CamGear API Parameters¶

source¶

This parameter defines the source for the input stream.

Data-Type: Based on input.

Default Value: Its default value is 0.

Its valid input can be one of the following:

• Index (integer): Valid index of the connected video device, for e.g 0, or 1, or 2 etc. as follows:

  CamGear(source=0)
  

• Filepath (string): Valid path of the video file, for e.g "/home/foo.mp4" as follows:

  CamGear(source='/home/foo.mp4')
  

• Streaming Services URL Address (string): Valid Video URL as input when Stream Mode is enabled(i.e. stream_mode=True):

  CamGear internally implements yt_dlp backend class for pipelining live video-frames and metadata from various streaming services. For example Twitch URL can be used as follows:

  Supported Streaming Websites

  The complete list of all supported Streaming Websites URLs can be found here ➶

  CamGear(source='https://www.twitch.tv/shroud', stream_mode=True)
  

• Network Address (string): Valid (http(s), rtp, rtsp, rtmp, mms, etc.) incoming network stream address such as 'rtsp://192.168.31.163:554/' as input:

  CamGear(source='rtsp://192.168.31.163:554/')
  

• GStreamer Pipeline:

  CamGear API also supports GStreamer Pipeline.

  Requirements for GStreamer Pipelining

  GStreamer Pipelining in WriteGear your OpenCV to be built with GStreamer support. Checkout this FAQ for compiling OpenCV with GStreamer support.

  Thereby, You can easily check GStreamer support by running print(cv2.getBuildInformation()) python command and see if output contains something similar as follows:

  Video I/O:
  ...
       GStreamer:                   YES (ver 1.8.3)
  ...
  

  Be sure convert video output into BGR colorspace before pipelining as follows:

  CamGear(source='udpsrc port=5000 ! application/x-rtp,media=video,payload=96,clock-rate=90000,encoding-name=H264, ! rtph264depay ! decodebin ! videoconvert ! video/x-raw, format=BGR ! appsink')
  

stream_mode¶

This parameter controls the Stream Mode, .i.e if enabled(stream_mode=True), the CamGear API will interpret the given source input as YouTube URL address.

Data-Type: Boolean

Default Value: Its default value is False.

Usage:

CamGear(source='https://youtu.be/bvetuLwJIkA', stream_mode=True)

colorspace¶

This parameter selects the colorspace of the input stream.

Data-Type: String

Default Value: Its default value is None.

Usage:

CamGear(source=0, colorspace="COLOR_BGR2HSV")

backend¶

This parameter manually selects the backend for OpenCV's VideoCapture class (only if specified).

Data-Type: Integer

Default Value: Its default value is 0

Usage:

Its value can be for e.g. backend = cv2.CAP_DSHOW for selecting Direct Show as backend:

CamGear(source=0, backend = cv2.CAP_DSHOW)

options¶

This parameter provides the ability to alter various Source Tweak Parameters available within OpenCV's VideoCapture API properties.

Data-Type: Dictionary

Default Value: Its default value is {}

Usage:

The desired parameters can be passed to CamGear API by formatting them as this parameter's attributes, as follows:

# formatting parameters as dictionary attributes
options = {"CAP_PROP_FRAME_WIDTH":320, "CAP_PROP_FRAME_HEIGHT":240, "CAP_PROP_FPS":60}
# assigning it
CamGear(source=0, **options)

logging¶

This parameter enables logging (if True), essential for debugging.

Data-Type: Boolean

Default Value: Its default value is False.

Usage:

CamGear(source=0, logging=True)

time_delay¶

This parameter set the time delay (in seconds) before the CamGear API start reading the frames. This delay is only required if the source required some warm-up delay before starting up.

Data-Type: Integer

Default Value: Its default value is 0.

Usage:

CamGear(source=0, time_delay=1) # set 1 seconds time delay