How to stop generating video?

[Tonal2025]

Hello! Is it possible to stop the video generation session and free up CPU resources, something like Stop(); or better Pause(); in order to resume work later?

[Roger-random]

Unfortunately, there's no provision for complete cleanup because ESP_8_BIT, which this library derived from, did not have a cleanup routine.

My class destructor will at least free up the memory I allocated, but I am unable to properly clean up the really tricky underlying mechanisms (ISR, DAC, PLL, etc.)

[Tonal2025]

I2S0.clkm_conf.clka_en = 0; stops clocking → memory bus and processor no longer waste resources
I2S0.clkm_conf.clka_en = 1; Resumes I2S → video reappears almost instantly

DMA and buffers remain in memory, so the processor does not reboot

[Roger-random]

Could you shed some light on when stop/pause would be useful? This library was created to be a beginner-friendly way to play with composite video at a shallow level. They would essentially be toys and I expected such Arduino projects to output video for the duration of its execution.

When I thought about Stop/Pause the only scenarios I could think of involve power management. Such as turning the TV off and microcontroller to sleep. I considered that an advanced scenario and out of scope of a beginner-friendly library.

But perhaps I just lack imagination! Please let me know, thanks.