Camera only working when HDMI output enabled

[paphko]

It seems to me like a bug, my camera (rev 1.3) is only working when the HDMI monitor is enabled! B+ model.

pi@mirror ~/m/camera $ tvservice -o
Powering off HDMI
pi@mirror ~/m/camera $ raspistill -n -v -o h2.jpg

raspistill Camera App v1.3.8

Width 2592, Height 1944, quality 85, filename h2.jpg
Time delay 5000, Raw no
Thumbnail enabled Yes, width 64, height 48, quality 35
Link to latest frame enabled no
Full resolution preview No
Capture method : Single capture

Preview No, Full screen Yes
Preview window 0,0,1024,768
Opacity 255
Sharpness 0, Contrast 0, Brightness 50
Saturation 0, ISO 0, Video Stabilisation No, Exposure compensation 0
Exposure Mode 'auto', AWB Mode 'auto', Image Effect 'none'
Metering Mode 'average', Colour Effect Enabled No with U = 128, V = 128
Rotation 0, hflip No, vflip No
ROI x 0.000000, y 0.000000, w 1.000000 h 1.000000
Camera component done
Encoder component done
Starting component connection stage
Connecting camera preview port to video render.
Connecting camera stills port to encoder input port
Opening output file h2.jpg
Enabling encoder output port

[ here i was waiting for 2 minutes, then I ran 'tvservice -p' in another shell and raspistill immediately continued ]

Starting capture 0
Finished capture 0
Closing down
Close down completed, all components disconnected, disabled and destroyed

pi@mirror ~/m/camera $

Anyone can confirm this, or is it just me with this problem?

I would like to use the camera to switch on the screen when someone steps in front of the camera, but with this bug it seems not to be possible.

[paphko]

Is there anyone who can use the camera module with attached HDMI monitor that is switched off

I would like to find the cause for this does anyone have any suggestion how this issue can further be debugged?

[RaTTuS]

mine works fine -

Code: Select all

 raspistill -o poo.jpg
pi@Picse ~/Images $ tvservice -o
Powering off HDMI
pi@Picse ~/Images $ raspistill -o poo.jpg
pi@Picse ~/Images $ raspistill -n -v -o poo.jpg

raspistill Camera App v1.3.8

Width 2592, Height 1944, quality 85, filename poo.jpg
Time delay 5000, Raw no
Thumbnail enabled Yes, width 64, height 48, quality 35
Link to latest frame enabled  no
Full resolution preview No
Capture method : Single capture

Preview No, Full screen Yes
Preview window 0,0,1024,768
Opacity 255
Sharpness 0, Contrast 0, Brightness 50
Saturation 0, ISO 0, Video Stabilisation No, Exposure compensation 0
Exposure Mode 'auto', AWB Mode 'auto', Image Effect 'none'
Metering Mode 'average', Colour Effect Enabled No with U = 128, V = 128
Rotation 0, hflip No, vflip No
ROI x 0.000000, y 0.000000, w 1.000000 h 1.000000
Camera component done
Encoder component done
Starting component connection stage
Connecting camera preview port to video render.
Connecting camera stills port to encoder input port
Opening output file poo.jpg
Enabling encoder output port
Starting capture 0
Finished capture 0
Closing down
Close down completed, all components disconnected, disabled and destroyed

[paphko]

mine works fine

Thanks for trying it out!
Btw, do you also have latest firmware (from August 12th)?

I guess I have to experiment.. re-install, different camera, different pi, ...

[fruitoftheloom]

mine works fine

Thanks for trying it out!
Btw, do you also have latest firmware (from August 12th)?

I guess I have to experiment.. re-install, different camera, different pi, ...

