Reversing camera turns off when menu is displayed

Stuart · May 6, 2014

My Model S is running firmware version 5.9, and I’ve noticed this problem:

1. Press the Camera button to enable the rear-view camera.
2. Select a menu
3. The reversing view goes blank

Given that the GPS-triggered HomeLink menu auto-displays based on location, I’ve often had the situation where I get in the car and start to back out of the garage, and the HomeLink menu auto-displays, and the reversing view goes blank just when I need it.

Has anyone else seen this?

mknox · May 6, 2014

I also have two Homelink locations set up and do not have this problem. What does happen is that the camera screen drops down a tiny bit first so that the picture isn't blocked by the drop-down menu.

Kraken · May 6, 2014

Yes. This has been covered before. When the reverse camera is in the top screen, it goes black when any popup goes over it. If it is a popup itself (not one of the two selected screens), it shifts down. It becomes a popup if you go into reverse without the camera already being used as one of the two half screens.

ecarfan · May 6, 2014

I also have two Homelink menu items. I normally keep the rear view camera on in the upper half of the display. I typically see the behavior described my Stuart and sometimes see the behavior described by mknox. Really.

mknox · May 7, 2014

Kraken said:
Yes. This has been covered before. When the reverse camera is in the top screen, it goes black when any popup goes over it. If it is a popup itself (not one of the two selected screens), it shifts down. It becomes a popup if you go into reverse without the camera already being used as one of the two half screens.

I should clarify that this is what I have observed. I usually don't keep the camera screen up and it just pops up when I go into Reverse. In that situation, there is no problem with the Homelink menu.

patn · May 8, 2014

Yes, I've noticed this if I start to back out while the driver profile selection menu is still open... I just close the menu to get the view back.

sahaskatta · May 8, 2014

Same thing happens to me. Fortunately, it doesn't appear to be an issue if the camera is left open on the bottom screen instead of the top one.

ecarfan · May 8, 2014

I think I figured this out:

If I have the camera on in the upper half of the screen and the Homelink menu pops up (because for example I approach my garage) then the video image disappears while the menu is displayed.

However, if I am near my garage, do not have the camera on and the Homelink menu appears AND I then put the car into reverse (thereby activating the rear view camera) the video image will display with the top edge of the image just below the bottom edge of the menu. The height of the video image is reduced so that it will display in the upper half of the screen but not overlap with the menu.

The video image cannot be shown behind a graphic overlay like the Homelink menu. A limitation of the graphics card, I assume.

Owner · May 8, 2014

I hope they fix this, I noted it back in June last year Homelink Disrupts Camera | Tesla Owner

its something I notice almost daily although it is minor.

ecarfan · May 8, 2014

Owner said:
I hope they fix this, I noted it back in June last year Homelink Disrupts Camera | Tesla Owner

I suspect it cannot be "fixed" with a firmware update, it's a hardware limitation.

ken830 · May 9, 2014

We've discussed this on the forums over dozens of threads. The problem is that the video is displayed using a hardware overlay, which effectively means it must go on top of everything else. Until they work around this, it means that we can not have guidance lines and things like the Homelink menu cannot display over the video. When the Homelink menu pops up, the video must stop. But I believe if you put the car in reverse, it will always force the video to come back, but probably in the slightly-lower position to avoid the Homelink menu (I don't use the camera in the top-half enough to remember behavior). Putting the camera app in the lower half of the screen solves the Homelink issue, but then you don't get the temperature and volume pop-ups (which is not a problem, unless you need to "sync" the dual climate zones.

ecarfan · May 9, 2014

ken830 said:
We've discussed this on the forums over dozens of threads. The problem is that the video is displayed using a hardware overlay, which effectively means it must go on top of everything else. Until they work around this, it means that we can not have guidance lines and things like the Homelink menu cannot display over the video...

ken830 thanks for the info. Do you think that this issue can someday be corrected in the firmware or is it a limitation of the graphics hardware that current owners are locked into?

JohnnyMac · May 9, 2014

I have never experienced this issue. When Homelink pops up while I am in reverse, the camera frame adjusts down about a half an inch and remains active. When Homelink disappears, the same video frame move back up to it's original location and remains active.

Owner · May 10, 2014

This happens to me "sometimes" but less frequently. Haven't figured out when which happens when.

JohnnyMac said:
I have never experienced this issue. When Homelink pops up while I am in reverse, the camera frame adjusts down about a half an inch and remains active. When Homelink disappears, the same video frame move back up to it's original location and remains active.

Stuart · May 12, 2014

I think I’ve worked out why I repeatedly suffer this problem of the reversing camera turning off. My garage is small, so when I drive in (forwards) I press the “Camera” button to see the rear view to help me park. The blue line on the floor is where the garage door closes. I’ve determined that when I can see the entire blue line, that means I can safely close the garage door without it hitting the car. (Actually there’s about a 15 cm safety margin, if you want to be really precise.)

The side-effect of this is that when I leave in the morning, I put the car into reverse, and the GPS-triggered HomeLink menu auto-displays, and then the rear view camera display goes blank.

So the summary is, if you want to see the rear view camera display (so you don’t hit the other car parked in the driveway) don’t press the “Camera” button.

Kraken · May 18, 2014

All, we've already figured this out. It is very consistent. If you have the camera in the top screen, it has nowhere to go, so it blacks out when home link pops up. If you don't have it in the top screen, and you let it pop up on its own, it shifts down. If you have it on the bottom screen, it goes black if you bring up the climate controls.

Since you don't have the climate controls pop up without you initiating it, if you are like my wife and I and you drive with the backup camera on some times, the best thing to do is to put the backup camera in the lower half of the screen, otherwise you WILL have it black out if it is in the top half.

jerry33 · May 19, 2014

This is kind of weird. I always have the camera on top and it hasn't been a problem.

tgp1019 · Aug 16, 2014

This same issue has resurfaced in to my Model S P85 after 5.12 firmware upgrade, before the upgrade backup camera on top portion of the touchscreen worked flawlessly. When camera screen is switched to the bottom of the touchscreen it does not blackout.

NigelM · Aug 17, 2014

tgp1019 said:
This same issue has resurfaced in to my Model S P85 after 5.12 firmware upgrade, before the upgrade backup camera on top portion of the touchscreen worked flawlessly. When camera screen is switched to the bottom of the touchscreen it does not blackout.

I got 5.12 last week and mine works flawlessly as before; the camera view slides down the screen when the home link menu appears. I often do several things at once and noticed today that after I hit the driver profile button and put the car into reverse the camera view actually slides all the way down below the profile menu as well as the home link menu. My seat was completing the memory adjustment while I had the car reversing out the garage.

Reversing camera turns off when menu is displayed

Roadster#326, ModelS#1409

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Member

New Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Model S 85, Model 3 Performance, Model X LongRange

Well-Known Member

Member

Active Member

Roadster#326, ModelS#1409

Member

(S85-3/2/13 traded in) X LR: F2611##-3/27/20

Member

Recovering Member

Similar threads