<para>The <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant> and
<constant>VIDIOC_STREAMOFF</constant> ioctl start and stop the capture
or output process during streaming (<link linkend="mmap">memory
-mapping</link> or <link linkend="userp">user pointer</link>) I/O.</para>
+mapping</link>, <link linkend="userp">user pointer</link> or
+<link linkend="dmabuf">DMABUF</link>) I/O.</para>
- <para>Specifically the capture hardware is disabled and no input
+ <para>Capture hardware is disabled and no input
buffers are filled (if there are any empty buffers in the incoming
queue) until <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant> has been called.
-Accordingly the output hardware is disabled, no video signal is
+Output hardware is disabled and no video signal is
produced until <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant> has been called.
The ioctl will succeed when at least one output buffer is in the
incoming queue.</para>
+ <para>Memory-to-memory devices will not start until
+<constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant> has been called for both the capture
+and output stream types.</para>
+
+ <para>If <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant> fails then any already
+queued buffers will remain queued.</para>
+
<para>The <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMOFF</constant> ioctl, apart of
aborting or finishing any DMA in progress, unlocks any user pointer
buffers locked in physical memory, and it removes all buffers from the
not transmitted yet. I/O returns to the same state as after calling
&VIDIOC-REQBUFS; and can be restarted accordingly.</para>
+ <para>If buffers have been queued with &VIDIOC-QBUF; and
+<constant>VIDIOC_STREAMOFF</constant> is called without ever having
+called <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant>, then those queued buffers
+will also be removed from the incoming queue and all are returned to the
+same state as after calling &VIDIOC-REQBUFS; and can be restarted
+accordingly.</para>
+
<para>Both ioctls take a pointer to an integer, the desired buffer or
stream type. This is the same as &v4l2-requestbuffers;
<structfield>type</structfield>.</para>
<para>If <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant> is called when streaming
is already in progress, or if <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMOFF</constant> is called
-when streaming is already stopped, then the ioctl does nothing and 0 is
-returned.</para>
+when streaming is already stopped, then 0 is returned. Nothing happens in the
+case of <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant>, but <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMOFF</constant>
+will return queued buffers to their starting state as mentioned above.</para>
<para>Note that applications can be preempted for unknown periods right
before or after the <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant> or
<varlistentry>
<term><errorcode>EINVAL</errorcode></term>
<listitem>
- <para>The buffer<structfield>type</structfield> is not supported,
+ <para>The buffer <structfield>type</structfield> is not supported,
or no buffers have been allocated (memory mapping) or enqueued
(output) yet.</para>
</listitem>