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Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance
https://forum.lddb.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=6782
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Author:  pbiancardi [ 19 Dec 2016, 16:05 ]
Post subject:  Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

I just purchased a Lumagen Radiance 2144 after reading Substance talk about it in many posts and I just want to say if anyone is considering this do not hesitate, this thing is every bit as good as Substance says. I am amazed at the level of detail and accuracy that is coming from my Laserdiscs that just was not there before (and I have tried numerous setups with different players, external comb filters, DVDO processors, Faroudja NRS, etc).

I don't know if these shots can do it justice but I will try (not fully calibrated yet). A big thank you to Substance for all of his posts over the years and for exposing me to this processor and answering all of my setup questions.

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Author:  Guest [ 19 Dec 2016, 17:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

so you get great picture on a flatscreen tv with Lumagen scaler.
without scaler pic quality is poor on flatscreen tv?

how many S-video inputs did this 2144 have?

you have a nice Runko player, what brand are the internal parts?
is it Pioneer?

Author:  pbiancardi [ 19 Dec 2016, 17:38 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

theprowler wrote:
so you get great picture on a flatscreen tv with Lumagen scaler.
without scaler pic quality is poor on flatscreen tv?

how many S-video inputs did this 2144 have?

you have a nice Runko player, what brand are the internal parts?
is it Pioneer?


Yes picture is very nice with 2144, it has (2) component inputs that I believe can be Svideo with the right cable but there would be little point in using Svideo into this as it has a top of the line comb filter (so you would go composite from your LD player into the 2144).

The Runco is a modified Panasonic LX-900 or a Quasar LD-700, not sure anyone ever figured out which.

Author:  rein-o [ 19 Dec 2016, 19:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

WOW 2K for those units.

Author:  pbiancardi [ 20 Dec 2016, 12:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

rein-o wrote:
WOW 2K for those units.


Well the question is always posed "how do I get the most out of my Laserdiscs", the 2144 is the best answer though certainly not the cheapest.

I have not experimented as much as Substance (has anyone??) but I have tried various DVD Recorders, Extron, Faroudja, DPS-290, 3DWPro, PC, basically any combination of things that I have read about and this thing is so far above anything else I have seen it isn't even close. I own or have owned every single highly regarded LD player except X9 and X0 and the 2144 is the biggest quality jump from one thing to another that I have ever seen. It is also incredibly configurable, I have not even scratched the surface of calibration. It has various sharpness enhancements so I can tune up the S2 or S1 pic a bit and also NR functions so I can tune down the Theta Data III a bit. Also has built in Darbee which I think is a must have for any source.

Photos really don't do it justice but this is S2 to 2144 -

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Author:  audioboyz1973 [ 20 Dec 2016, 15:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

rein-o wrote:
WOW 2K for those units.

Please point me in this direction (PM). SRP for the 2144 is 4.5K(US) and the cheapest I've found is 3K(US)

Author:  rein-o [ 20 Dec 2016, 15:52 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

http://www.curtpalme.com/Radiance.shtm

I received an email about his sale, i can't remember the exact price right now but it was a black friday deal.

Try emailing him, very easy to deal with, may have a more scratched unit or something willing to give you the deal.

So does the image look like DVD now :wtf:

Author:  pbiancardi [ 20 Dec 2016, 17:45 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

rein-o wrote:
http://www.curtpalme.com/Radiance.shtm

I received an email about his sale, i can't remember the exact price right now but it was a black friday deal.

Try emailing him, very easy to deal with, may have a more scratched unit or something willing to give you the deal.

So does the image look like DVD now :wtf:


That is where I got, open box with warranty.

Not quite DVD but likely as close as I'll get...

Author:  substance [ 20 Dec 2016, 19:31 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

I got the figures. Complete production run is between 300-400 units at the moment. Last word, there is only 3 months worth of supplies left at the Lumagen inventory. Again from what I have heard, they sell 4-5 a month which means there is about 20-30 units left. I convinced Jim to go for another active year before discontinuing this product. So they will probably make another 50. So it is as rare as it gets. Most customers go for hdmi only units as they don't care for legacy devices.

