ROCK 5B Android HDMI input support

#1

Hello Radxars,
I’m new in this forum. My question is, what is the supported usage of HDMI input interface on Rock 5B?

The link below;


says that:

ROCK 5B Android 12

Release for Radxa ROCK 5B

Currently support hardware/feature

  • Radxa Wireless Module
    • A2 (AP6256)
    • A8 (RTL8852BE)
  • 2.5Gbps Ethernet
  • USB2.0 x2, USB3.0 x2
  • HDMI x2
    *** HDMI IN**
  • M.2 Auto mount
  • SD/eMMC Boot
  • Serial Port
  • Headphone Playback

Known issues:

  • NVME Boot
  • Headphone jack record

Is it just for monitoring the hdmi input or for recording?
Can the hdmi input behave like a camera?
Let’s say you connected hdmi video to the input and opened the Android’s default camera app. Will it show the hdmi input? Or let’s say you open your live streaming app i.e Tiktok. When you start to go live, can the app recognize the hdmi input as the front/rear camera and show your video input on the app screen?
My current SBC doesn’ have hdmi and CSI inputs. Also the android builds for my sbc doesn’t have support for hdmi and csi modules. New builds must be produced with the proper drivers.
Can you please advise?
Thanks in advance

#2

I have no idea about HDMI In but I can inform you that the radxa 4k Camera is automatically detected by android and shown if you open the camera. On my image it was a bit distorted. But of course like almost all components on this board you can use HDMI IN as you want. You can just monitor, record, transcode, let an AI run over the input for face detection etc. (With linux at least. For android you need to create or download desired apps)

1 Like
#3

Hello Goetterfunke;
I believe it is a software (Android OS) compatibility matter. I.e drivers and bridge. I have seen some manufacturers’ ITX boards based on RK3588 chip and saw a video that shows the HDMI input is parallelized to the camera input. So when you open the default camera app it displays directly the HDMI input. In the the radxa settings menu there can be an option to choose what to do whith the HDMI input such as option01: Monitoring and recording / option02: Default system camera / internal camera etc…
I think the Android OS developers of Radxa should take this into consideration because it’s a good feature.

2 Likes
#4

Hello zet34,
You are right, this would be a nice feature. I’m almost sure I also saw those videos. I think they did a demo with tiktok and HDMI IN. Currently all my SD Cards are used but if I install android again in the future, I will test it myself and if you don’t have an answer by then, I’ll update you.
Best,
Goetterfunke

1 Like
#5

Thank you Goetterfunke. Stay in touch. Best Regards

#6

Any luck getting HDMI in working w/ the android camera API?

#7

So far, I can only let the external USB capture card be called as a system-level camera on the radax Android system, and I strongly hope that the firmware will use this HDMI in as the system camera. Because its quality is much better than ordinary capture cards.

#8

I haven’t purchased Rock 5B board because HDMI input as camera is not supported yet. When the feature is supported, I will place an order. I also use capture cards as usb camera on some development boards running Android OS. Most of them work fine, but a capture card is not a webcam.