Disable LCD when plugged in through HDMI

[orrtanna]

Is there a way to disable the LCD when you're plugged in through HDMI for the CM3? I've tried looking up either some scripts to add to the retropie menu or detect the connection on boot, but I'm not even sure if it's possible with the current setup.

[Flavor]

No. There is not. Are you worried about battery life? You can plug power into the MicroUSB to keep the battery charged while playing via HDMI.

[orrtanna]

No.  There is not.  Are you worried about battery life?  You can plug power into the MicroUSB to keep the battery charged while playing via HDMI.

Figured as much, glad to have a definite answer though. Yeah I was worried about battery life and general wear on the screen. Seemed more aestetically pleasing too having the screen off, but it isn't a huge deal. Thanks!

[HoraceAndTheSpider]

Is this a “no you can’t and there can’t be” reply, or is it something that might be changed in the future?

I quite like the idea of pluging into hdmi and going full screen and using a larger screen mode (ie 1080) which obviously the lcd won’t allow, so that would need to be off.

are there options which might enable such a mode? I have no problem writing a Python script to do the toggle if there is a way....

Thanks

[Flavor]

Because I can’t do a full proper reply at the moment, I can try to give you a little bit of quick help. In the /boot/config.txt file, you can comment out (add a # in front of) each line that talks about hdmi in the Freeplay section. Then it should auto detect your TVs settings., But the built-in LCD might look a bit weird after that.

[Flavor]

Let me know if you have tried to comment out the HDMI lines or if you need further assistance on this.

[HoraceAndTheSpider]

Let me know if you have tried to comment out the HDMI lines or if you need further assistance on this.

Thanks Flavor, i will do.

Hoping to get the chance to have a test this weekend. Even have some crazy ideas about building a 'docking station' of sorts!

[HoraceAndTheSpider]

Ok, so it seems this isn’t needed for me - Kodi will display video if you plug in the mini HdMi, even if the LCD display does not update. I can live with the LCD still being on tbh.

I guess this means the screen overlay isn’t working when Kodi is running. Not sure if this is a setting thing or a limitation of the implementation (maybe there is a clash between the two?) although I know my power/off overlay does not work when Kodi is running on another machine, so I guess this is the same prevalence.

[Flavor]

I guess I don't know. I wonder if Kodi changes the HDMI resolution. If so, the LCD driver/cloner would likely crash and might just look like it stopped updating the LCD.

This is the same thing that happens if you tell RetroPie to change to a different HDMI resolution for a specific game.