cv2.VideoCapture.open() always returns FALSE

Question

I am trying to access a Logitech c310 webcam on my beaglebone. It always returns false for any device ID, I am not sure why. I use the following code. ``` >>> import cv2, numpy as np >>> cam = cv2.VideoCapture(0) >>> cam.open(0) False ``` The camera does show up as video0 in dev/ and also in `root@arm:~#lsusb`, like below, ``` root@arm:~# lsusb Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:081b Logitech, Inc. Webcam C310 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub ``` I could also access the camera with `v4l2-ctl`. Note that I am very new to OpenCV, so this may sound silly and I apologize for that in advance.

Accepted Answer

```
HIGHGUI ERROR: V4L: index 1 is not correct!
False
OpenCV Error: Bad flag (parameter or structure field) (Unrecognized or unsupported array  type) in cvGetMat, file /home/kaushik/Desktop/OpenCV-2.4.1/modules/core/src/array.cpp, line 2482
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "x2.py", line 8, in <module>
cv2.imshow('frame', frame)
cv2.error: /home/kaushik/Desktop/OpenCV-2.4.1/modules/core/src/array.cpp:2482: error: (-206) Unrecognized or unsupported array type in function cvGetMat
```

if you are getting this kind of an error then probably something is wrong with the indexing.

instead of cv2.VideoCapture(0) add:

```
cv2.VideoCapture(-1)
```

this will get you the first working camera. And if anything goes wrong, just post the stack trace here and i'll see if i can help you :)

cv2.VideoCapture.open() always returns FALSE

Solution

Problem