A 1N4007 can replace a 1N4148 in some cases, but it’s much slower and may not work properly in signal paths. The capacitor popping suggests overvoltage or wrong polarity, so I’d double check the supply voltage and capacitor orientation first.
You might also want to check bridge IC vendors like Toshiba or Analog Devices, since they offer HDMI-to-MIPI chips with reference designs and support. Are you targeting a specific resolution or lane configuration?