Simple GUI#

Simple GUI is available both on the attached HDMI output and through the browser-based web UI.

Background colours#

  • Black: idle
  • Red: at least one camera is actively writing frames to disk (is_writing=1)
  • Green: RAM buffer is filling or buffered frames are still flushing after stop (is_buffering or is_writing_buf)
  • Purple: live drop-frame alert
  • Magenta: live frame-count sync mismatch
  • Blue: storage pre-roll warm-up is running
  • Yellow: RAM load has passed the safety threshold; the GUI asks the controller to stop recording

The separate DROP tile latches after a drop-frame event and stays visible until a new take starts. A crossed magenta SYNC tile latches as soon as the live expected-vs-recorded frame slot count is outside the configured live tolerance (default +/- 2 frames), then stays visible through the end of the take and until the next take starts. Dropped-frame holes do not trigger the SYNC tile by themselves; they are shown by DROP.

What the GUI shows#

  • The buffer meter in the lower-left corner shows used vs total frame buffer. Optional hatch lines can be enabled in settings.json under hdmi_gui.
  • During storage pre-roll, the GUI intentionally hides recording time and clip names so the deleted warm-up clip does not appear to be the latest take.
  • If zoom is anything other than the configured default, the zoom box is highlighted.
  • If dynamic resolution is actively substituting a measured sustainable mode for the current FPS, the resolution numbers turn green. They stay white when Cinemate is showing the user's desired resolution, even if dynamic resolution is enabled.
  • When a compatible USB microphone is connected, the right side shows VU meters plus sample rate, bit depth, and a WAV badge once the latest take contains both DNG frames and a WAV sidecar.

For redraw timing and performance tuning, see docs/simple-gui-refresh-tuning.md.