It is currently 28 Mar 2024, 19:40




 Page 3 of 3 [ 48 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3
Author Message
 Post subject: Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance
PostPosted: 08 Mar 2017, 20:00 
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: 07 Aug 2002, 23:37
Posts: 4540
Location: Tokyo
Has thanked: 292 times
Been thanked: 1136 times
admin wrote:
All right, I'm biting the bullet on this one and will order one Lumagen 2144 based on knowledgeable comments, reviews and recommendations from this forum (googling around on this specific model also brings very positive reviews). Time to invest :-)


Quick review right after installing the 2144 in my system!

First, it's simplifying greatly the number of cables needed. Now the projector only gets an HDMI cable with DVI adapter. Gone are the components (and component switch box), composite, and S-Video going in and out of the A/V Amp.

Attachment:
File comment: Misc cables... now useless
IMG_6210.JPG
IMG_6210.JPG [ 79.84 KiB | Viewed 3931 times ]


The R2144 is becoming the center switch box of all things video now.

  • HDMI1 = HD DVD 1080p
  • HDMI2 = HTPC 1080i
  • HDMI4 = DVD 1080i
  • Component (RGB) = Hi-Vision decoder
  • Composite = HLD-X9

Attachment:
File comment: R2144 handling anything analog or digital
IMG_6212.JPG
IMG_6212.JPG [ 61.77 KiB | Viewed 3931 times ]


A brief test of the LD replay (Contact AC3/LBX, Trainspotting Criterion, Basic Instinct Squeeze) via the R2144 shows obvious improvements in stability, black depth, colors. It's as if a layer of dust had been removed to provide a more digital-like quality. Of course it doesn't make a DVD or a BD from a LD, but it gets the picture quality as far as the LD can go. The update from the LD-S9 to the HLD-X9 was obvious. Hooking up the HLD-X9 to the R2144 bought yet another level of improvement.

It wasn't a cheap purchase for sure, but I will rewatch some old LDs again, to appreciate the improved quality.
Probably some time will be needed to optimize settings for anime, movies, videos, etc.

Thank you substance for the tips!

Julien
_________________
HARDWARE DATABASE
HLD-X0/9 LD-S9 OPPO 105/205 SL-1200G
LDD-1 MSC-4000 R2144 PONTUS II C45 MC257
Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance
PostPosted: 08 Mar 2017, 21:11 
Shows curiousity
Shows curiousity
User avatar

Joined: 30 Jan 2017, 22:52
Posts: 28
Location: Denmark
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 0 time
What are you comparing the Radiance to.?
Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance
PostPosted: 09 Mar 2017, 05:23 
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: 07 Aug 2002, 23:37
Posts: 4540
Location: Tokyo
Has thanked: 292 times
Been thanked: 1136 times
stridsvognen wrote:
What are you comparing the Radiance to.?


Comparing to my previous NEC HT1100 projector/scaler (768p), I know it's not ideal.

The improvement comes from inserting the R2144 between the LD player and the NEC. I wish I had enough $$$ to try other video processors before but I finally decided to jump on the boat before the analog input start disappearing or are equipped with cheap/poor circuitry.

The next system upgrade will be the projector (getting too old), if I get some extra bonus this month.

Julien
_________________
HARDWARE DATABASE
HLD-X0/9 LD-S9 OPPO 105/205 SL-1200G
LDD-1 MSC-4000 R2144 PONTUS II C45 MC257
Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance
PostPosted: 09 Mar 2017, 17:12 
Advanced fan
Advanced fan
User avatar

Joined: 16 Jun 2015, 15:40
Posts: 825
Location: Australia
Has thanked: 105 times
Been thanked: 95 times
I feel the need to add some comment here too.

In short I can't recommend the Lumagen enough, not just because I'm getting a clearly superior result to the DVDO Duo, but also due to the excellent customer support.

I had huge issues integrating it into my system at first, turns out that the way I dealt with 0IRE discs with the DVDO did not translate well to the 2144 and so everything seemed a bit off. Jim and the team at Lumagen went above and beyond to help. Even to the point of shipping new boards to me out here in Australia when we thought the unit had a fault.

