Lumagen FAQ and why it is still the very best Home Cinema, HDR, video processor.

The following is an “FAQ” for the Lumagen Pro video processor.

We hope this helps not only current Lumagen owners but those thinking of purchasing a video processor.

Something worth pointing out, Lumagen’s engineering design uses its own flexible FPGA-based architecture to produce the best home cinema experience possible. Doing so allows them the ability to wipe the FPGA clean and load a brand-new architecture. This could then be delivered to existing customers via a software update. This builds customer reassurance, no need to have to purchase a new Lumagen, unlike PC-based products that can eventually run out of processing power or RAM as new features are added. Often the manufacturer finds themselves having to offer a brand new product leaving the customer having to sell their investment just to be able to step up to the latest model. The customer can get caught up in this repeat cycle.

FAQ:

Does the Radiance Pro support instant auto aspect ratio selection?

Yes. The latest release (031023 as I write this) has an instant auto-aspect feature that detects and automatically changes the source aspect ratio selection in less than 0.1 seconds when it is enabled. While we recommend against using auto-aspect for intra-movie aspect changes, it is available for those who want it.

How does the Radiance Pro DTM compare to the competition?

 The Radiance Pro HDR DTM continues to be the best. It is “color preserving” which is the studio reference standard, and what is used by Dolby for Dolby Vision. The Radiance Pro transfer function best optimizes the content for any source maximum scene levels.

The Radiance Pro is so good it is being used by a post-production producer at a major studio for his consumer HDR post-production quality assurance. He called the Radiance Pro DTM “sublime” and said, “if it looks good through the Radiance Pro, I know I have done my job right.” In this instance, you “See what the producer intended™” when you use the Radiance Pro DTM.

Does the Radiance Pro support Non-Linear-Stretch (NLS)?

Lumagen has supported NLS since 2004 in the Vision series. Its programmability has been judged the best for NLS applications.

The Radiance Pro does *not* support vertical NLS. Back in 2004 we evaluated doing vertical NLS and decided it looked horrible and should not be done. So, we did not add this “quality reduction” non-feature.

If you want to stretch to fill a 16:9 screen, or other less than 2.40 aspect ratio screen, it is much better to do a linear vertical stretch to make the letter-box-bars smaller, or eliminate them altogether. Please contact us at lumagen support if you would like help with setting this up in a home cinema.

Does the Radiance Pro have a Game Mode, with all processing enabled, and a delay short enough for gamers?

Yes. Unlike the competition, for 16:9 in and out with Genlock enabled, the Radiance Pro Game Mode has an internal video delay of approximately 3 mS with all features enabled.  The competition has a processing delay reported to be about 230 mS, which is unusable for gaming.

Does the Radiance Pro have a Genlock feature to insure no dropped or repeated frame when watching content?

Yes. Unlike the competition, the Radiance Pro Genlock feature ensures that frames in the source content are seen exactly once as they need to be to avoid added motion judder. This is especially important for 24 Hertz movies.

Genlock also helps insure lipsync is constant. Without a true genlock feature, for 24 Hertz content lipsync will vary by 42 mS in a video processor. This is noticeable in content. Because of this, a true Genlock feature is essential for a video processor to be considered as “reference grade.”

Does the Radiance Pro have a programmable video delay Lipsync feature?

Yes. The Radiance Pro can delay video by a user programmable amount. The user can specify a different video delay for every input and for every input-memory. While sources are supposed to have audio and video be output in sync, this is not always the case. The Radiance Pro makes it simple to have an adjustable video delay to use for lipsync.

Does the Radiance Pro have “profile” memories?

Yes, but we call them configuration memories.

There is an independent configuration memory for every input, every input memory (four) and then for each input memory there are configuration memories associated with each of the eight supported input resolutions.

 Is the Radiance Pro difficult to set up?

It is straight forward to set up the Radiance Pro for most home cinemas. The “setup slide set” available by emailing (and attached here) walks you through the setup. In addition, Jim Peterson is available for setup assistance for both simple and complex home cinemas. Once setup, the user can just press one button to recall a configuration memory setup.

They are looking at ways to make setup simpler for a novice. Also, Lumagen makes themselves available to help with every install. Dealers and end users can call directly. This can include evenings, and weekends.

Does the Radiance Pro do Frame Interpolation?

No.

FI is mathematically guaranteed to create artifacts. No matter how good of a job, if it is not in the original source, it is adding artifacts. Beware of marketing hype.

Tom Cruise did a video asking people to turn off their motion interpolation to have the best viewing experience for movies. Click here.

Auto Aspect Improvements:

The Radiance and Radiance Pro line has had auto-aspect-ratio selection since 2014. As noted above we have released the first production update (031023) with the addition of the instant auto-aspect feature. This also improves the 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 second auto-aspect modes versus the previous releases. By removing some of the checks for older sources and improving the active video edge detection, we have made significant improvements for speed and accuracy for the auto-aspect feature.

NOTE: When viewing on an anamorphic screen, Lumagen strongly recommends against changing aspect ratio during IMAX like movies that have intra-movie aspect ratio changes. However, the instant auto aspect is available for those who want to go against the director’s intent and show the 1.90 (or 16:9) sections of the movie smaller on their anamorphic screen rather than watching the entire move as anamorphic as intended.

Subtitle Feature:

For subtitles that are out-of-frame on anamorphic content, while viewing on an anamorphic screen, you can press the down-arrow to move the bottom edge of the content up to see subtitles. I personally do not like to see the aspect change while watching movies. By having a manual selection for out-of-frame subtitle, the viewing experience is more seamless in my opinion.

Lumagen has changed the subtitle feature “down-arrow” function so that it now temporarily disables auto aspect. This makes selecting subtitle a single button-press if the currently active aspect ratio is the correct aspect for the movie’s anamorphic sections.

Dynamic Tone Mapping (DTM) desaturation work:

Lumagen is currently working on add desaturation to the DTM. This affects an exceedingly small percentage of scenes which have bright saturated colors. The desaturation will work to bring the peak values down to eliminate for the clipping that now occurs in these few scenes.

Lumagen is currently testing engineering releases of this new feature in-house and expects to release this as a Beta Release in May 2023.

Standard Limited Warranty is now two years:

Effective immediately all new Radiance Pro sales will have a two-year Limited Warranty. This doubles the current one-year USA Limited Warranty.

Extension of Limited Warranty to five years:

In October of 2021 they added an option to extend our standard Limited Warranty from one year to five years from the initial shipment date from Lumagen.

 

Below are some youtube videos that you may find useful.

You Tube interview of Kris Deering discussing the Radiance Pro:

Kris Deering did an interview last week for a YouTube channel discussing the Radiance Pro. I am including a link to this in case any of you are interested in checking it out. This is a long interview, but it has information that may be useful to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY4VkH-hAyU

Here is another video with an interview with Jim Peterson from Lumagen.