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]

Easy start up but a huge learning curve. I’m a beginner so I’m having to do a lot of research which I expected. It’s been a very fun experience. My 12yr old son and I both use this software, he’s better than me though I must admit.

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:)

My 13 year old has been editing his YouTube videos on Inshot. He learned how to use in a class I had to practically force him to try this software. It is incredible the difference between this and the other software. There are so many more options and upgrades. I look forward to him getting more comfortable with this Cyberlink Software.

Setup was straightforward, its a simple interface but due to my inexperience Ill have to practice with more video to get the basics. Overall it seems to be easier than the more expensive and expansive solutions available.

If you a pretty good with video this is easy to manage a beginner might need to spend a bit more time navigating but once you get going its a breeze

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.

This is a full featured video editor that should do all that is needed for YouTubers and the like. You can clip videos, stitch videos together, speed up and slow them down, add transitions between videos, add audio tracks, intros and much more. The only thing that I wish it had is the ability to rotate videos simply. Yes, it can rotate them to whatever angle you wish, it just takes multiple steps. No big deal when you are involved with an editing project, its just that it becomes a project if that is all you want to do. If it included a right-click file explorer rotate option, that would be perfect.

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.