# Screen Recording



## SP's Tesla (Nov 6, 2019)

Does anyone know if it's possible to do a screen capture and/or recording of the main display?

For example, if you're doing a video tutorial on how to initiate a software update, is it possible to make a recording of what's happening on the screen (similar to what Tesla has in their tutorial videos)?

And yes, I know I could point a camera at the screen and record. I mean actually recording video from the computer itself.

Sean


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## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

it’s not possible. Best thing you can do is setup a good camera and lighting and record it.


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## Yanquetino (May 1, 2016)

I just wish the TeslaCam would record and superimpose in a couple of lower, inconspicuous corners some basic info from the touchscreen, like… speed and time of day. If pulled over in a small town speed trap, it would sure be nice to be able to play the clip and immediately show the officer that the radar gun was… WRONG.


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

The basic answer is to stick a camera or gopro somewhere to record it.

I have seen some folks who have rooted their computer setup VNC and that could be recorded. If you figure that out, let me know how too 

Trackmode does record some data to CSV which have been used to superimpose over video. (And it's coming very soon to one of my devices and a popular app...stay tuned). Sentry videos are timestamped in the file name. But sure would be nice to have info superimposed automatically.


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## FalconFour (Sep 25, 2020)

All right. Let's stop playing dumb now with this "it's not possible" crap.

How are people doing this? And if you say "a camera", close the thread and come back when you've watched it closer and/or cleared your head:


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

FalconFour said:


> All right. Let's stop playing dumb now with this "it's not possible" crap.


Please keep the conversations friendly, @FalconFour.



FalconFour said:


> How are people doing this?


Have you tried asking those people on YouTube?


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

FalconFour said:


> How are people doing this? And if you say "a camera", close the thread and come back when you've watched it closer and/or cleared your head:


I believe Dirty Tesla uses multiple interior cameras (notice how the angle of them all doesn't match any of the Tesla cameras) and video compositing software after filming is completed. The common way I've seen Youtubers keep the cameras synchronized is they make some loud noise or clap right after turning on all of the cameras, because you can see the spike in the waveform in the compositing software and use it to sync things up.

I don't know about Frenchie, but it's probably similar.


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## jafu888 (Sep 12, 2021)

Dirty Tesla in video says....

01:12 ... have some new
01:14 recording equipment here so this screen
01:16 is actually modified
01:18 if you want to know more about that i
01:19 might make a video about it or something
01:20 i'm not exactly sure but basically i can
01:23 direct record i don't know if you can
01:25 see the right side of the screen here
01:26 there's actually an hdmi cable coming
01:28 out
01:29 and i am direct recording the screen so
01:31 here we go....


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## cvonken (Sep 18, 2021)

A modified screen with custom HDMI output is made by @ aimfulwandering (Twitter).
Expensive, but worth a try.
Use a Android device and HDMI dongle to record the HDMI output.


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## johncoles (Sep 19, 2021)

Yup new screen with a modified connector added in.






I don't like to assume but the way I was thinking of doing this was splitting the signal that is send to the screen and then converting it back to HDMI as there are off the shelf boards for this I believe.

Something like this:
https://geekworm.com/products/lvds-to-hdmi-adapter-board-converter-with-lvds-cable
As the Tesla screen is an off the shelf LCD I guess it's using LVDS to drive it so it's just a case of getting that signal in to a converter board.

I had hoped there would be a way to split it at the screen input cable but I don't have a pin out for that nor do I have my Model 3 yet 😅


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## FalconFour (Sep 25, 2020)

Yup, I got details from @aimfulwandering on Twitter. See exchange here:


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1440023257306963970
LVDS is inside the screen. The screen is a real delight to get apart, then it should just be an LVDS to HDMI converter from there.

Let the tinkering begin!


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

FalconFour said:


> Yup, I got details from @aimfulwandering on Twitter. See exchange here:
> 
> 
> __ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1440023257306963970
> ...


This is something that has been asked for ages, thanks for finally getting to the bottom of it!
To archive it off twitter:

"MCU/ICE's Intel SoC outputs HDMI, which is serialized as FPD-Link III via a TI DS90UB949-Q1. FPD-Link III goes to the screen via Rosenberger HSD + 2 cable. Screen deserializes FPD-Link III via a TI DS90UB948-Q1. I tap the dual link LVDS signal there and re-convert to HDMI out."


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## Klaus-rf (Mar 6, 2019)

Sweet!


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## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

johncoles said:


> Yup new screen with a modified connector added in.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Here's a teardown of the Model 3 screen. Would require modding some of the outputs to make the board work as the input headers don't connect directly to the flex cable

https://electronics360.globalspec.c...el-3-center-touchscreen-display-2017-19-model


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## FalconFour (Sep 25, 2020)

TrevP said:


> Here's a teardown of the Model 3 screen. Would require modding some of the outputs to make the board work as the input headers don't connect directly to the flex cable
> 
> https://electronics360.globalspec.c...el-3-center-touchscreen-display-2017-19-model


This changes things yet again 🥴 So, it's fully integrated as I first thought. There's no separate driver board for the LCD panel itself, that exposes clean LVDS right there... this means it's all integrated onto one board and you have to figure out where/how to tap LVDS from there! So there's even more to dig... next would be to figure out how/where to tap the LVDS from.

Judging by component locations, I'd say:








(a) is closest to the touchscreen controller - but maybe it's a debug/production port that tests (thus exposes) LVDS as well?
(b) is right between the deserializer and the display timing controller, so that might be the exposed LVDS there. Enjoy that tiny soldering


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

FalconFour said:


> This changes things yet again 🥴 So, it's fully integrated as I first thought. There's no separate driver board for the LCD panel itself, that exposes clean LVDS right there... this means it's all integrated onto one board and you have to figure out where/how to tap LVDS from there! So there's even more to dig... next would be to figure out how/where to tap the LVDS from.


Where is the output from the MCU itself? That's probably the best place to tap the video signal.


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## FalconFour (Sep 25, 2020)

JasonF said:


> Where is the output from the MCU itself? That's probably the best place to tap the video signal.


First instinct there was to chuckle mildly and say "we're way past that", because the MCU outputs to that funky HSD connector in a serialized data stream. Maybe T'ing and deserializing that yourself is a reasonable option, by fabbing a board? (having PCBs made is about as cheap & fast as mail-order printing photos in the 80s, it seems) - but I would worry about wonking up the signal integrity there.

It might be just as hard (if not harder) to disassemble & tap the LVDS coming off the MCU as well. On that side, there's a serializer complementing the display's deserializer. See here for board photos -> https://githubmemory.com/repo/lewurm/blog/issues/3 -> and also the fun of unhooking the MCU from the car for the hacking. May be easier to do that than to disassemble/de-adhesive a display? 🤔


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

FalconFour said:


> It might be just as hard (if not harder) to disassemble & tap the LVDS coming off the MCU as well. On that side, there's a serializer complementing the display's deserializer. See here for board photos -> https://githubmemory.com/repo/lewurm/blog/issues/3 -> and also the fun of unhooking the MCU from the car for the hacking. May be easier to do that than to disassemble/de-adhesive a display? 🤔


This is the option I would probably go with if I had to do something like that. For three main reasons: 1. If you screw up, it's going to be easier to source a cable than to source the entire display; 2. It's more likely the MCU display output meets some kind of standard (even if it's a strange industrial one), because otherwise it would be harder for Tesla to get compatible displays without having to design and manufacture LCD displays, and/or switch them during manufacturing if possible, and/or change MCU's; and 3. Because if something does happen to the display up to and including a catastrophic accident, you wouldn't have to do the mod all over again.


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