Considering that your bog standard Windows XP or Linux installation already has something in it that can play back DVD movies, it's fair to say that there need to be some compelling reasons to fork out for a specialist playback package.

After all, for the majority of users, all they're interested in is pressing 'play' and sitting back to watch the film. This stumbling block isn't something that Intervideo's WinDVD 7 ever fully addresses, but it's hard to think of too much that's been missed out. Likewise, in the quality stakes, there's little that's been skimped on.

Dealing with the basics first, WinDVD 7's picture output quality - whilst clearly dependent on your display equipment - is superb, and as good as anything else out there. The program comes with in-built defaults for differing output options, from monitor type through to projector and TV, and alongside are sliders to help you fine-tune your visuals. From stark colours through to fast-moving action, there's really little room to grumble in this department.

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Similar detail underpins the program's audio controls, with support for different types of headphone and speaker setup. Again, slider controls give you extra influence over the output, but only the extremely fussy will find too many problems with the defaults.

We should point out that it's not just DVDs that are supported, either. The program works just as well with the likes of DivX files (including flexible subtitle support), CD playback, further MPEG-4 files as well as the likes of Real Player content, Quicktime support and even AAC files. Just the kind of support you'd expect from a piece of software at this price, in fact, and in our tests we didn't have a single problem with any of the aforementioned files.

Changes over the previous version? Well, the interface has been smartened up, and it's very user-friendly as a result. Likewise, improvements have been made to features such as capturing, whereby you can take stills or very short clips of a DVD. There's still room for improvement here, but nonetheless it's an interesting feature. Support has also been added for UPnP devices, as well as HDTV. Whether people will use either of those just yet is a matter of debate.

And now to the downsides. The movie encyclopedia is still as poor as it always has been, and there's an argument in here somewhere about using a proverbial great big mallet to crack a nut. The fact still remains that, superb though WinDVD 7 is, it's far in excess of the requirements of most of us. Sure, the quality just about tops out its competitors, but we're talking marginal differences rather than gaping chasms.

Yet there's little denying that if you don't mind paying a premium for your DVD playback software, then this probably edges out PowerDVD as the best bet for your cash. If the thought of paying quite so much bothers you, though, then the basic functions are perfectly well covered by earlier versions that are available for a lot less. But if you must have the best, and your wallet doesn't mind, then WinDVD 7 Premium is genuinely superb.

It's probably a lot more than most people will need, but WinDVD 7 Platinum is nonetheless an excellent piece of software for viewing DVD movies.