The sdtv_mode command defines the TV standard used for composite video output over the yellow RCA jack. The default value is 0.
| sdtv_mode | result |
|---|---|
| 0 | Normal NTSC |
| 1 | Japanese version of NTSC – no pedestal |
| 2 | Normal PAL |
| 3 | Brazilian version of PAL – 525/60 rather than 625/50, different subcarrier |
The sdtv_aspect command defines the aspect ratio for composite video output. The default value is 1.
| sdtv_aspect | result |
|---|---|
| 1 | 4:3 |
| 2 | 14:9 |
| 3 | 16:9 |
Setting sdtv_disable_colourburst to 1 disables colourburst on composite video output. The picture will be displayed in monochrome, but it may appear sharper.
Setting hdmi_safe to 1 will lead to "safe mode" settings being used to try to boot with maximum HDMI compatibility. This is the same as setting the following parameters:
hdmi_force_hotplug=1
hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080
config_hdmi_boost=4
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=4
disable_overscan=0
overscan_left=24
overscan_right=24
overscan_top=24
overscan_bottom=24
Setting hdmi_ignore_edid to 0xa5000080 enables the ignoring of EDID/display data if your display does not have an accurate EDID. It requires this unusual value to ensure that it is not triggered accidentally.
Setting hdmi_edid_file to 1 will cause the GPU to read EDID data from the edid.dat file, located in the boot partition, instead of reading it from the monitor. More information is available here.
Setting hdmi_force_edid_audio to 1 pretends that all audio formats are supported by the display, allowing passthrough of DTS/AC3 even when this is not reported as supported.
Setting hdmi_ignore_edid_audio to 1 pretends that all audio formats are unsupported by the display. This means ALSA will default to the analogue audio (headphone) jack.
Setting hdmi_force_edid_3d to 1 pretends that all CEA modes support 3D, even when the EDID does not indicate support for this.
Setting avoid_edid_fuzzy_match to 1 avoids fuzzy matching of modes described in the EDID. Instead, it will pick the standard mode with the matching resolution and closest framerate, even if the blanking settings are wrong.
Setting hdmi_ignore_cec_init to 1 will stop the initial active source message being sent during bootup. This prevents a CEC-enabled TV from coming out of standby and channel-switching when you are rebooting your Raspberry Pi.
Setting hdmi_ignore_cec to 1 pretends that CEC is not supported at all by the TV. No CEC functions will be supported.
The cec_osd_name command sets the initial CEC name of the device. The default is Raspberry Pi.
The hdmi_pixel_encoding command forces the pixel encoding mode. By default, it will use the mode requested from the EDID, so you shouldn't need to change it.
| hdmi_pixel_encoding | result |
|---|---|
| 0 | default (RGB limited for CEA, RGB full for DMT) |
| 1 | RGB limited (16-235) |
| 2 | RGB full (0-255) |
| 3 | YCbCr limited (16-235) |
| 4 | YCbCr full (0-255) |
The hdmi_blanking command allows you to choose whether the HDMI output should be switched off when DPMS is triggered. This is to mimic the behaviour of other computers. After a specific amount of time, the display will become blank and go into low-power/standby mode due to receiving no signal.
NOTE: This feature may cause issues when using applications which don't use the framebuffer, such as omxplayer.
| hdmi_blanking | result |
|---|---|
| 0 | HDMI Output will blank instead of being disabled |
| 1 | HDMI Output will be disabled rather than just blanking |
The hdmi_drive command allows you to choose between HDMI and DVI output modes.
| hdmi_drive | result |
|---|---|
| 1 | Normal DVI mode (no sound) |
| 2 | Normal HDMI mode (sound will be sent if supported and enabled) |
Configures the signal strength of the HDMI interface. The default value is 0 and the maximum is 11.
The default value for the original Model B and A is 2. The default value for the Model B+ and all later models is 5.
If you are seeing HDMI issues (speckling, interference) then try 7. Very long HDMI cables may need up to 11, but values this high should not be used unless absolutely necessary.
The hdmi_group command defines the HDMI output group to be either CEA (Consumer Electronics Association, the standard typically used by TVs) or DMT (Display Monitor Timings, the standard typically used by monitors). This setting should be used in conjunction with hdmi_mode.
| hdmi_group | result |
|---|---|
| 0 | Auto-detect from EDID |
| 1 | CEA |
| 2 | DMT |
Together with hdmi_group, hdmi_mode defines the HDMI output format.
To set a custom display mode not listed here, see this thread.
