Okay, here are the other Reality things you can try...

Check the status progress. Make sure that it is actually engaging the video card. That would should that the hardware and software are compatible. In other words, it is capable of and trying to render something; you're just not able to see it. On that status you should see details about the scene that might help trouble shoot the issue.

So if the status is showing light sources and surfaces, etc. then you know the Reality side (the bridge) of things is working. Also check that you have the right version of Luxrender installed. If I recall, Reality was persnickety about having only certain versions Luxrender.

Another trick I used to do is skipping the automatic swap from DS to Luxrender. Have Reality make the export file and collect your textures and geometries, but don't have it render. Then open Luxrender yourself and have it open the export file. This way you can see exactly what is going on and if there are any files not being found.

Last thing to try, and this might seem obvious... Create a new camera and try rendering from a different location. I've had issues where the camera lens was just a few pixels deep in a surface. The view port is actually a few pixels in front of the camera lens, so everything would seem fine while working. Try to render and it is rendering the inside of a wall.

As for why I stopped using Reality... I was a late adopter to Iray after having invested so much time getting over the learning curve. Once Iray was out a few months then I realized how much easier it was to deal with surfaces and such. Iray render speed at that time was a little slower than Luxrender, but I was saving a lot of time in not having to do all the conversions. The developer's bombastic style was starting to grate on my nerves though, which is unfortunate as his classes are excellent and he's always been very helpful when I had questions.