Lumagen offers great trade in programs, so it is unlikely we will see used 2144s on eBay or any where. Out of that 400 built, 300 or so will remain in systems forever anyway.

It is expensive but there are a dozen X9 sales a month. 2144 is a much better value as you can use it with other video up to 2K with lossless audio.

Author:  pbiancardi [ 20 Dec 2016, 20:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

substance wrote:
I got the figures. Complete production run is between 300-400 units at the moment. Last word, there is only 3 months worth of supplies left at the Lumagen inventory. Again from what I have heard, they sell 4-5 a month which means there is about 20-30 units left. I convinced Jim to go for another active year before discontinuing this product. So they will probably make another 50. So it is as rare as it gets. Most customers go for hdmi only units as they don't care for legacy devices.

Lumagen offers great trade in programs, so it is unlikely we will see used 2144s on eBay or any where. Out of that 400 built, 300 or so will remain in systems forever anyway.

It is expensive but there are a dozen X9 sales a month. 2144 is a much better value as you can use it with other video up to 2K with lossless audio.


That is amazing. I guess now is the time if anyone wants one.

Author:  forper [ 21 Dec 2016, 06:45 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

Coolness, coolness but a 2144 would be useless to anyone with a CRT display, only does HDMI out?

Author:  lons_vex [ 21 Dec 2016, 10:14 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

Scaling makes no sense on CRT, unless your CRT can do progressive i.e. 1080p (or 720p).

Author:  admin [ 21 Dec 2016, 12:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

substance wrote:
I got the figures. Complete production run is between 300-400 units at the moment. Last word, there is only 3 months worth of supplies left at the Lumagen inventory. Again from what I have heard, they sell 4-5 a month which means there is about 20-30 units left. I convinced Jim to go for another active year before discontinuing this product. So they will probably make another 50. So it is as rare as it gets. Most customers go for hdmi only units as they don't care for legacy devices.


Hello Substance!

Would there be a possibility to reserve a unit (with deposit if needed)?

I'll be a little less stretched on finance starting 2017 and it's certainly a piece of H/W I'd like to order at some point.

Julien

Author:  substance [ 21 Dec 2016, 13:35 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

Contact me via pm, it might be possible.

Author:  forper [ 22 Dec 2016, 00:32 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

lons_vex wrote:
Scaling makes no sense on CRT, unless your CRT can do progressive i.e. 1080p (or 720p).


Can Sony KVHR36M31 do 1080p?

Or is my DVDO VP50 doing nothing for my DVDs?

Author:  audioboyz1973 [ 22 Dec 2016, 05:46 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

pbiancardi wrote:
substance wrote:
I got the figures. Complete production run is between 300-400 units at the moment. Last word, there is only 3 months worth of supplies left at the Lumagen inventory. Again from what I have heard, they sell 4-5 a month which means there is about 20-30 units left. I convinced Jim to go for another active year before discontinuing this product. So they will probably make another 50. So it is as rare as it gets. Most customers go for hdmi only units as they don't care for legacy devices.

Lumagen offers great trade in programs, so it is unlikely we will see used 2144s on eBay or any where. Out of that 400 built, 300 or so will remain in systems forever anyway.

It is expensive but there are a dozen X9 sales a month. 2144 is a much better value as you can use it with other video up to 2K with lossless audio.


That is amazing. I guess now is the time if anyone wants one.


Well having mulled this idea over for quite a while, these comments really helped light a fire under my seat so to speak. The guys at CurtPalme.com also said when I asked that Lumagen doesn't intend to offer analogue support on any future products. Fire gets hotter.

So despite something of a wrecking ball effect on finances just now, I just took the plunge and ordered one of the open box specials. Now in a state of anticipation awaiting its arrival.....

Author:  audioboyz1973 [ 22 Dec 2016, 17:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

Hi Substance,

I'm interested to get your opinion on auto-calibration (CMS) options to go with the 2144. Once the finances recover on this purchase (had to temporarily loan some spending money from my partner - so lucky we very much respect each others collecting habits!!) I'd like to invest in that as after all this is said to be one of the other great strengths of the Radiance.