FYI latest Firmware is 20th August 2014
If using Raspbian Wheezy have you fully upgraded

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
reboot
sudo rpi-update
reboot

[paphko]

FYI latest Firmware is 20th August 2014
If using Raspbian Wheezy have you fully upgraded

Thanks for the notice. Just upgraded as you suggested.
Result:

Code: Select all

pi@mirror ~/m/camera $ tvservice -o
Powering off HDMI
pi@mirror ~/m/camera $ raspistill -n -v -o latest.jpg

raspistill Camera App v1.3.8

Width 2592, Height 1944, quality 85, filename latest.jpg
Time delay 5000, Raw no
Thumbnail enabled Yes, width 64, height 48, quality 35
Link to latest frame enabled  no
Full resolution preview No
Capture method : Single capture

Preview No, Full screen Yes
Preview window 0,0,1024,768
Opacity 255
Sharpness 0, Contrast 0, Brightness 50
Saturation 0, ISO 0, Video Stabilisation No, Exposure compensation 0
Exposure Mode 'auto', AWB Mode 'auto', Image Effect 'none'
Metering Mode 'average', Colour Effect Enabled No with U = 128, V = 128
Rotation 0, hflip No, vflip No
ROI x 0.000000, y 0.000000, w 1.000000 h 1.000000
Camera component done
Encoder component done
Starting component connection stage
Connecting camera preview port to video render.
Connecting camera stills port to encoder input port
Opening output file latest.jpg
Enabling encoder output port
^Z
[1]+  Angehalten              raspistill -n -v -o latest.jpg
pi@mirror ~/m/camera $ bg
[1]+ raspistill -n -v -o latest.jpg &
pi@mirror ~/m/camera $ tvservice -p
Powering on HDMI with preferred settings
pi@mirror ~/m/camera $ Starting capture 0
Finished capture 0
Closing down
Close down completed, all components disconnected, disabled and destroyed


[1]+  Fertig                  raspistill -n -v -o latest.jpg
pi@mirror ~/m/camera $ uname -a
Linux mirror 3.12.26+ #704 PREEMPT Wed Aug 20 22:35:11 BST 2014 armv6l GNU/Linux
pi@mirror ~/m/camera $

I also tried to run sudo raspistill, same result...

[paphko]

Ok, I could narrow down the problem: in my config.txt I have display_rotate=1, if I disable that again, raspistill is working again even if HDMI output is off!

So display_rotate=1 seems to have a side-effect on the camera with HDMI off. Btw, it doesn't matter whether there is an HDMI cable connected or not, and the problem exists with both, the B and the B+ model.

Is that an issue in the firmware? Because I really want to rotate the screen by 90 degrees!

[paphko]

Ok, I could narrow down the problem: in my config.txt I have display_rotate=1, if I disable that again, raspistill is working again even if HDMI output is off!

So display_rotate=1 seems to have a side-effect on the camera with HDMI off.

I wonder whether this issue can be reproduced by someone else or is it just me
Steps to reproduce:

1. set display_rotate=1 in /boot/config.txt
2. reboot
3. switch off hdmi out: tvservice -o
4. take a pic: raspistill -n -v -o test.jpg &
If raspistill hangs, you also have this issue. To continue, simply switch on hdmi again with tvservice -p and raspistill proceeds.

[AndrewS]

I wonder whether this issue can be reproduced by someone else or is it just me

I was able to reproduce this, so I added a comment to http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewt ... 43&t=83353

[paphko]

I was able to reproduce this, so I added a comment to http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewt ... 43&t=83353

Thanks AndrewS! Good to see that it's not only me

[6by9]

Please try adding the -n or --nopreview option.
If you have no HDMI connected then I am assuming you're not actually wanting to see the preview, so why feed it to a renderer?
Transpose requires off screen composition, so I can sort of see why not actually having the output side attached results in dispmanx stalling.

[DirkS]

Please try adding the -n or --nopreview option.

see top post...

[6by9]

Please try adding the -n or --nopreview option.

see top post...

Fair cop - missed that one.
Very confused then as raspistill -n shouldn't need any access to dispmanx/HDMI at all then. The only thing I can think of is that tvservice has turned off one of the clocks or hardware blocks, and it is just stalled waiting for that clock/resource.
I'll give it a quick whirl on Tuesday as it should be relatively obvious in the debugger what it's waiting for.

[6by9]

After doing tvservice -o with display_rotate=1 I see a shed load of asserts firing in the display side of the GPU, and a display thread is almost spinning at thread priority 14. Stills capture threads are at priority 15 so then don't get a look in.
I'll bounce it across to the display guys (whilst they're still here) to see if they have any ideas.

[paphko]

After doing tvservice -o with display_rotate=1 I see a shed load of asserts firing in the display side of the GPU, and a display thread is almost spinning at thread priority 14. Stills capture threads are at priority 15 so then don't get a look in.
I'll bounce it across to the display guys (whilst they're still here) to see if they have any ideas.

