus, with its affordable subscription, informative tutorials and wholesome community, it offers an excellent gateway for new editors. However, if you’re a Mac user or need a vast range of audio options, you might want to look elsewhere. You’ll also likely find the ads annoying, especially since you’re paying to access the platform.
Recent updates have added support for audio and video encoding and improved compatibility with imported images. The developer has also fixed an issue with multilingual support in the editor, as text in non-English languages would be overlapped by other graphics regardless of layer order.
