CyberLink Media Suite 8 Ultra

If you have a lot of different media on your system, you often have to spend a lot of money for a lot of different programs. CyberLink Media Suite 8 Ultra bundles several programs into one package, so you no longer need to have different applications for editing photos and videos, burning CDs, etc.

Media Suite 8 Ultra from Cyberlink is a collection of ten comprehensive programs, good for about five GB of hard disk space and a lot of installation time. With the handy PowerStarter you can immediately indicate exactly what you have to do. CyberLink has split Media Suite 8 Ultra into seven main categories: Music, Movie Player, Data, Photo, Video, Copy & Backup, and Utilities. After you have chosen a main category, you can further indicate exactly what you want to do. For example, via the Photo menu it is possible to manage, edit and retouch your photos, create slideshows or publish images directly to Flickr or Facebook. For example, on the Music tab, you will be asked whether you want to create an audio, MP3, or WMA disc, rip an audio CD, convert audio files, or edit audio clips.

The PowerStarter gives you a handy overview of the various options.

More than 40 tasks

When you choose an action from the PowerStarter menu, CyberLink will immediately launch the required program. For example, manage photos and videos with MediaShow, edit video clips with PowerDirector and PowerProducer, watch movies with PowerDVD, edit audio with WaveEditor, burn discs, write images and rip music CDs with Power2Go, back up with PowerBackup, copy DVDs with PowerDVD Copy and design and print labels with LabelPrint. In total, more than 40 tasks are available with this package. Via the Update button you can see which versions of the different programs you are working with. Free updates and any upgrades are shown in a clear table.

Is there a newer version of Power2Go? Then you can immediately update or upgrade via this screen.

Conclusion

CyberLink Media Suite 8 Ultra is a formidable competitor to Nero Multimedia Suite 10. The two packages have almost the same capabilities under the hood. The biggest lack of this Cyberlink package (unlike Nero's suite) is the lack of a Dutch version. For some users, a purchase may depend on this. Furthermore, Media Suite 8 Ultra is a very user-friendly program with many functions for both beginners and advanced users. In terms of photo and video editing, the package scores good and very good respectively, but in terms of audio conversion, Media Suite 8 Ultra drops a few stitches. For example, it is only possible to convert your music files to mp3, wav or wma format.

We have tested the most expensive Ultra version in this article. CyberLink also offers a Pro and Centra version for 69.99 euros and 89.99 euros respectively. In this comparative overview you can see which version is most interesting for you.