Python webcam record

Question

I want to create a webcam streaming app that records webcam stream for, say about 30 seconds, and save it as myFile.wmv . Now To get live camera feed I know this code :-

import cv2
import numpy as np
c = cv2.VideoCapture(0)

while(1):
    _,f = c.read()
    cv2.imshow('e2',f)
    if cv2.waitKey(5)==27:
        break
cv2.destroyAllWindows()

But I have no idea off how to record for a given number of seconds and save it as a file in its current directory,

Please someone point me to the right direction

Thanks

Answer 1

ABOUT TIME

Why do not use the python time function ? In particular time.time() Look at this answer about time in python

NB OpenCV should have (or had) its own timer but I can not tell you for sure if it works in current versions.

ABOUT RECORDING/SAVING

Look at this other answer

Answer 2

OpenCV allows you to record video, but not audio. There is this script I came across from JRodrigoF that uses openCV to record video and pyaudio to record audio. I used it for a while on a similar project; however, I noticed that sometimes the threads would hang and it would cause the program to crash. Another issue is that openCV does not capture video frames at a reliable rate and ffmpeg would distort the video when re-encoding.

https://github.com/JRodrigoF/AVrecordeR

I came up with a new solution that records much more reliably and with much higher quality. It presently only works for Windows because it uses pywinauto and the built-in Windows Camera app. The last bit of the script does some error-checking to confirm the video successfully recorded by checking the timestamp of the name of the video.

https://gist.github.com/mjdargen/956cc968864f38bfc4e20c9798c7d670

import pywinauto
import time
import subprocess
import os
import datetime

def win_record(duration):
    subprocess.run('start microsoft.windows.camera:', shell=True)  # open camera app

    # focus window by getting handle using title and class name
    # subprocess call opens camera and gets focus, but this provides alternate way
    # t, c = 'Camera', 'ApplicationFrameWindow'
    # handle = pywinauto.findwindows.find_windows(title=t, class_name=c)[0]
    # # get app and window
    # app = pywinauto.application.Application().connect(handle=handle)
    # window = app.window(handle=handle)
    # window.set_focus()  # set focus
    time.sleep(2)  # have to sleep

    # take control of camera window to take video
    desktop = pywinauto.Desktop(backend="uia")
    cam = desktop['Camera']
    # cam.print_control_identifiers()
    # make sure in video mode
    if cam.child_window(title="Switch to Video mode", auto_id="CaptureButton_1", control_type="Button").exists():
        cam.child_window(title="Switch to Video mode", auto_id="CaptureButton_1", control_type="Button").click()
    time.sleep(1)
    # start then stop video
    cam.child_window(title="Take Video", auto_id="CaptureButton_1", control_type="Button").click()
    time.sleep(duration+2)
    cam.child_window(title="Stop taking Video", auto_id="CaptureButton_1", control_type="Button").click()

    # retrieve vids from camera roll and sort
    dir = 'C:/Users/michael.dargenio/Pictures/Camera Roll'
    all_contents = list(os.listdir(dir))
    vids = [f for f in all_contents if "_Pro.mp4" in f]
    vids.sort()
    vid = vids[-1]
    # compute time difference
    vid_time = vid.replace('WIN_', '').replace('_Pro.mp4', '')
    vid_time = datetime.datetime.strptime(vid_time, '%Y%m%d_%H_%M_%S')
    now = datetime.datetime.now()
    diff = now - vid_time
    # time different greater than 2 minutes, assume something wrong & quit
    if diff.seconds > 120:
        quit()
    
    subprocess.run('Taskkill /IM WindowsCamera.exe /F', shell=True)  # close camera app
    print('Recorded successfully!')


win_record(2)