These values are valid if hdmi_group=1 (CEA):
| hdmi_mode | resolution | frequency | notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VGA (640x480) | ||
| 2 | 480p | 60Hz | |
| 3 | 480p | 60Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 4 | 720p | 60Hz | |
| 5 | 1080i | 60Hz | |
| 6 | 480i | 60Hz | |
| 7 | 480i | 60Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 8 | 240p | 60Hz | |
| 9 | 240p | 60Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 10 | 480i | 60Hz | pixel quadrupling |
| 11 | 480i | 60Hz | pixel quadrupling, 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 12 | 240p | 60Hz | pixel quadrupling |
| 13 | 240p | 60Hz | pixel quadrupling, 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 14 | 480p | 60Hz | pixel doubling |
| 15 | 480p | 60Hz | pixel doubling, 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 16 | 1080p | 60Hz | |
| 17 | 576p | 50Hz | |
| 18 | 576p | 50Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 19 | 720p | 50Hz | |
| 20 | 1080i | 50Hz | |
| 21 | 576i | 50Hz | |
| 22 | 576i | 50Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 23 | 288p | 50Hz | |
| 24 | 288p | 50Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 25 | 576i | 50Hz | pixel quadrupling |
| 26 | 576i | 50Hz | pixel quadrupling, 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 27 | 288p | 50Hz | pixel quadrupling |
| 28 | 288p | 50Hz | pixel quadrupling, 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 29 | 576p | 50Hz | pixel doubling |
| 30 | 576p | 50Hz | pixel doubling, 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 31 | 1080p | 50Hz | |
| 32 | 1080p | 24Hz | |
| 33 | 1080p | 25Hz | |
| 34 | 1080p | 30Hz | |
| 35 | 480p | 60Hz | pixel quadrupling |
| 36 | 480p | 60Hz | pixel quadrupling, 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 37 | 576p | 50Hz | pixel quadrupling |
| 38 | 576p | 50Hz | pixel quadrupling, 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 39 | 1080i | 50Hz | reduced blanking |
| 40 | 1080i | 100Hz | |
| 41 | 720p | 100Hz | |
| 42 | 576p | 100Hz | |
| 43 | 576p | 100Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 44 | 576i | 100Hz | |
| 45 | 576i | 100Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 46 | 1080i | 120Hz | |
| 47 | 720p | 120Hz | |
| 48 | 480p | 120Hz | |
| 49 | 480p | 120Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 50 | 480i | 120Hz | |
| 51 | 480i | 120Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 52 | 576p | 200Hz | |
| 53 | 576p | 200Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 54 | 576i | 200Hz | |
| 55 | 576i | 200Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 56 | 480p | 240Hz | |
| 57 | 480p | 240Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
| 58 | 480i | 240Hz | |
| 59 | 480i | 240Hz | 16:9 aspect ratio |
In the table above, the modes with a 16:9 aspect ratio are a widescreen variant of a mode which usually has 4:3 aspect ratio. Pixel doubling and quadrupling indicates a higher clock rate, with each pixel repeated two or four times respectively.
These values are valid if hdmi_group=2 (DMT):
| hdmi_mode | resolution | frequency | notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 640x350 | 85Hz | |
| 2 | 640x400 | 85Hz | |
| 3 | 720x400 | 85Hz | |
| 4 | 640x480 | 60Hz | |
| 5 | 640x480 | 72Hz | |
| 6 | 640x480 | 75Hz | |
| 7 | 640x480 | 85Hz | |
| 8 | 800x600 | 56Hz | |
| 9 | 800x600 | 60Hz | |
| 10 | 800x600 | 72Hz | |
| 11 | 800x600 | 75Hz | |
| 12 | 800x600 | 85Hz | |
| 13 | 800x600 | 120Hz | |
| 14 | 848x480 | 60Hz | |
| 15 | 1024x768 | 43Hz | incompatible with the Raspberry Pi |
| 16 | 1024x768 | 60Hz | |
| 17 | 1024x768 | 70Hz | |
| 18 | 1024x768 | 75Hz | |
| 19 | 1024x768 | 85Hz | |
| 20 | 1024x768 | 120Hz | |
| 21 | 1152x864 | 75Hz | |
| 22 | 1280x768 | reduced blanking | |
| 23 | 1280x768 | 60Hz | |
| 24 | 1280x768 | 75Hz | |
| 25 | 1280x768 | 85Hz | |
| 26 | 1280x768 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 27 | 1280x800 | reduced blanking | |
| 28 | 1280x800 | 60Hz | |
| 29 | 1280x800 | 75Hz | |
| 30 | 1280x800 | 85Hz | |
| 31 | 1280x800 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 32 | 1280x960 | 60Hz | |
| 33 | 1280x960 | 85Hz | |