Eventually we worked it all out - a new firmware revision went up on the Lumagen website just today so that now the analogue inputs can be properly set for 0IRE vs 7.5IRE discs. If you have certain later Japanese discs in your collection this is very important (perhaps you Julien?). They even added audio mute delay to the analogue inputs because of an issue my old processor was having.

Although it was somewhat frustrating and difficult getting there, we did; and this is customer service and product backup far beyond what I have ever experienced before.


Last edited by audioboyz1973 on 09 Mar 2017, 17:56, edited 1 time in total. _________________
Looking for Hi-Vision Discs (MUSE or HDVS).......
Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance
PostPosted: 09 Mar 2017, 17:46 
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: 07 Aug 2002, 23:37
Posts: 4540
Location: Tokyo
Has thanked: 292 times
Been thanked: 1136 times
audioboyz1973 wrote:
In short I can't recommend the Lumagen enough, not just because I'm getting a clearly superior result to the DVDO Duo, but also due to the excellent customer support.


I can't agree more. My first R2144 arrived DOA (could never get to power it up).
They swiftly issued a RMA for pickup and shipped a new one, the one I'm using right now.

audioboyz1973 wrote:
Eventually we worked it all out - a new firmware revision went up on the Lumagen website just today so that now the analogue inputs can be properly set for 0IRE vs 7.5IRE discs. They even added audio delay to the analogue inputs because of an issue my old processor was having.


Indeed, Jim from Lumagen mentioned it yesterday and I installed the new 030517 firmware tonight to fix the 0IRE setting.
He also mentioned the Long Mute setting for the output coax and I set it up as well to protect my speakers from pops on the sound output.

Indirectly the COAX OUT - that I didn't really notice initially - is fixing another problem I had recently (the need for an external SDPIF that can pass 2 ch/DD 5.1/DTS 5.1) and the Radiance 2144 is just doing that, passing the audio over HDMI then splitting video to HDMI OUT and the sound to COAX OUT to my A/V Amp perfectly. Just saved another $50~100.

I still have to play with settings extensively (and upgrade the video projector) but it has been suggested that maybe we could started a dedicated Radiance R2144 owners thread for hints and tips. I'm all for that!

Julien
_________________
HARDWARE DATABASE
HLD-X0/9 LD-S9 OPPO 105/205 SL-1200G
LDD-1 MSC-4000 R2144 PONTUS II C45 MC257
Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance
PostPosted: 09 Mar 2017, 18:12 
Advanced fan
Advanced fan
User avatar

Joined: 16 Jun 2015, 15:40
Posts: 825
Location: Australia
Has thanked: 105 times
Been thanked: 95 times
admin wrote:
I still have to play with settings extensively

extensively? haha we may not hear from you for a while......

And I too feel like re-watching discs through 'new eyes'.

admin wrote:
it has been suggested that maybe we could started a dedicated Radiance R2144 owners thread for hints and tips. I'm all for that!

Let's do it!
_________________
Looking for Hi-Vision Discs (MUSE or HDVS).......
Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance
PostPosted: 09 Mar 2017, 18:38 
Young Padawan
Young Padawan
User avatar

Joined: 16 May 2009, 18:05
Posts: 3569
Location: California, USA
Has thanked: 26 times
Been thanked: 314 times
I am glad I didn't disappoint with my recommendations. Now that we have a few owners here, we can discuss bugs and potential features. There still is a bug with auto aspect ratio for example.
_________________
Coming Soon
Derman Labs
Anything Of Substance
Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance
PostPosted: 10 Mar 2017, 04:32 
Site Admin
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: 07 Aug 2002, 23:37
Posts: 4540
Location: Tokyo
Has thanked: 292 times
Been thanked: 1136 times
Note: I'm closing this topic to move the discussion over to the following thread

Lumagen Radiance 2124 2144 owners

See you there!

Julien
_________________
HARDWARE DATABASE
HLD-X0/9 LD-S9 OPPO 105/205 SL-1200G
LDD-1 MSC-4000 R2144 PONTUS II C45 MC257
Offline
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
 Page 3 of 3 [ 48 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: