Template:C792 / C790 / C779 Software Demo
This guide depends on the version of the official Raspberry Pi OS you are using; instructions vary by OS version. Please contact us if you encounter any issues during use.
Contents
Preparation
For kernel driver usage, ensure your system is updated. As the 5.4 kernel included key changes, these guidelines are valid for kernel 5.4 and newer releases. Verify your kernel version with uname -a; if it is below 5.4, fix this before continuing.
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ uname -a Linux raspberrypi 5.10.63-v7l+ #1459 SMP Wed Oct 6 16:41:57 BST 2021 armv7l GNU/Linux
1. Update and upgrade your Raspberry Pi system (time required varies by country/region).
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade
2. Enable the camera module (enabled by default on Raspberry Pi Bullseye OS).
sudo raspi-config sudo reboot
3. Go to Interface Options, select Camera and enable it. Select Finish, then reboot your Raspberry Pi. (Reboot is required!)
As the Pi 5B lacks hardware encoding support, the software instructions for Raspberry Pi platforms are currently split into two sections:
- For other Raspberry Pi platforms (Pi Zero, Zero 2, Pi3B, Pi4B…)
- For Pi 5B & CM5
Demo for All Pi Models Except Pi 5B & CM5
The HDMI to CSI Module Example for Pi 4B, Pi 3B, Pi Zero 2, Pi Zero…
[STEP1]
- Edit the
/boot/firmware/config.txtfile (sudo privileges required):
sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
[STEP2]
- Add the line:
dtoverlay=tc358743
- Add the line if your shield support audio like C790 or C792:
dtoverlay=tc358743-audio
- Add the line only if: your device (e.g., C790/C792) supports a 22-pin connector with all 4 lanes connected, and the compute module has the CAM1 interface with all 4 lanes connected:
dtoverlay=tc358743,4lane=1
[STEP3]
- Use the following command to check the amount of memory allocated to the CMA heap:
dmesg | grep cma
- The first line should look like:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ dmesg | grep cma [0.000000] cma: Reserved 256 MiB at 0x000000001ec00000
- If the reported CMA allocated memory is less than 96MB, edit the
/boot/cmdline.txtfile and add the following at the start of the line (do not add a newline character):
cma=96M
[STEP4]
- Reboot the device. If everything works properly, you should see the
/dev/video0device, and running the following command will show it is provided by Unicam:
v4l2-ctl --list-devices
[STEP5]
- After connecting all cables, power on the Raspberry Pi and enter the commands below:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ls /dev/video0
/dev/video0
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ v4l2-ctl --list-devices
bcm2835-codec-decode (platform:bcm2835-codec):
/dev/video10
/dev/video11
/dev/video12
/dev/video18
/dev/media1
bcm2835-isp (platform:bcm2835-isp):
/dev/video13
/dev/video14
/dev/video15
/dev/video16
/dev/media0
unicam (platform:fe801000.csi):
/dev/video0
/dev/video1
/dev/media2
- NOTE: This driver gives full control to the user or the user's applications. By default, no EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) is loaded in the chip, so it cannot inform the HDMI source of the supported resolutions.
