How to run OpenCV VideoCapture without root priviledge on linux

Python
1

I am currently trying to run a python project that grabs the camera using the cv2 VideoCapture however doing this requires super user privileges.

I would prefer not running the program with sudo for various reasons and I am looking for a way to achieve this.

What I have tried:
I have already checked the permissions on /dev/video0 and have added my user to the video group however this had no effect.

See the following command outputs,

>>> v4l2-ctl --list-devices
VGA Single Chip (usb-0000:02:00.0-3):
	/dev/video0
>>>  ls -l /dev/video0
crw-rw----+ 1 root video 81, 0 Jul  9 21:24 /dev/video0
>>> groups $USER
wheel video

Additional information (which may or may not be useful):
Linux distro: arch
Camera: an old Pixart Imaging, Inc. Typhoon Easycam USB 330K

2

Arch issue. Not an OpenCV issue. I’d recommend asking your fellow Arch users about this. Do not mention OpenCV. They will dismiss you if you do. sSy you’re testing this with ffmpeg.

3

Thanks for the reply, in the end it turns out the issue was just me being stupid. I think adding the user to the video group did fix the permissions problems however I had some other permission issues with other libraries that I imported unrelated to OpenCV (and I regrettably did not read the error message careful enough to realize that OpenCV was no longer the issue).

Thanks for the help