Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems HD621 and Radiance

I have no problems but my Radiance is a little older- I think its an XE. I have it before my HD621.

Lumagen update their firmwares on a regular basis. Meridian don't. I know whose box I'd rather use for video processing

I've been through every revolution of the Lumagen scalers and am currently using their 2042. No problems with any of them and my HD621...

The HD621 seems like a very stable and solid implementation.

If there were any issues I'd be pointing my finger at Lumagen, particularly as they are constantly evolving and usually resolve (temporary) issues with their own hardware, and with third parties, rapidly.

Just thought I'd update this thread. I finally got a Darbee Darblet last week and it's sitting in between my Radiance and projector (not between HD621 and Radiance as I planned), and it works brilliantly! I've currently got it set on the Hi Def mode at 40: the subtle improvement in contrast really results in more 3D "pop" and IMO it's well worth the price I paid (�235 shipped inc. import duty+VAT).

Why did you decide to put it between the Radiance and the projector instead of between the HD621 and Radiance? So you have the HD621 in front of the Radiance doing the switching? I still think the Radiance provides more flexibility for switching so continue to have my Radiances in front of the HD621s. Like you, I put the Darblet between the Radiance and the projector. I'm thinking of getting a Darblet for my plasma TV system as well or maybe a newer Radiance with the Darblet built in.

One thing you should be aware of if you put the HD621 after the Radiance is that you lose the ability to add lipsync on a per-source basis... The HD621 would only see the one source - the Radiance.

In my system I use the HD621 as the switch and apply per-source corrections and then use the 861 to add further corrections for the Radiance's latency (which changes dependent on input/output resolutions/frame rates) and codec choices.

Just another thing to think about...

I just didn't like the HD621 switching. When I had it in front of the Radiance the 861 would do all sorts of clicking and it would take time to lock in each time I booted up. I don't know why. I can, however, see how using the HD621 lipsync delays for each source would come in handy.

I've been using sources -> HD621 -> Radiance Mini-3D -> TV for the last few years.

(Recently, yes, I inserted one of the standalone Darbee boxes in between the Lumagen and the TV. I wouldn't say it made a life-changing difference, to my eyes at least, but I don't hate it either.)

But anyway - using the HD621 to switch sources conveniently as instructed by the 861, extract audio, and pass on the video to whatever does... video things, that seems to me like the intended use for an HD621. And it's been working fine for me in that setup.

It is possible to get around this using phantom inputs to vary the HD621 audio delay despite the single physical connection.

John

Interesting. Could you give brief instructions? Would actually be interested in trying my HD621 after the Radiance for the better handshaking, but cannot lose lipsync options, so this sounds like a possible solution...

Because changing the order will involve a lot of configuration work! For a quick test, I just slotted it in between the Radiance and PJ, and liked what I saw.

Mark,

I can go into more detail as needed, however, in simple terms just map an otherwise unused Meridian input (out of the 12 available) to the same physical source / HD621 connection but with a different delay programmed into the HD621 field within config.

Thus one can have, say, DVD set to 17ms delay, and Freeview set to 10ms. DVD can be Meridian key 'DVD' and Freeview can be Meridian 'TV' for example.

You would need to select the Lumagen input AND the Meridian input in order to change sources - easly done with a controller such as Logitech Touch et al.

Essentially I run all video inputs to a Lumagen Radiance XE, take the one HDMI out to the display and the second HDMI to the HD621 then single coax to 808v5.

I also have a bank of phantom inputs set up with different delays than can be applied to the single in / out of the HD621 as needed without physically changing source.

Only downside to this is that it does consume inputs out of the limited set of Meridian ones available.

Hope this helps

John