Thanks for having a look into this issue!

Is there any place (another thread in this forum maybe?) where the discussion with the display guys can be followed?

[AndrewS]

By "here" I suspect 6by9 meant Broadcom's Cambridge offices, not the Raspberry Pi forums

[6by9]

I did mean in the Broadcom offices.
I've just noticed a commit made and released yesterday (https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware ... ef24079d5c) that appears to be linked to this. I haven't got time to test again but please rpi-update and do your own testing. I'd referred them to this thread, so hopefully they will have checked your case but I don't know for sure.

[paphko]

Awesome! Now it works:

Code: Select all

pi@mirror ~/m/camera $ cat /boot/config.txt | grep rotate
# rotate display by 90 degrees
display_rotate=1
pi@mirror ~/m/camera $ tvservice -o
Powering off HDMI
pi@mirror ~/m/camera $ raspistill -n -v -o new2.jpg

raspistill Camera App v1.3.8

Width 2592, Height 1944, quality 85, filename new2.jpg
Time delay 5000, Raw no
Thumbnail enabled Yes, width 64, height 48, quality 35
Link to latest frame enabled  no
Full resolution preview No
Capture method : Single capture

Preview No, Full screen Yes
Preview window 0,0,1024,768
Opacity 255
Sharpness 0, Contrast 0, Brightness 50
Saturation 0, ISO 0, Video Stabilisation No, Exposure compensation 0
Exposure Mode 'auto', AWB Mode 'auto', Image Effect 'none'
Metering Mode 'average', Colour Effect Enabled No with U = 128, V = 128
Rotation 0, hflip No, vflip No
ROI x 0.000000, y 0.000000, w 1.000000 h 1.000000
Camera component done
Encoder component done
Starting component connection stage
Connecting camera preview port to video render.
Connecting camera stills port to encoder input port
Opening output file new2.jpg
Enabling encoder output port
Starting capture 0
Finished capture 0
Closing down
Close down completed, all components disconnected, disabled and destroyed

pi@mirror ~/m/camera $

Thanks a lot!

[pi92]

hi everybody.... i've the same problem! My Camera only work when HDMI output enabled. My Pi2 had the current firmware (i think the fix from the last post are in this firmware integrated?) ... anybody a idea? Many Many thanks!

Chris

[RaTTuS]

raspistill -n -v -o new2.jpg
says what

[stkw]

This problem still exists with latest firmwares on Raspberry Pi 2 B and Raspberry Pi 3 B.
Here is the output of raspistill:

Code: Select all

raspistill Camera App v1.3.11

Width 3280, Height 2464, quality 85, filename new2.jpg
Time delay 5000, Raw no
Thumbnail enabled Yes, width 64, height 48, quality 35
Link to latest frame enabled  no
Full resolution preview No
Capture method : Single capture

Preview No, Full screen Yes
Preview window 0,0,1024,768
Opacity 255
Sharpness 0, Contrast 0, Brightness 50
Saturation 0, ISO 0, Video Stabilisation No, Exposure compensation 0
Exposure Mode 'auto', AWB Mode 'auto', Image Effect 'none'
Flicker Avoid Mode 'off'
Metering Mode 'average', Colour Effect Enabled No with U = 128, V = 128
Rotation 0, hflip No, vflip No
ROI x 0.000000, y 0.000000, w 1.000000 h 1.000000
Camera component done
Encoder component done
Starting component connection stage
Connecting camera preview port to video render.
Connecting camera stills port to encoder input port
Opening output file new2.jpg
Enabling encoder output port
Starting capture -1
^Cmmal: Aborting program

Is there a way to make this work? I'd like to use my raspberry as smartmirror and the camera as motion detector.

[6by9]

This problem still exists with latest firmwares on Raspberry Pi 2 B and Raspberry Pi 3 B.

Works perfectly here, so you're not telling us the full story of what you've done on your Pi, or you have a hardware fault.

Here is the output of raspistill:

Code: Select all

raspistill Camera App v1.3.11

What was the command line that you used to launch raspistill? We can deduce "raspistill -v -o new2.jpg", but have you inserted anything else?