- Several EDID editors are available on the market. You need to first create an edid.txt file (you can use the
command nano edid.txtto create and edit the file), then copy the content below into the edid.txt file:
00ffffffffffff005262888800888888 1c150103800000780aEE91A3544C9926 0F505400000001010101010101010101 010101010101011d007251d01e206e28 5500c48e2100001e8c0ad08a20e02d10 103e9600138e2100001e000000fc0054 6f73686962612d4832430a20000000FD 003b3d0f2e0f1e0a2020202020200100 020321434e041303021211012021a23c 3d3e1f2309070766030c00300080E300 7F8c0ad08a20e02d10103e9600c48e21 0000188c0ad08a20e02d10103e960013 8e210000188c0aa01451f01600267c43 00138e21000098000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000
- After the edid.txt file is created, execute the command
v4l2-ctl --set-edid=file=edid.txt --fix-edid-checksumsin the terminal, and you will see output similar to the following:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ v4l2-ctl --set-edid=file=edid.txt --fix-edid-checksums
CTA-861 Header
IT Formats Underscanned: yes
Audio: yes
YCbCr 4:4:4: no
YCbCr 4:2:2: no
HDMI Vendor-Specific Data Block
Physical Address: 3.0.0.0
YCbCr 4:4:4 Deep Color: no
30-bit: no
36-bit: no
48-bit: no
CTA-861 Video Capability Descriptor
RGB Quantization Range: yes
YCC Quantization Range: no
PT: Supports both over- and underscan
IT: Supports both over- and underscan
CE: Supports both over- and underscan
[STEP6]
- Detect the presence of HDMI signal input at present via command:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ v4l2-ctl --query-dv-timings
Active width: 1280
Active height: 720
Total width: 1650
Total height: 750
Frame format: progressive
Polarities: -vsync -hsync
Pixelclock: 74250000 Hz (60.00 frames per second)
Horizontal frontporch: 0
Horizontal sync: 370
Horizontal backporch: 0
Vertical frontporch: 0
Vertical sync: 30
Vertical backporch: 0
Standards:
Flags:
- Use the command
v4l2-ctl --set-dv-bt-timings queryto make the driver automatically set the video timing parameters (such as resolution and frame rate) based on the current HDMI input signal, ensuring the capture card correctly recognizes and processes the current HDMI signal.
- The chip supports two formats — BGR3 (default) and UYVY. BGR3 is 24bpp, while UYVY is YUV4:2:2 16bpp.
- On the standard two CSI-2 lanes, the data rate allows BGR3 to support up to 1080p30, whereas UYVY can support up to 1080p50.
- Use the following command to select UYVY (however, your application may override this setting):
v4l2-ctl -v pixelformat=UYVY
[STEP7]
- Check if the audio driver/sound card is available for ALSA:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ arecord -l.
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****.
card 1: tc358743 [tc358743], device 0: bcm2835-i2s-dir-hifi dir-hifi-0 [bcm2835-i2s-dir-hifi dir-hifi-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
- NOTE: card 1 means the audio card number for the TC358743XBG is 1. This number may vary.
[STEP8]
- Install the GStreamer tools:
sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-tools
- Check the GStreamer tool version:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ gst-launch-1.0 --version gst-launch-1.0 version 1.18.4 GStreamer 1.18.4 http://packages.qa.debian.org/gstreamer1.0
- NOTE: Command-line arguments may vary across different versions, which can be confusing.
[Application Example — Using GStreamer to Record Video and Audio]
# GStreamer v1.14 Command gst-launch-1.0 v4l2src io-mode=5 ! video/x-raw, format=UYVY, framerate=25/1 ! v4l2h264enc output-io-mode=4 ! video/x-h264,profile=high ! h264parse ! queue ! matroskamux name=mux ! filesink location=foo.mkv alsasrc device=hw:1 ! audio/x-raw,rate=48000,channels=2 ! audioconvert ! avenc_aac bitrate=48000 ! aacparse ! queue ! mux.
foo.mkv is the output file.
If your GStreamer version is 1.8 or higher, you can try the following test command. Additionally, alsasrc device=hw:1 refers to the sound card for TC358743; you can check this with the command arecord -l.
# Command to record video with audio(GStreamer 1.18.4) gst-launch-1.0 -vvv v4l2src ! "video/x-raw,framerate=30/1,format=UYVY" ! v4l2h264enc extra-controls="controls,h264_profile=4,h264_level=13,video_bitrate=256000;" ! "video/x-h264,profile=high, level=(string)4.2" ! h264parse ! queue ! matroskamux name=mux ! filesink location=foo.mkv alsasrc device=hw:1 ! audio/x-raw,rate=48000,channels=2 ! audioconvert ! avenc_aac bitrate=48000 ! aacparse ! queue ! mux. # Example command to record video without audio (C779 does not support audio) gst-launch-1.0 -vvv v4l2src ! "video/x-raw,framerate=30/1,format=UYVY" ! v4l2h264enc extra-controls="controls,h264_profile=4,h264_level=13,video_bitrate=256000;" ! "video/x-h264,profile=high, level=(string)4.2" ! h264parse ! queue ! matroskamux name=mux ! filesink location=foo.mkv # Press CTRL+C to stop the recording.
Important Note: We recommend you set the above framerate parameter to the actual frame rate of your HDMI signal. You can get this value from the output of the command v4l2-ctl --query-dv-timings.
For the HDMI device mentioned above, since the frame rate is 60, we set the framerate parameter to 60, as shown in the following command:
- Record video only:
gst-launch-1.0 -vvv v4l2src ! "video/x-raw,framerate=60/1,format=UYVY" ! v4l2h264enc extra-controls="controls,h264_profile=4,h264_level=13,video_bitrate=256000;" ! "video/x-h264,profile=high, level=(string)4.2" ! h264parse ! queue ! matroskamux name=mux ! filesink location=foo.mkv
- Record video and audio (if your module supports audio):
gst-launch-1.0 -vvv v4l2src ! "video/x-raw,framerate=60/1,format=UYVY" ! v4l2h264enc extra-controls="controls,h264_profile=4,h264_level=13,video_bitrate=256000;" ! "video/x-h264,profile=high, level=(string)4.2" ! h264parse ! queue ! matroskamux name=mux ! filesink location=foo.mkv alsasrc device=hw:1 ! audio/x-raw,rate=48000,channels=2 ! audioconvert ! avenc_aac bitrate=48000 ! aacparse ! queue ! mux.
- NOTE: The "1" in
alsasrc device=hw:1is the sound card number, and you must change it to the correct one. (Check the sound card number with thearecord -lcommand)
Demo for Pi 5B & CM5
NOTICE
- *The following tests were performed using the CAM1 channel at an input resolution of 1080P@60Hz.
- *Due to the lack of dedicated hardware encoding on Raspberry Pi 5B, the image capture performance of Raspberry Pi 5B + C790 is generally lower than that of Raspberry Pi 4B.
Pi5B Platform HDMI-to-CSI Module Test Reference
- Raspberry Pi image used:
2025-05-13-raspios-bookworm-arm64-full.img.xz - Kernel version:
Linux raspberrypi 6.12.25+rpt-rpi-2712 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 1:6.12.25-1+rpt1 (2025-04-30) aarch64 GNU/Linux
- Raspberry Pi image used:
- [STEP1]
- Add the following two lines to the
/boot/firmware/config.txtfile:
dtoverlay=tc358743,4lane=1 dtoverlay=tc358743-audio
- [STEP2]
- After adding the driver configuration, restart the Raspberry Pi for the changes to take effect. If the configuration is correct, execute the following command in the terminal:
ls /dev/video*. The configuration is successful if video devices appear in the output:
pi@raspberrypi:~/Desktop $ ls /dev/video*
/dev/video0 /dev/video19 /dev/video20 /dev/video22 /dev/video24 /dev/video26 /dev/video28 /dev/video3 /dev/video31 /dev/video33 /dev/video35 /dev/video5 /dev/video7
/dev/video1 /dev/video2 /dev/video21 /dev/video23 /dev/video25 /dev/video27 /dev/video29 /dev/video30 /dev/video32 /dev/video34 /dev/video4 /dev/video6
- [STEP3]
- First, execute the command
nano 1080p60edidin the terminal to create an EDID file for 1080p60Hz. The content of this file is as follows:
00 ff ff ff ff ff ff 00 52 62 00 37 00 00 00 00
01 1b 01 03 80 46 28 78 0a cf 74 a3 57 4c b0 23
09 48 4c 21 08 00 b3 00 95 00 a9 40 90 40 81 00
81 80 81 40 01 01 02 3a 80 18 71 38 2d 40 58 2c
45 00 00 d0 52 00 00 1e 02 3a 80 d0 72 38 2d 40
10 2c 45 80 00 d0 52 00 00 1e 00 00 00 fc 00 33
32 46 48 44 5f 4c 43 44 5f 54 56 0a 00 00 00 fd
00 30 3e 0f 46 11 00 0a 20 20 20 20 20 20 01 38
02 03 30 f1 52 10 9f 04 13 05 14 03 02 11 12 20
21 22 15 16 01 06 07 2c 09 07 07 15 07 50 57 06
