Product Reviews

Any software with the word 'ultimate' in its name had better have something special to offer. Ultimate DVD Player, however, doesn't quite live up to the accolade.

While it offers the basic requirements of a DVD player - that is, playback, pausing, skipping and so on - so does the DVD application that comes with Mac OS X. It also handles extras, such as alternative audio tracks, alternative viewing angles and subtitles.

If anything, Ultimate DVD Player is misnamed. It would be better called 'Amazing DVD Slow Downer', for this is the main feature it offers that isn't included with Apple's own

ADVERTISEMENT

DVD application.

Roni Music is also responsible for Amazing Slow Downer, which has the ability to slow down music without changing the pitch of the notes. Ultimate DVD Player takes the same approach with DVD playback, giving you the chance to slow down (or speed up) the action to suit your needs. Simple sliders allow you to choose your speed and pitch. A separate dialog box controls start and end points for loops, which can then be saved as presets.

While it can slow down the action without any problems, there are a number of frustrating niggles that mean it's far from being the ultimate tool for playing back DVDs that Roni Music claims it is.

It doesn't feature any simple controls, like the on-screen controller provided by Apple, and there's not even much in the way of keyboard shortcuts. It only has the most rudimentary list of chapter numbers, which is far outclassed by Apple's far better-looking visual chapter display.

Ultimate DVD Player may appeal to students, who may benefit from the ability to slow down DVDs, but apart from this features it's a distinctly average application that's outshone in most respects by the free player that comes with Mac OS X.