Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
72 lines (51 loc) · 4.27 KB

hdmi-config.md

File metadata and controls

72 lines (51 loc) · 4.27 KB

HDMI configuration

In the vast majority of cases, simply plugging your HDMI-equipped monitor into the Raspberry Pi using a standard HDMI cable will automatically lead to the Pi using best resolution the monitor supports.

However, there are some circumstances in which the Raspberry Pi may not be able to determine the best mode, or you specifically wish may to set a non-default resolution. This page describes what you need to do to achieve this.

Note that all the commands on this page are documented fully in the config.txt Video documentation.

HDMI groups and mode

HDMI has two common groups: CEA (Consumer Electronics Association, the standard typically used by TVs) and DMT (Display Monitor Timings, the standard typically used by monitors). Each group advertises a particular set of modes, where a mode describes the resolution, frame rate, clock rate, and aspect ratio of the output.

What modes does my device support?

You can use the tvservice application on the command line to determine which modes are supported by your device, along with other useful data:

  • tvservice -s displays the current HDMI status, including mode and resolution
  • tvservice -m CVT lists all supported CVT modes
  • tvservice -m DMT lists all supported DMT modes

Setting a specific HDMI mode

Setting a specific mode is done using the hdmi_group and hdmi_mode config.txt entries. The group entry selects between CEA or DMT, and the mode selects the resolution and frame rate. You can find tables of modes on the config.txt Video Configuration page, but you should use the tvservice command described above to find out exactly which modes your device supports.

Setting a custom HDMI mode.

There are two options for setting a custom mode: hdmi_cvt and hdmi_timings.

hdmi_cvt sets a custom Coordinated Video Timing entry, which is described fully here: Video Configuration

In certain rare cases it may be necessary to define the exact clock requirements of the HDMI signal. This is a fully custom mode, and it is activated by setting hdmi_group=2 and hdmi_mode=87. You can then use the hdmi_timings config.txt command to set the specific parameters for your display. hdmi_timings specifies all the timings that an HDMI signal needs to use. These timings are usually found in the datasheet of the display being used.

hdmi_timings=<h_active_pixels> <h_sync_polarity> <h_front_porch> <h_sync_pulse> <h_back_porch> <v_active_pixels> <h_sync_polarity> <h_front_porch> <h_sync_pulse> <h_back_porch> <v_active_lines> <v_sync_polarity> v_front_porch> <v_sync_pulse> <v_back_porch> <v_sync_offset_a> <v_sync_offset_b> <pixel_rep> <frame_rate> <interlaced> <pixel_freq> <aspect_ratio>

Timing Purpose
h_active_pixels The horizontal resolution
h_sync_polarity 0 or 1 to define the horizontal sync polarity
h_front_porch Number of horizontal front porch pixels
h_sync_pulse Width of horizontal sync pulse
h_back_porch Number of horizontal back porch pixels
v_active_lines The vertical resolution
v_sync_polarity 0 or 1 to define the vertical sync polarity
v_front_porch Number of vertical front porch pixels
v_sync_pulse Width of vertical sync pulse
v_back_porch Number of vertical back porch pixels
v_sync_offset_a Leave at 0
v_sync_offset_b Leave at 0
pixel_rep Leave at 0
frame_rate Frame rate of mode
interlaced 0 for non-interlaced, 1 for interlaced
pixel_freq The mode pixel frequency
aspect_ratio The aspect ratio required

aspect_ratio should be one of the following:

Ratio aspect_ratio ID
4:3 1
14:9 2
16:9 3
5:4 4
16:10 5
15:9 6
21:9 7
64:27 8

HDMI not working properly?

In some rare cases you may need to increase the HDMI drive strength, for exampl when there is speckling on the display, or when you are using very long cables. There is a config.txt item to do this, config_hdmi_boost, which is documented on the config.txt Video page.