Connecting Apple TV to Model S display

[Barryfins]

From engineer

I checked schematic of this Tesla Camera Switch that you provided - it
is simple digital link that does not carry about data format it
switches.
Indeed, camera module uses LVDS interface, but it is different from
those used in LCD.
LVDS is just a common name for Low-Voltage Differential Signaling, and
it defines only hardware layer of data transmission. But it has no
standard for others layers (data link, network, and so on until
application layer). LCD LVDS are defined by VESA and JEIDA
specifications, and camera LVDS usually use Camera Link or Channel
Link specification. They are not compatible, so you can't directly
connect camera to LCD.

 

[GaryREM]

I think your engineer is looking at this from the wrong angle, my guess is that he's trying to take over the whole display and show whatever video input you want, this is probably actually relatively straight forward, but not what most people want. People want the video to appear in a window, the easiest of those to hijack is the backup camera's display. I suggest he look at the camera end rather than the LCD display.

Why?

Couldn't it be possible to take the video signal to the LCD and overlay a window onto that whose size and relative position was controlled by an external device?

 

[tom66]

Couldn't it be possible to take the video signal to the LCD and overlay a window onto that whose size and relative position was controlled by an external device?

That would be extremely complicated. You'd have to intercept incoming LVDS, deserialise it, add your graphics, reserialise it, then send it to the display. That's a several month long engineering project. If I were to do it, I would use an FPGA, which is an expensive device to use and develop for, but I can't think of any other practical way you could do it.

Dare I say it would be easier to root/"jailbreak" the centre console to get it to do what you want. If you have physical access, it's only a matter of time.

 

[swegman]

If I recall, the touchscreen has two camera inputs on it. However, no one that I know of has attempted to remove the touchscreen from its mounting to plug a Tesla camera (for test purposes, since we know the Tesla camera works with the touchscreen) into the second input to see whether the touchscreen would automatically detect the presence of a second camera (that is, give a choice to select camera 1 or camera 2) or whether the s/w in the touchscreen needs to be updated to recognize a second video input.

 

[woof]

I'm not much for doing it the easy way....yes an iPad mini would work but the smoothness of intigration is what I'm looking for....

Hmm, adding an AppleTV means getting a DC/AC inverter to power it, finding someplace to put it, finding a way of tapping into audio (as the Reverse Camera doesn't do audio, and the Model S has no external audio inputs), finding someway of getting it data--thus a hotspot somewhere in the car, finding some way to power the hotspot...doesn't seem that "smoothness of integration" would favor the approach you are taking.

It's a cool hack, if you get it to work, but it won't be that "smooth" in the end I'm guessing.

 

[JeffreyHou]

In case you really jail break the HDMI input problem, then I would suggest using standard lightning to HDMI converter.
Since you need to setup a wireless environment in your Tesla, you also need to convert proper AC power for apple TV.
You can just get rid of that stuff by using a single connector.
I know it's much cool to use wireless to project display on the apple tv, but most of time, you still want to charge your i-device when playing contents on the drive.

Most important of all, while you output your i-device screen using the Digital AV adapter, you can still using bluetooth to send audio to in-car speaker.
So, if you work out the HDMI input to Tesla, I'm happy to buy the solution, then I just need one more adapter then I'm ready to go.

 

[Barryfins]

I first need the input but I have built a small center console drawer already with a lightning connector to HDMI including charging just incase I don't install a Apple TV.... Also this will work for IOS 8 were Siri is always listening and if Tesla ads carplay I'm ready here's a pic

 

[theapple]

I never designed anything using digital video, but the product brief from OmniVision shows a 10-bit (parallel) digital video port. Presumably that goes through an external serializer to become LVDS -- is that a discrete part you can identify on the board with the PIC? If you can find what they use, you can probably deserialize it, then you should be able to poke around at the signals with an oscilloscope to find the clocks and data. Or poke around the inputs to the serializer. The hard part is probably figuring out which data bit is which, but if you're lucky they're connected in a non-random order. You could also trace them out to the pins they're connected to on the CPU at the far end (the display), which likely has a publicly available spec and will tell you which bit is which for its digital camera interface. Then you need a converter to deserialize the HDMI from your Apple TV and re-encode it to match, possibly changing data rates in between. Not a project for the faint-hearted or time-constrained, but you'll get some major geek cred if you can pull it off!

 

[eepic]

It may be an easier to look into the Tegra datasheets and find out specs for the interface being used for the camera.. the boys at TM probably didn't reinvent the wheel more than they had to with regards to the infotainment system.

 

[herb_k]

3,5 years later..... Anyone more info on this? I am looking how to get Any signal via the LVDS wiring on the screen.....

 

[pottpat]

still looking for a solution.

This week i "found" this cable (HSD-C) cable from the rear camera to the Center Screen.
If you unplug it the camera view is black.
Where to find this cable? (google: tesla front camera switch install)

next step
I found this (for a Ford)
VL2-FORD

General product features of the article above
https://www.navlinkz.de/compalist/v.link (VL).htm

what do you think? Give it a try?

 

[lunitiks]

Yes!!!

 

[lunitiks]

BTW that connector is supposedly a Rosenberger D4Z001-000-C (letter "C" being Blue).

Page 30 here:
http://www.rosenberger.de/0_documents/de/catalogs/ba_automotive/AUTO_HSD_Catalog_2017.pdf

Or the blue one in this datasheet (p. 3):
http://rosenberger.de/ok/images/documents/db/D4K10A-1D5A5-Y.pdf

I'm quite sure you can find some no-name variants on eBay!

 

[herb_k]

still looking for a solution.

This week i "found" this cable (HSD-C) cable from the rear camera to the Center Screen.
If you unplug it the camera view is black.
Where to find this cable? (google: tesla front camera switch install)

what do you think? Give it a try?

Cables are easy to find, if you want: i have them.
The problem is to get the right video signal. Your unit must emulate the same signal as the camera.

 

[artsci]

Happy if you find s solution but I’m betting against it. Many have tried and all have failed, but I’m cheering you on!

 

[lunitiks]

Cables are easy to find, if you want: i have them.
The problem is to get the right video signal. Your unit must emulate the same signal as the camera.

Would the camera’s sensor spec sheet help?

Btw output format is LVDS

 

[pottpat]

there are a lot of HDMI/DVI > LVDS Adapter.

+ any HDMI/DVI source
+ ADP-103 | Video Converter | Systemation Technology Inc
+ Adapter HSD C cable

is this Not as easy as it looks?

 

[BigTonyTones]

This would be awesome if we could get it to work. Id love to hookup an amazon firestick to that rear camera and switch between them

 

[ChicagolandMX]

Wishing succes on this one, supercharging can get a bit boring some times.

 

[CarsonGallo]

I wana play "X"-Box in my Model "X"
Any updates?

And out of curiosity, if you got windowed feed, what would be resolution?