Lumagen Radiance 2-way driver available?

[turls]

I'm waiting on the specifics, but according to AVS Forum somebody is finally selling a 2-way driver for Lumagen Radiance Video Processors.  Has anybody used it?

[mindedc1]

I wrote it, it works famously

 

[mindedc1]

Here is a writeup of features. I've been using it for two years, I've had customers for a full year. Since I wrote this I've added the new sharpening commands from the fall firmware release and increased the number of inputs to 10 to account for the additional virtual inputs and the new hardware with 10 inputs.

 

The preferred setup for Lumagen is to have all sources connected directly to the lumagen and then connect the lumagen to your preamp/processor/reciever. This creates an issue that you don't get any volume or mute feedback on your screen because the preamp/receiver is out of path. The driver has property enabled features called  "Auto Volume" and "Auto Mute" that will grab the volume level and mute state from the room the lumagen is located in and use them to trigger a message on the display. No programming required. If that doesn't work in your configuration, there is a mute on/off command available in programming and a message can be written to the display to indicate the volume or mute state via MESSAGE1 and MESSAGE2 variables.

Supports IR power on, set the power method to "IR" and bind an emitter to the driver, this is only needed in some rare condition.

The driver supports all remote commands fired from programming and also exposes almost all of the lumagen video attributes as variables. This allows you to alter Lumagen configuration based on something in your environment such as moving an anamorphic lens in and out or selecting a video game source that needs certain latency (game mode) or video configuration. You can also automate any aspect ratio, zoom etc changes. The state of video being displayed by the lumagen can also be used to trigger outside events. Every time the video changes aspect ratio, resolution, refresh rate, color space etc, the variables are updated and via standard C4 programming any type of automation can be triggered. We have some customers that change color space settings on their Sony projector based on the input color space. I believe they are using the Lumagen for DTM and they are putting the Sony in the proper HDR color space without triggering high lamp or something like that. We have other customers that use the aspect ratio to trigger automatic masking systems and anamorphic lenses. Care must be taken that sources that change aspect ratio frequently do not cause mechanical malfunctions. I prefer to select when my anamorphic lens is in or out of path so I automatically change output aspect ratio via a memory setting when I move the lens in and out.

An arbitrary message can be written to the display to indicate the volume via the QUICK_MESSAGE or MESSAGE1 and MESSAGE2 variables. Message persist is the amount of time any of the onscreen messages from the driver will be displayed, 1-8 seconds. With more recent firmwares, the lumagen supports setting the colors of the messages. This is configured with RGB hex codes similar to HTML. The entire set of "standard" computer colors and hex codes are added as well as the ability to define up to five custom colors. Alpha channel or transparency is also supported. We have a customer whose preamp has a feedback driver but no on screen display and they write a display message when their audio format changes as they like to know what mode it's in.

Commands

The following commands are supported via programming.

Mute On - Display Mute
Mute Off - Clear display of Mute
Select Input 1-8
Select Input Aspect Ratio NLS, 4:3, 4:3NZ, LBOX, LBOXNZ, 16:9, 16:9NZ, 1.85, 1.85NZ, 2.35, 2.35NZ
Select Output Aspect Ratio O16:9, O2.35, O1.33
Select Memory MEMA, MEMB, MEMC, MEMD
Select Resolution 480P, 540P, 600P, 720P, 768P, 840P, 1080P, 1080I
Send Generic Command - Commands not covered by above features
Send Darbee Enable/Disable, Mode, and adjust value up and down in increments of 1,5, and 10.


VARIABLES

All feedback is handled through the device variables. The "Debug Action" will display the state of these variables at any time regardless of the setting of debug on/off in the driver.

Note: These variables are all read-only, and changing the variables' values does not cause the Lumagen to change state I.E. setting the INPUT_PHYSICAL variable to 03 does not cause the Lumagen to change inputs. You must use a command (above) to do this. If you want one variable to change another, for example when a source with two way is powered on manually you want the lumagen to auto switch you can fire the input command from the power state variable on the source.

