Lumagen Radiance 2021 Video Processor Reviewed at Reference Home Theater
When money is no object, and you simply must have the best home theater kit there is no substitute for Lumagen’s video processors. That said, I can’t remember ever seeing a proper review of one of their products – until now.
When Lumagen released their Radiance XD processor, it was a huge deal. When most displays and projectors lacked anything beyond a rudimentary color management system (CMS), or hid it away in the service menu, the Radiance unlocked the full control over colors, grayscale, and gamma to users. Instead of choosing between the display with the best image, and the one with the good image but less control, you could pick the best and know you can get it dialed in perfectly later on. It wasn’t the cheapest add-on accessory ever made, but it did something that many people didn’t think possible.
Now almost every display ships with some sort of CMS. From a simple one-point grayscale control with some color presets, to sets with 20-point white balance controls and a full Hue-Saturation-Luminance (HSL) CMS to get the gamut correct. When every display comes with some sort of control over it, is an external CMS like the Lumagen Radiance 2021 worth the add-on and expense anymore? I borrowed a unit from Lumagen to see what extra benefits it provides.