With a host of free media organizers around, selling commercial equivalents can be something of a challenge. CyberLink isn’t giving up just yet, though, and its latest release, MediaShow 6, has some interesting new features to help it stand out from the crowd.
Top of the list must be the program’s new 3D support. MediaShow can now display 3D MPO pictures and videos, for instance. Or, if you don’t have any, it can convert your 2D photos or videos to 3D. MediaShow 6 can edit them, too, and when you’re happy is able to export the finished results as a 3D movie, or by burning your files to a 3D DVD or Blu-ray disc.
2D disc authoring is also improved, with new support for burning to regular Blu-ray, AVCHD and BDXL discs.
Elsewhere, the Media Library now includes a Facebook tab which gives easy access to your friends’ photos from within MediaShow. And the program can also be set up to monitor folders on services such as Dropbox, automatically updating if someone adds any media to your account.
The program’s interface has been optimised for touch-enabled displays, with support for various new gestures. When browsing your media library, for instance, you can now drag and drop it onto an item in the Media Library toolbar to activate the feature you need.
And of course MediaShow 6 includes all the features available in previous editions: a fast thumbnail browser; face recognition to help you tag photos; surprisingly capable fixes for both pictures and videos; slideshow creation, disc authoring, easy transfer to portable devices, and direct upload to Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.
The program comes in two editions.
MediaShow 6 Ultra ($69.95) is the high-end version, and includes everything we’ve described here.
MediaShow Deluxe ($49.95) is similar, but can’t edit 3D files, or convert 2D to 3D files, and can only burn CDs and DVDs (there’s no Blu-ray, AVCHD, BD-XL or HD Menu support).
Neither option is exactly cheap, but there’s plenty of functionality here, and if you’ll use it all then the program could appeal. Sounds interesting? Then a 30-day trial version of MediaShow 6 Ultra is available so you can find out more for yourself.