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+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GFDL-1.1-no-invariants-or-later
+
+.. _standard:
+
+***************
+Video Standards
+***************
+
+Video devices typically support one or more different video standards or
+variations of standards. Each video input and output may support another
+set of standards. This set is reported by the ``std`` field of struct
+:c:type:`v4l2_input` and struct
+:c:type:`v4l2_output` returned by the
+:ref:`VIDIOC_ENUMINPUT` and
+:ref:`VIDIOC_ENUMOUTPUT` ioctls, respectively.
+
+V4L2 defines one bit for each analog video standard currently in use
+worldwide, and sets aside bits for driver defined standards, e. g.
+hybrid standards to watch NTSC video tapes on PAL TVs and vice versa.
+Applications can use the predefined bits to select a particular
+standard, although presenting the user a menu of supported standards is
+preferred. To enumerate and query the attributes of the supported
+standards applications use the :ref:`VIDIOC_ENUMSTD`
+ioctl.
+
+Many of the defined standards are actually just variations of a few
+major standards. The hardware may in fact not distinguish between them,
+or do so internal and switch automatically. Therefore enumerated
+standards also contain sets of one or more standard bits.
+
+Assume a hypothetic tuner capable of demodulating B/PAL, G/PAL and I/PAL
+signals. The first enumerated standard is a set of B and G/PAL, switched
+automatically depending on the selected radio frequency in UHF or VHF
+band. Enumeration gives a "PAL-B/G" or "PAL-I" choice. Similar a
+Composite input may collapse standards, enumerating "PAL-B/G/H/I",
+"NTSC-M" and "SECAM-D/K". [#f1]_
+
+To query and select the standard used by the current video input or
+output applications call the :ref:`VIDIOC_G_STD <VIDIOC_G_STD>` and
+:ref:`VIDIOC_S_STD <VIDIOC_G_STD>` ioctl, respectively. The
+*received* standard can be sensed with the
+:ref:`VIDIOC_QUERYSTD` ioctl.
+
+.. note::
+
+ The parameter of all these ioctls is a pointer to a
+ :ref:`v4l2_std_id <v4l2-std-id>` type (a standard set), *not* an
+ index into the standard enumeration. Drivers must implement all video
+ standard ioctls when the device has one or more video inputs or outputs.
+
+Special rules apply to devices such as USB cameras where the notion of
+video standards makes little sense. More generally for any capture or
+output device which is:
+
+- incapable of capturing fields or frames at the nominal rate of the
+ video standard, or
+
+- that does not support the video standard formats at all.
+
+Here the driver shall set the ``std`` field of struct
+:c:type:`v4l2_input` and struct
+:c:type:`v4l2_output` to zero and the :ref:`VIDIOC_G_STD <VIDIOC_G_STD>`,
+:ref:`VIDIOC_S_STD <VIDIOC_G_STD>`, :ref:`VIDIOC_QUERYSTD` and :ref:`VIDIOC_ENUMSTD` ioctls
+shall return the ``ENOTTY`` error code or the ``EINVAL`` error code.
+
+Applications can make use of the :ref:`input-capabilities` and
+:ref:`output-capabilities` flags to determine whether the video
+standard ioctls can be used with the given input or output.
+
+Example: Information about the current video standard
+=====================================================
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ v4l2_std_id std_id;
+ struct v4l2_standard standard;
+
+ if (-1 == ioctl(fd, VIDIOC_G_STD, &std_id)) {
+ /* Note when VIDIOC_ENUMSTD always returns ENOTTY this
+ is no video device or it falls under the USB exception,
+ and VIDIOC_G_STD returning ENOTTY is no error. */
+
+ perror("VIDIOC_G_STD");
+ exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+ }
+
+ memset(&standard, 0, sizeof(standard));
+ standard.index = 0;
+
+ while (0 == ioctl(fd, VIDIOC_ENUMSTD, &standard)) {
+ if (standard.id & std_id) {
+ printf("Current video standard: %s\\n", standard.name);
+ exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
+ }
+
+ standard.index++;
+ }
+
+ /* EINVAL indicates the end of the enumeration, which cannot be
+ empty unless this device falls under the USB exception. */
+
+ if (errno == EINVAL || standard.index == 0) {
+ perror("VIDIOC_ENUMSTD");
+ exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+ }
+
+Example: Listing the video standards supported by the current input
+===================================================================
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ struct v4l2_input input;
+ struct v4l2_standard standard;
+
+ memset(&input, 0, sizeof(input));
+
+ if (-1 == ioctl(fd, VIDIOC_G_INPUT, &input.index)) {
+ perror("VIDIOC_G_INPUT");
+ exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+ }
+
+ if (-1 == ioctl(fd, VIDIOC_ENUMINPUT, &input)) {
+ perror("VIDIOC_ENUM_INPUT");
+ exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+ }
+
+ printf("Current input %s supports:\\n", input.name);
+
+ memset(&standard, 0, sizeof(standard));
+ standard.index = 0;
+
+ while (0 == ioctl(fd, VIDIOC_ENUMSTD, &standard)) {
+ if (standard.id & input.std)
+ printf("%s\\n", standard.name);
+
+ standard.index++;
+ }
+
+ /* EINVAL indicates the end of the enumeration, which cannot be
+ empty unless this device falls under the USB exception. */
+
+ if (errno != EINVAL || standard.index == 0) {
+ perror("VIDIOC_ENUMSTD");
+ exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+ }
+
+Example: Selecting a new video standard
+=======================================
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ struct v4l2_input input;
+ v4l2_std_id std_id;
+
+ memset(&input, 0, sizeof(input));
+
+ if (-1 == ioctl(fd, VIDIOC_G_INPUT, &input.index)) {
+ perror("VIDIOC_G_INPUT");
+ exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+ }
+
+ if (-1 == ioctl(fd, VIDIOC_ENUMINPUT, &input)) {
+ perror("VIDIOC_ENUM_INPUT");
+ exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+ }
+
+ if (0 == (input.std & V4L2_STD_PAL_BG)) {
+ fprintf(stderr, "Oops. B/G PAL is not supported.\\n");
+ exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+ }
+
+ /* Note this is also supposed to work when only B
+ or G/PAL is supported. */
+
+ std_id = V4L2_STD_PAL_BG;
+
+ if (-1 == ioctl(fd, VIDIOC_S_STD, &std_id)) {
+ perror("VIDIOC_S_STD");
+ exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+ }
+
+.. [#f1]
+ Some users are already confused by technical terms PAL, NTSC and
+ SECAM. There is no point asking them to distinguish between B, G, D,
+ or K when the software or hardware can do that automatically.