Variable Value
------------------- -------------------
INPUT_PHYSICAL Selected Physical input 1-8
INPUT_LOGICAL Selected Logical input 1-8
INPUT_CONFIG_NUMBER Selected Input configuration
INPUT_ASPECT Input aspect ratio I.E. 178 is 1.78:1 or 16:9
INPUT_RATE I.E. 23 = 23.9 FPS, 24 = 24FPS, 60 = 60FPS
INPUT_RESOLUTION I.E. 1080 for 1080P HD, 2160 for 4K
INPUT_MODE P/I/n Progressive, interlaced, or no input
INPUT_3D_MODE 2D / Frame-Seq / Frame-Packed / Top-Bottom / Side-by-Side
INPUT_DYNAMIC_RANGE SDR/HDR
HDR_MIN Minimum Luminance of HDR signal
HDR_MAX Maximum Luminance of HDR signal
HDR_CLL Maximum Coherent Light Level of HDR signal
INPUT_STATUS No Source/Active Video/Internal Pattern
NLS Normal or NLS for Non Linear Stretch enabled
MEM A / B / C / D
OUTPUT_STATUS 000e - Binary field, needs better decoding
OUTPUT_3D_MODE 2D / Frame-Seq / Frame-Packed / Top-Bottom / Side-by-Side
OUTPUT_MODE P/I Progressive or interlaced
OUTPUT_CMS_NUMBER 0-7
OUTPUT_STYLE_NUMBER Selected output style 0-8
OUTPUT_COLOR_SPACE REC601 / REC709 / REC2020 / REC2100
OUTPUT_RATE I.E. 23 = 23.9 FPS, 24 = 24FPS, 60 = 60FPS
OUTPUT_RESOLUTION I.E. 1080 for 1080P HD, 2160 for 4K
OUTPUT_ASPECT Input aspect ratio I.E. 178 is 1.78:1 or 16:9
OUTPUT_ADJUSTED_ASPECT Aspect ratio from AR detection I.E. 178 is 1.78:1 or 16:9, Can be overriden by user forcing aspect ratio with sticky.


These variables should be writable. The specified action will occur immediately after updating the variable. The message feature could be used for several things. For example, if the customer has a soundproofed theater you may want to write a message when their doorbell rings or security alarm goes off. You can safely write to the variables at any time, if the lumagen is in an off state the commands are silently discarded (so you can be lazy programming and fire the dorbell message without regard for if the theater is in use for example).

Variable Value
------------------- -------------------
VOLUME_DISPLAY integer will be immediately displayed as volume
QUICK_MESSAGE string will be immediately displayed as a 1 line message
DARBEE_ENHANCE integer value of 0 - 120 for darbee enhancement
MESSAGE1 string will be stored for displayed as line 1 of a 2 line message
MESSAGE2 string will be displayed as line 2 of a message. Writing to this will trigger display of line 1 and line 2

[turls]

Do you plan to support the new commands that are going to be offered on the new remote that is going to be available soon?  Since this device seems to be in a perpetual beta state, ongoing support would be important.

I mean, no offense to Jim, but it is utterly ridiculous we had PiP/PoP in the previous product, and were promised it would be available in the Radiance Pro.  That was SIX YEARS ago.

[mindedc1]

I added commands for the new sharpening that was exposed in November or December. It's my daily driver scaler so I do keep it up to date when they add new features. They have also added features for me. Two bug fix releases in the last year were thanks to issues I discovered (The Nvidia shield issue and the one after it). I also got them to allow you to change the color of on screen messages. The new remote adds test patterns, saving config, HDR setup, auto aspect enable/disable, and input aspects for some additional formats. Of them the following are supported via serial:

Test patterns, Save config, Enable+reset auto aspect detection.

