List Capture Devices for Python OpenCV on Windows

OpenCV does not have an API for listing capture devices. The sample shows how to create a Python extension to invoke DirectShow C++ APIs for enumerating capture devices.

I modified a version from here add serial number for each device.

Environment

• Microsoft Windows SDK
• Python 3.8
• OpenCV 3.4.0

NOTE: other versions may also be ok, but I didn't test them.

How to Run

1. Configure Visual Studio environment:

   • Visual Studio 2010 (VS10): SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS100COMNTOOLS%
   • Visual Studio 2012 (VS11): SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS110COMNTOOLS%
   • Visual Studio 2013 (VS12): SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS120COMNTOOLS%
   • Visual Studio 2015 (VS14): SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS140COMNTOOLS%

   If you are using Visual Studio 2015, use the following command:

   SET VS90COMNTOOLS=%VS140COMNTOOLS%
   

2. Add your Windows SDK lib path to setup.py:

   from distutils.core import setup, Extension
   
   module_device = Extension('cv_device',
                           sources = ['cv_device.cpp'], 
                           library_dirs=['G:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.1\Lib']   # <== Here, if u don't add it to path, change here.
                       )
   
   setup (name = 'WindowsDevices',
           version = '1.0',
           description = 'Get device list with DirectShow',
           ext_modules = [module_device])

3. Build the Python extension

   Python

   python setup.py build install
   

4. Run the app and select a capture device:

   Python

   python test.py

   

Blog

Listing Multiple Cameras for OpenCV-Python on Windows