Hero DVD Player Reviewer's Comments

Hero DVD Player, produced by HeroSoft, is an average DVD player software product. With improvements to the support system and easier navigation, this program has the potential to become an excellent DVD software player.

Feature Set:  

Hero DVD Player offers a variety of convenient features ranging from parental controls to choices of several amusing skins-("skins" is a term that defines the "look" of your player. Your DVD player can reflect a sporty soccer theme, for example.)

The control panel is self-explanatory and offers a built-in sound equalizer, allowing you to adjust the base and other sound settings to suit your specific taste and speaker system.

The program installs both Hero DVD Player 3.0.5 (to play DVD files) and General Hero DVD Player (a trial version that will allow you to watch just 5 minutes of a DVD.)

Ease of Use:  

We had several difficulties when we tried to play actual DVDs using this program. Although the program claims to have the ability to play most DVD formats, we were only able to play and watch DVD files in Hero DVD Player 3.0.5 by selecting VOB format (Video Object Files). This annoying quirk makes Hero DVD challenging to navigate if you don't have prior experience with DVD player software.

An even bigger problem-we could not get the program to play an actual DVD disk. Hero DVD Player 3.0.5 will only play DVD files. This means that in order to play your DVDs you must copy them to your computer first. This is not only inconvenient, but also deceptive for a program titled "DVD Player" that features a "Play DVD" button on its control panel.

When we were finally successful in getting the trial software version (General Hero DVD Player) to work, the DVD video portion only played for five minutes while the audio continued. This failed process was frustrating and must be sorted out before we can recommend Hero DVD. DVD players should play a newly-inserted DVD by default, instantly.

Ease of Installation:  

We encountered no difficulties with either the installation or setup process using Hero DVD Player. The program installs both the Hero DVD Player 3.0.5 and a general Hero DVD Player to play DVD files, not actual DVDs. The program also requires a user name and password.

Video Quality:  

Hero DVD Player has very good picture quality; the clear, sharp picture made our PC movie viewing enjoyable.

Audio Quality:  

The audio quality of the Hero DVD Player ranked above average compared to the leading software player products. Hero DVD Player has the ability to manage multiple channels and to provide excellent surround sound.

Help/Support:  

Hero DVD Player offers limited support and no help documentation. We believe that a helpful, well-organized support segment is necessary for this program. With no support, this program would be difficult for a novice to navigate.

Basically, after you purchase the product, you are on your own. We purchased Hero DVD Player through a local distributor but when we returned to ask follow-up questions, we were referred to the manufacturer in China. We have yet to receive any response to our questions. If you purchased this product and changed you mind, you'd have a difficult time getting your money back.

Summary:  

Although Hero DVD Player produces good video and audio quality, the player is too difficult to use to rank among the highest ranked competitors.

If you are interested in purchasing a DVD player that is simple to understand, convenient to use and costs about the same as Hero DVD Player, refer to our homepage for a detailed list of DVD Player features and side-by-side comparisons of software products.