Create a new VideoCapture object

cap = cv.VideoCapture(index)
cap = cv.VideoCapture(filename)
cap = cv.VideoCapture(..., 'API',apiPreference)

Input

• index id of the video capturing device to open. If there is a single camera connected, just pass 0.
• filename name of the opened video file (eg. video.avi) or image sequence (eg. img_%02d.jpg, which will read samples like img_00.jpg, img_01.jpg, img_02.jpg, ...)

Options

• API preferred capture API to use. Can be used to enforce a specific reader implementation if multiple are available: e.g. 'FFMPEG' 'Images'. Available implementations:
  • Any autodetect. This is the default.
  • VfW platform native.
  • V4L platform native.
  • V4L2 platform native.
  • FireWare IEEE 1394 drivers.
  • FireWire IEEE 1394 drivers.
  • IEEE1394 IEEE 1394 drivers.
  • DC1394 IEEE 1394 drivers.
  • CMU1394 IEEE 1394 drivers.
  • QuickTime QuickTime.
  • Unicap Unicap drivers.
  • DirectShow DirectShow (via videoInput).
  • PvAPI PvAPI, Prosilica GigE SDK.
  • OpenNI OpenNI (for Kinect).
  • OpenNIAsus OpenNI (for Asus Xtion).
  • Android Android - not used.
  • XIMEA XIMEA Camera API.
  • AVFoundation AVFoundation framework for iOS (OS X Lion will have the same API).
  • Giganetix Smartek Giganetix GigEVisionSDK.
  • MediaFoundation Microsoft Media Foundation (via videoInput).
  • WinRT Microsoft Windows Runtime using Media Foundation.
  • IntelPerC Intel Perceptual Computing SDK.
  • OpenNI2 OpenNI2 (for Kinect).
  • OpenNI2Asus OpenNI2 (for Asus Xtion and Occipital Structure sensors).
  • gPhoto2 gPhoto2 connection.
  • GStreamer GStreamer.
  • FFMPEG FFMPEG.
  • Images OpenCV Image Sequence (e.g. img_%02d.jpg).

Creates a new video capture instance. With no argument, it connects to the default camera device found in the system. You can specify camera devices by index, an integer value starting from 0. You can also specify a filename to open a video file.

Example

To open camera 1 using the MS Media Foundation API:

cap = cv.VideoCapture(1, 'API','MediaFoundation')