| 34 | 1280x960 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 35 | 1280x1024 | 60Hz | |
| 36 | 1280x1024 | 75Hz | |
| 37 | 1280x1024 | 85Hz | |
| 38 | 1280x1024 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 39 | 1360x768 | 60Hz | |
| 40 | 1360x768 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 41 | 1400x1050 | reduced blanking | |
| 42 | 1400x1050 | 60Hz | |
| 43 | 1400x1050 | 75Hz | |
| 44 | 1400x1050 | 85Hz | |
| 45 | 1400x1050 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 46 | 1440x900 | reduced blanking | |
| 47 | 1440x900 | 60Hz | |
| 48 | 1440x900 | 75Hz | |
| 49 | 1440x900 | 85Hz | |
| 50 | 1440x900 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 51 | 1600x1200 | 60Hz | |
| 52 | 1600x1200 | 65Hz | |
| 53 | 1600x1200 | 70Hz | |
| 54 | 1600x1200 | 75Hz | |
| 55 | 1600x1200 | 85Hz | |
| 56 | 1600x1200 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 57 | 1680x1050 | reduced blanking | |
| 58 | 1680x1050 | 60Hz | |
| 59 | 1680x1050 | 75Hz | |
| 60 | 1680x1050 | 85Hz | |
| 61 | 1680x1050 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 62 | 1792x1344 | 60Hz | |
| 63 | 1792x1344 | 75Hz | |
| 64 | 1792x1344 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 65 | 1856x1392 | 60Hz | |
| 66 | 1856x1392 | 75Hz | |
| 67 | 1856x1392 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 68 | 1920x1200 | reduced blanking | |
| 69 | 1920x1200 | 60Hz | |
| 70 | 1920x1200 | 75Hz | |
| 71 | 1920x1200 | 85Hz | |
| 72 | 1920x1200 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 73 | 1920x1440 | 60Hz | |
| 74 | 1920x1440 | 75Hz | |
| 75 | 1920x1440 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 76 | 2560x1600 | reduced blanking | |
| 77 | 2560x1600 | 60Hz | |
| 78 | 2560x1600 | 75Hz | |
| 79 | 2560x1600 | 85Hz | |
| 80 | 2560x1600 | 120Hz | reduced blanking |
| 81 | 1366x768 | 60Hz | |
| 82 | 1920x1080 | 60Hz | 1080p |
| 83 | 1600x900 | reduced blanking | |
| 84 | 2048x1152 | reduced blanking | |
| 85 | 1280x720 | 60Hz | 720p |
| 86 | 1366x768 | reduced blanking |
Note that there is a pixel clock limit.The highest supported mode is 1920x1200 at 60Hz with reduced blanking.
Setting to 1 will remove all other modes except the ones specified by hdmi_mode and hdmi_group from the internal list, meaning they will not appear in any enumerated lists of modes. This option may help if a display seems to be ignoring the hdmi_mode and hdmi_group settings.
Forces the edit content type to a specific value.
The options are:
- 0 = EDID_ContentType_NODATA, content type none.
- 1 = EDID_ContentType_Graphics, content type graphics, ITC must be set to 1
- 2 = EDID_ContentType_Photo, content type photo
- 3 = EDID_ContentType_Cinema, content type cinema
- 4 = EDID_ContentType_Game, content type game
Your HDMI monitor may only support a limited set of formats. To find out which formats are supported, use the following method:
- Set the output format to VGA 60Hz (
hdmi_group=1andhdmi_mode=1) and boot up your Raspberry Pi - Enter the following command to give a list of CEA-supported modes:
/opt/vc/bin/tvservice -m CEA - Enter the following command to give a list of DMT-supported modes:
/opt/vc/bin/tvservice -m DMT - Enter the following command to show your current state:
/opt/vc/bin/tvservice -s - Enter the following commands to dump more detailed information from your monitor:
/opt/vc/bin/tvservice -d edid.dat; /opt/vc/bin/edidparser edid.dat
The edid.dat should also be provided when troubleshooting problems with the default HDMI mode.
If your monitor requires a mode that is not in one of the tables above, then it's possible to define a custom CVT mode for it instead:
hdmi_cvt=<width> <height> <framerate> <aspect> <margins> <interlace> <rb>
| Value | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| width | (required) | width in pixels |
| height | (required) | height in pixels |
| framerate | (required) | framerate in Hz |
| aspect | 3 | aspect ratio 1=4:3, 2=14:9, 3=16:9, 4=5:4, 5=16:10, 6=15:9 |
| margins | 0 | 0=margins disabled, 1=margins enabled |
| interlace | 0 | 0=progressive, 1=interlaced |
| rb | 0 | 0=normal, 1=reduced blanking |
Fields at the end can be omitted to use the default values.