Is there a way to make this work? I'd like to use my raspberry as smartmirror and the camera as motion detector.

Already been posted that adding "-n" to the command line stops raspistill sending the preview to the display, although it looks like you are may be using it.
Debug the camera in the first instance. Connect a monitor and see whether preview comes up when using a fresh SD card image and just "raspistill -t 0" or "raspivid -t 0".
I'm suspecting you've got a hardware fault on your camera and it isn't producing any form of data, or is getting a significant number of corrupt frames through. Have you used one of the extension cables between the Pi and the camera?
Any significant mods to /boot/config.txt?

[stkw]

Here is my config:

Code: Select all

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
#overscan_left=16
#overscan_right=16
#overscan_top=16
#overscan_bottom=16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=82
#hdmi_blanking=1

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
hdmi_drive=1

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=800

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable the lirc-rpi module
#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
#dtparam=audio=on

# NOOBS Auto-generated Settings:
hdmi_force_hotplug=1

display_rotate=1
start_x=1
gpu_mem=128
#gpu_mem_256=256
#gpu_mem_512=256

My camera works just fine and I tried this command raspistill -n -v -o new2.jpg to get an image while HDMI is disabled.
But every time I enable display_rotate=1 the camera simply won't output anything, raspistill is stuck until I enable HDMI again.
I use a Raspberry Pi 3 B V1.2 and I tried the same with a Raspberry Pi 2 B.

I updated everything to the lastest version (20170910) (rpi-update, apt-get upgrade, dist-upgrade,...). I also tried to reinstall (Noobs offline install) everything and the only thing I changed was the display_rotate=1 but still the same behaviour. No image when tvservice -o was executed.

Now I tried to get around all this with rotated output in Xorg but this causes other issues. The output is rotated correctly but after disabling and enabling the HDMI port the image won't return and the screen stays black - so this is no option.

If this is some kind of hardware defect, is there a special batch of affected devices identifiable by serial number or something else?
I am able to test 2 more Raspberry Pi 3 but I doubt there will be any difference.

Yesterday I spent a few hours trying different combinations of config settings for the HDMI but none of them worked out.

[6by9]

My camera works just fine and I tried this command raspistill -n -v -o new2.jpg to get an image while HDMI is disabled.
But every time I enable display_rotate=1 the camera simply won't output anything, raspistill is stuck until I enable HDMI again.
I use a Raspberry Pi 3 B V1.2 and I tried the same with a Raspberry Pi 2 B.

Big omission from your first post then. Others may have mentioned display_rotate, but you didn't.
Unfortunately we can't assume that posters have read the entirety of a thread as often they haven't.

display_rotate=1[/b] but still the same behaviour. No image when tvservice -o was executed.

Now I tried to get around all this with rotated output in Xorg but this causes other issues. The output is rotated correctly but after disabling and enabling the HDMI port the image won't return and the screen stays black - so this is no option.

If this is some kind of hardware defect, is there a special batch of affected devices identifiable by serial number or something else?
I am able to test 2 more Raspberry Pi 3 but I doubt there will be any difference.

With no HDMI connected then the Pi should default back to composite, except you appear to have "hdmi_force_hotplug=1" which will disable that and assume the HDMI is always active. Is there a good reason you have that in there, or is the comment true that it is a NOOBS line?
I'd suggest you try removing it and you may well get a rotated display happily on the disconnected composite output. Otherwise I'll see if there is something obvious going on in the firmware.

[stkw]

Here's the latest config I use:

Code: Select all

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
#overscan_left=16
#overscan_right=16
#overscan_top=16
#overscan_bottom=16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
# hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=82
#hdmi_blanking=1

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
# hdmi_drive=1

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
# config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=800

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable the lirc-rpi module
#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
#dtparam=audio=on

# NOOBS Auto-generated Settings:
# hdmi_force_hotplug=1

display_rotate=1
start_x=1
gpu_mem=128
#gpu_mem_256=256
#gpu_mem_512=256

In the meantime I did as you suggested by disabling hdmi_force_hotplug - no success and also tried to disable hdmi_drive and config_hdmi_boost too but it makes no difference.

The behaviour is always the same raspistill -n -v -o new2.jpg is stuck until I enable HDMI on another SSH session.