OpenCV Python Performance

Question

I am a Python and OpenCV newbie. I was dealing with OpenCV optimization and I found Measuring Performance with OpenCV website. I saw cv2.getTickCount and cv2.getTickFrequency and tried on a blank Video Capture code:

import cv2

cap = cv2.VideoCapture(0)
time1 = 0

while True:
    e1 = cv2.getTickCount()
    ret, frame = cap.read()
    cv2.imshow("cam", frame)
    e2 = cv2.getTickCount()
    time1 = (e2 - e1) / cv2.getTickFrequency() + time1
    print time1

    k = cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF

    if k == ord('q'):
        break

At the same time, I tried time.time() for performance measuring:

import cv2
import time

cap = cv2.VideoCapture(0)

t_start = time.time()
time1 = 0

while True:
    e1 = cv2.getTickCount()
    ret, frame = cap.read()
    cv2.imshow("cam", frame)
    e2 = cv2.getTickCount()
    time1 = (e2 - e1) / cv2.getTickFrequency() + time1
    elapsedTime = time.time()-t_start
    print [time1, elapsedTime]

    k = cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF

    if k == ord('q'):
        break

There is a huge difference between elapsedTime and time1, like:

[23.544186313842033, 29.413000106811523]
[23.588920849343307, 29.460999965667725]
[23.636793986833897, 29.51200008392334]
[23.669538024648435, 29.558000087738037]
[23.701628712445952, 29.605000019073486]
[23.737225731551163, 29.65499997138977]
[23.775527056696312, 29.703999996185303]
[23.82555789141547, 29.765000104904175]
[23.864218735017026, 29.813999891281128]
[23.901782255564854, 29.861000061035156]

I checked both outputs and my phone's chronometer is with time.time()'s side.

My questions are:

Why I have this difference? How and why cv2.getTickCount and cv2.getTickFrequency differs from time.time()
To do the performance measurement, which one should I use?

Dimitris Fasarakis Hilliard · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-10 10:50:14Z

I'm not really proficient with cv2 but I do see something rather iffy with your timing technique here.

Look at what part of the code you are measuring with cv2.getTickCount():

e1 = cv2.getTickCount()  # start
ret, frame = cap.read()
cv2.imshow("cam",frame)
e2 = cv2.getTickCount()  # stop

Now, look at what you are measuring using time.time():

t_start=time.time()  # start
time1=0

while True:
    e1 = cv2.getTickCount()
    ret, frame = cap.read()
    cv2.imshow("cam",frame)
    e2 = cv2.getTickCount()
    time1 = (e2 - e1)/ cv2.getTickFrequency() + time1
    elapsedTime= time.time()-t_start  # stop

You are obviously mistreating poor ol' time over here by counting different things. Unfortunately, I cannot verify the actual runtimes because I do not have OpenCV, but, you might want to put your time calls on par with getTickCount(). In short, use something similar to this:

time1=0

while True:
    t_start = time.time()  # start
    ret, frame = cap.read()
    cv2.imshow("cam",frame)
    elapsedTime= time.time()-t_start  # stop

And re-evaluate your results, it's quite possible getTickCount() will get more accurate results than time because of the way it is implemented, I really can't know that.

As for which one should you use? cv2's internal timing module.

Why? Because, without making outlandish claims, it is a tested module that has probably been developed by people that are most likely more proficient than us with Python. Timing on your own can be a tricky thing and leaves a lot of room for little mistakes, especially when you're first starting out.

So, in short, go with getTickCount(), it is there for a reason.

I changed the code as you suggested and I got better results: they are nearly same. [41.4705076101 41.2309985161] I also changed the code and used 1000 samples for time.time() and time1. If I print the result for every loop, difference gets bigger between these two piece of codes. In the mean time, If I print the final result at the end, I have more meaningful results

Mike Müller · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-09 17:48:57Z

This should produce consistent results:

t_start = time.time()
e1 = cv2.getTickCount()

while True:
    ret, frame = cap.read()
    cv2.imshow("cam",frame)
    e2 = cv2.getTickCount()
    current_time = time.time() 
    time1 = (e2 - e1)/ cv2.getTickFrequency()
    elapsedTime= current_time - t_start
    print [time1 , elapsedTime]

Actually, I cannot reproduce your problem:

import time
import cv2

t_start = time.time()
e1 = cv2.getTickCount()

for x in range(10):
    time.sleep(0.1)
    e2 = cv2.getTickCount()
    time1 = (e2 - e1)/ cv2.getTickFrequency()
    elapsedTime= time.time() - t_start
    print 'new:', [time1 , elapsedTime]

t_start=time.time()
time1=0

for x in range(10):

    e1 = cv2.getTickCount()
    time.sleep(0.1)
    e2 = cv2.getTickCount()
    time1 = (e2 - e1)/ cv2.getTickFrequency() + time1
    elapsedTime= time.time()-t_start
    print 'old:', [time1 , elapsedTime]

Pints rather consistent values:

new: [0.101121973, 0.10170483589172363]
new: [0.202431593, 0.20299196243286133]
new: [0.303379863, 0.3039419651031494]
new: [0.404390379, 0.40494799613952637]
new: [0.505434471, 0.5059988498687744]
new: [0.606657266, 0.6072208881378174]
new: [0.70785313, 0.7083899974822998]
new: [0.808160676, 0.808696985244751]
new: [0.90930442, 0.9098358154296875]
new: [1.010264773, 1.0107979774475098]
old: [0.101093147, 0.10112500190734863]
old: [0.201946665, 0.20209193229675293]
old: [0.302889158, 0.3032569885253906]
old: [0.40368225999999996, 0.40418291091918945]
old: [0.504733644, 0.5053050518035889]
old: [0.605701044, 0.6063768863677979]
old: [0.7066711290000001, 0.707442045211792]
old: [0.807242644, 0.8081610202789307]
old: [0.908066402, 0.9092309474945068]
old: [1.008913762, 1.0102128982543945]

Are you sure the printed numbers correspond to code you show in your question?

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