Note that this simply creates the mode (group 2 mode 87). In order to make the Pi use this by default, you must add some additional settings. For example, the following selects an 800 × 480 resolution and enables audio drive:
hdmi_cvt=800 480 60 6
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=87
hdmi_drive=2
This may not work if your monitor does not support standard CVT timings.
By default the Raspberry Pi LCD display is used when it is detected on the I2C bus. ignore_lcd=1 will skip this detection phase, and therefore the LCD display will not be used.
If a Raspberry Pi DSI LCD is detected it will be used as the default display and will show the framebuffer. Setting display_default_lcd=0 will ensure the LCD is not the default display, which usually implies the HDMI output will be the default. The LCD can still be used by choosing its display number from supported applications, for example, omxplayer.
Specify the framerate of the Raspberry Pi LCD display, in Hertz/fps. Defaults to 60Hz.
This flips the display using the LCD's inbuilt flip functionality, which is a cheaper operation that using the GPU-based rotate operation.
For example, lcd_rotate=2 will compensate for an upside down display.
Enable/disable the touchscreen.
disable_touchscreen=1 will disable the touchscreen on the official Raspberry Pi LCD display.
Enable LCD displays attached to the DPI GPIOs. This is to allow the use of third-party LCD displays using the parallel display interface.
The dpi_group and dpi_mode config.txt parameters are used to set either predetermined modes (DMT or CEA modes as used by HDMI above). A user can generate custom modes in much the same way as for HDMI.
dpi_output_format is a bitmask specifying various parameters used to set up the display format.
More details on using the DPI modes and the output format can be found here.
Setting hdmi_force_hotplug to 1 pretends that the HDMI hotplug signal is asserted, so it appears that a HDMI display is attached. In other words, HDMI output mode will be used, even if no HDMI monitor is detected.
Setting hdmi_ignore_hotplug to 1 pretends that the HDMI hotplug signal is not asserted, so it appears that a HDMI display is not attached. In other words, composite output mode will be used, even if an HDMI monitor is detected.
Set disable_overscan to 1 to disable overscan.
The overscan_left command specifies the number of pixels to skip on the left edge of the screen. Increase this value if the text flows off the left edge of the screen; decrease it if there is a black border between the left edge of the screen and the text.
The overscan_right command specifies the number of pixels to skip on the right edge of the screen.
The overscan_top command specifies the number of pixels to skip on the top edge of the screen.
The overscan_bottom command specifies the number of pixels to skip on the bottom edge of the screen.
Set overscan_scale to 1 to force any non-framebuffer layers to conform to the overscan settings.
The framebuffer_width command specifies the console framebuffer width in pixels. The default is the display width minus the total horizontal overscan.
The framebuffer_height command specifies the console framebuffer height in pixels. The default is the display height minus the total vertical overscan.
Specifies the maximum dimensions that the internal frame buffer is allowed to be.
Use framebuffer_depth to specify the console framebuffer depth in bits per pixel. The default value is 16.
| framebuffer_depth | result | notes |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 8bit framebuffer | Default RGB palette makes screen unreadable |
| 16 | 16bit framebuffer | |
| 24 | 24bit framebuffer | May result in a corrupted display |
| 32 | 32bit framebuffer | May need to be used in conjunction with framebuffer_ignore_alpha=1 |
Set framebuffer_ignore_alpha to 1 to disable the alpha channel. Can help with the display of a 32bit framebuffer_depth.
The test_mode command displays a test image and sound during boot (over the composite video and analogue audio outputs only) for the given number of seconds, before continuing to boot the OS as normal. This is used as a manufacturing test; the default value is 0.
Use display_rotate to rotate or flip the screen orientation. The default value is 0.
| display_rotate | result |
|---|---|
| 0 | no rotation |
| 1 | rotate 90 degrees clockwise |
| 2 | rotate 180 degrees clockwise |
| 3 | rotate 270 degrees clockwise |
| 0x10000 | horizontal flip |
| 0x20000 | vertical flip |
Note that the 90 and 270 degree rotation options require additional memory on the GPU, so these will not work with the 16MB GPU split.
Forces dispmanx composition to be done offline in two offscreen framebuffers. This can allow more dispmanx elements to be composited, but is slower and may limit screen framerate to typically 30fps.
This article uses content from the eLinux wiki page RPiconfig, which is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license