Python API to access webcam stream?

Question

On college, I needed to create a virtual reality software, and used this Python API to access the stream from the webcam which I came to know through this tutorial. Found out, though, it needed a workaround to work properly.

I remember the stream was a bit slow with resolutions higher than 320x240 but I guess it was a problem on the webcam. For the API, I noticed it, sometimes, gave None objects.

So, my question is: do you guys know any other Python API to access the webcam stream?

Edit: It'd be useful if the API worked both on Windows and Linux, but as I think it'll be harder to find, I'd stick with Windows.

Answer 1

The only one I've used is VideoCapture, which you've already mentioned you don't like (although I had no problems with it; what bugs did you encounter?)

I was unable to find any alternatives in the past or now, so you might be stuck either using VideoCapture, or finding a nice C library and writing a Python wrapper for it (which might be more work than you're willing to put into it).

Answer 2

gstreamer can handle webcam input. If I remeber well, there are python bindings for it!

Answer 3

OpenCV has support for getting data from a webcam and there are Python wrappers for it:

http://code.google.com/p/ctypes-opencv/