The package offered by http://www.curtpalme.com/ChromaPure.shtm (with the advanced auto calibrate for $752US) seems to be a good starting point. I notice from http://forum.lddb.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3134&hilit=calibration+radiance that you also use the X-Rite i1 Pro 2 (Enhanced) Spectroradiometer, though at around $1200US that's a budgetary issue again! Also you're using the Calman 5 Enthusiast software as opposed to the Chromapure included in the package mentioned previously, any particular reason(s) for that?

Thank you.

Author:  nissling [ 22 Dec 2016, 20:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

I'd say the ordinary X-Rite i1 is enough for most consumers. If you really want to be future proof I'd suggest getting the Spectracal C6. Generally speaking I'd say CalMAN is by far the best software available for calibrating displays of any kind. Been using CalMAN RGB for my PC monitors and never had an issue with it.

If you'll get into calibration I'd like to advice you that a grey scale that measures perfectly doesn't necessarily look perfect. Since you're only reading a certain amount of steps with the colorimeter, it tells you nothing how it performs between those specific values. For this reason use the measuring as a tool, but keep an eye on the ramp to make sure that you don't get any banding. Two-step greyscale is mostly just fine to use. Only use ten or 20 step if you see something seriously wrong somewhere.

Also regarding colors, some people do everything they can in order to measure the 40 different values perfectly. Only thing is that an 8-bit palette has 16.7 million shades so instead or turning CalMAN into some sort of mini golf, try to look at some samples that you're familiar with to make sure that nothing is out of place. Generally speaking there is little to no need of CMS on today's higher end displays once white balance is properly calibrated.

EDIT: One more thing regarding CMS: Don't ever adjust secondaries. If white balance and primaries are properly calibrated, secondaries should also be correct.

Author:  substance [ 22 Dec 2016, 22:49 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

Hi audioboyz,

Spectro is used for profiling the display, its not really used for calibration. Spectro takes some measurements and make adjustments for the colormeter to compensate for the shortcomings. Spectro itself is too slow to do a complete calibration with many readings. It also can't read realy deep blacks as good as a colormeter. Spectro reads colors better but colormeter does blacks. Once profiled for the display, a colormeter can do really good job reading colors too.

If you buy the calman and c6(or i1 d3), they come with profiles for most common display types. Having a spectro can make it more custom and a bit more accurate but we are talking less than %1 difference.

I1 d3 and c6 are the same hardware. Spectracal calibrates and certified c6 for better accuracy. They use a multi deca thousand dollar calibration tool to offset any errors each individual c6 can result. You get a certificate for accuracy. I have had i1 d3 and now own c6. They are very close.

I recommend calman because I have it and I can help you. There is still a slight learning curve on the sw. Lightspace is the best sw but it is super expensive. Chromapure is on par with calman but you are on your own it as i never used it.

Nissling is pretty accurate on his input. With the calman and lumagen, most of what he mentioned is fully automated. You will do brightness, contrast, color and two point on your display to bring your display to a somewhat linear greyscale. The rest will be handled by Lumagen with 4913 point 3d lut calibration. I believe enthusiast is required for auto calibration.

Author:  substance [ 22 Dec 2016, 22:59 ]
Post subject:  Re: Lumagen Radiance 2144 - Always listen to Substance

I have been getting some PMs since this thread. I need to put this out there. I am not in anyway affiliated with lumagen. I am not employed or have any commissions on sales. I am merely a user/customer myself. It is not in any way my product. I have helped Lumagen develop some features and I am a beta tester for the 4000 series pro.

I am happy to help anyone get in touch with the best contacts for a purchase and answer your questions setup the unit. Those who have exchanged PMs with me knows that I do my best to answer each question and give you unbiased opinions(even sometimes against products I sell). I have sold a few items in the past and still kept in touch answering questions about those items. Lumagen Radiance 2144 isn't something I sell though but feel free to ask away your questions. I will answer as best as I can.

I am willing to negotiate a power buy option if we have enough interest.

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