00 3f 06 c0 83 01 00 00 67 03 0c 00 10 00 b0 2d
01 1d 80 3e 73 38 2d 40 7e 2c 45 80 00 d0 52 00
00 1e 01 1d 80 d0 72 1c 2d 20 10 2c 25 80 00 d0
52 00 00 9e 01 1d 00 bc 52 d0 1e 20 b8 28 55 40
00 d0 52 00 00 1e 01 1d 80 18 71 1c 16 20 58 2c
25 00 00 d0 52 00 00 9e 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 8f
- [STEP4]
- Execute
nano testC7xx.shin the same directory to create a test script. The content of this file is as follows:
#!/bin/bash
MEDIADEVICE=-1
#SELECT RESOLUTION VALID VALUES (720p60edid, 1080p25edid, 1080p30edid, 1080p50edid, 1080p60edid)
VIDEDID=1080p60edid
# Finding Media Device
i=0
while true ; do
MEDIADEVICE=$(udevadm info -a -n /dev/media$i | grep --line-buffered 'DRIVERS=="\rp1-cfe"' | while read -r line; do echo $i ; done)
if ! [[ $MEDIADEVICE = '' ]]; then
break
fi
i=$((i+1))
done
#v4l2-ctl --list-devices
# Locate the node corresponding to tc358743 as v4l-subdev2, and the pad0 of rp1-cfe-csi2_ch0 as video0:
#media-ctl -d /dev/media$MEDIADEVICE -p
# Loading Driver
v4l2-ctl -d /dev/v4l-subdev2 --set-edid=file=$VIDEDID --fix-edid-checksums
# Wait drive loads
sleep 5s
# To query the current input source information, if the resolution displays as 0, it indicates that no input source signal has been detected. In this case, you should check the hardware connections and follow the steps mentioned above to troubleshoot.
v4l2-ctl -d /dev/v4l-subdev2 --query-dv-timings
# Confirm the current input source information.
v4l2-ctl -d /dev/v4l-subdev2 --set-dv-bt-timings query
# Initialize media
media-ctl -d /dev/media$MEDIADEVICE -r
# Connect CSI2's pad4 to rp1-cfe-csi2_ch0's pad0.
media-ctl -d /dev/media$MEDIADEVICE -l ''\''csi2'\'':4 -> '\''rp1-cfe-csi2_ch0'\'':0 [1]'
# Configure the media node.
media-ctl -d /dev/media$MEDIADEVICE -V ''\''csi2'\'':0 [fmt:RGB888_1X24/1920x1080 field:none colorspace:srgb]'
media-ctl -d /dev/media$MEDIADEVICE -V ''\''csi2'\'':4 [fmt:RGB888_1X24/1920x1080 field:none colorspace:srgb]'
media-ctl -d /dev/media$MEDIADEVICE -V ''\''tc358743 11-000f'\'':0 [fmt:RGB888_1X24/1920x1080 field:none colorspace:srgb]'
#Set the output format.
v4l2-ctl -v width=1920,height=1080,pixelformat=RGB3
# test frames
v4l2-ctl --stream-mmap=3 --stream-count=10 --stream-to=test.yuv
- [STEP5]
- Execute
bash testC7xx.shdirectly in the terminal; the output is as follows:
pi@raspberrypi:~/Desktop $ bash testC7xx.sh Active width: 1920 Active height: 1080 Total width: 2200 Total height: 1125 Frame format: progressive Polarities: -vsync -hsync Pixelclock: 148500000 Hz (60.00 frames per second) Horizontal frontporch: 0 Horizontal sync: 280 Horizontal backporch: 0 Vertical frontporch: 0 Vertical sync: 45 Vertical backporch: 0 Standards: Flags: BT timings set <<<<<<<<<<
- If you have installed the Raspberry Pi Desktop version, you can use ffplay to play YUV files directly.
ffplay -f rawvideo -video_size 1920x1080 -pixel_format bgr24 test.yuv
- On a Windows PC, you can use tools such as 7yuv to view .yuv files.
- For the 1920×1080 input format tutorial, select BGR888 in the top-right corner of 7yuv and set the resolution to 1920×1080 to view the two captured frames.
User Manual
- Hardware Installation:
- How to make it work:
FAQ
Q1: Question 1
A: Place the answer here.

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