I refrained from exposing save config as it seems like something you would use infrequently. Same thing for test patterns. The Enable/reset auto aspect detection would be trivial to implement. The following are not exposed via serial at this time:

Auto aspect disable, HDR setup, NEW aspect ratios.

If there is need/demand of those things I can add them pretty quickly. I have a driver I'm trying to get substantially finished this week but will free up a little after that. 

I have no relationship with Lumagen other than being a customer and developing the driver (and calling support perhaps a few too many times) so I can't really comment on the PIP situation. 

 

[turls]

I PM'ed you for more details about the driver.  Interested in obtaining it (obviously).

[Chosen]

I am interested in this driver as well.

[uddinz]

I would be interested 

[danvan]

I would be very interested in this driver too please.

[mindedc1]

Just an update to everyone, the driver should be up on drivercentral in a few days. There are quite a few hoops to jump through on the signup process. If you have an urgent need you can dm me on here and we can work something out.

[mindedc1]

The driver is up and available for purchase on drivercentral.io now. If you have lumagen driver specific issues I am available via PM here. If you have drivercentral issues please hit them up directly. I may take a day or two to respond as I don't check this forum every day.

https://drivercentral.io/platforms/control4-drivers/audio-video/lumagen/

[BY96]

I know this is an old thread, but I figured I would start here instead of creating a new one. I have an LRP on the way and plan to get the C4 driver. My question is, once my C4 dealer installs the driver in C4, how much control is there through Composer Home? I don't want to bug my dealer with every little change I might want to do. 

Thanks for any information. 

[mindedc1]

The only thing you need the dealer for is to add the driver and make the connections to the display and input(s). All the other programming can be done via HE. A lot of customization can be done in properties and everything else can be done in programming. There are probably two dozen signal attributes to use in conjunction with your display to adjust the video and do whatever you want. The included documentation has a number of examples of integration with other devices like doorbells and your alarm system for notification during viewing as well as more standard things like adjusing lighting based on movie start, associating aspect ratios with buttons and setting up for anamorphic lenses or masking systems.

[BY96]

Sorry! I never saw your reply. Thanks for the information. Been using your driver with the new LRP for the last week and it is great! Thanks!

[AidenL]

On 2/10/2021 at 7:12 PM, mindedc1 said:

I wrote it, it works famously

 

My installer has downloaded the official driver, but can’t find a way to trigger Mem A or Mem B in the driver.

Could you point me in the right direction please?

[BY96]

If you have Composer HE, you could program the four colored buttons to be the four Lumagen memories. When you click on the Lumagen UI, the four color buttons appear. Or you can program the memories to automatically be triggered by certain events. For example, when I select my TV, it is Memory C. When I use the projector, it is Memory A. 

Or set up a Custom Button with the four memories. 

[AidenL]

1 minute ago, BY96 said:

If you have Composer HE, you could program the four colored buttons to be the four Lumagen memories. When you click on the Lumagen UI, the four color buttons appear. Or you can program the memories to automatically be triggered by certain events. For example, when I select my TV, it is Memory C. When I use the projector, it is Memory A. 

We can’t see it in HE though, the Memory commands I mean? Any chance of a screenshot?

[BY96]

In HE, go to the device under the Programming section. Then, on the right side of the screen, go down and select "Device Specific Command." The four memories are listed there under "Select Memory." 

[BY96]

Screenshot

 

[BY96]

Also, I may be incorrect about mapping the four memories to the four colored buttons. I can't seem to find a way to do it, but will continue to try. However, the easiest way to do it is to create a Custom Button with the four memory options mapped using what I showed above. 

You can map the four memories to the four colored buttons for the whole room. Under Programming, select the room and then select "Commands." The Commands menu has the four colors listed. Map each one to each LRP memory. But I still think a Custom Button for the room is easier. 

 

[AidenL]

31 minutes ago, BY96 said:

That’s fantastic, thank you for taking the time to do that. 

[lippavisual]

To program the color buttons, select the room in Device Events. Then select the color buttons in the drop down.