diff --git a/authenticate_user.py b/authenticate_user.py
index 0edc476467f8447b95a865e49bd2131ab03fd3ee..9917c66dbc41dba4c526ec18236af930f9196c71 100644
--- a/authenticate_user.py
+++ b/authenticate_user.py
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ def recognize_user(known_faces: dict, encoding_model: str = "hog", image_flip: i
     timeout_time: float = time.time() + TIMEOUT
     while time.time() < timeout_time:
         # Read a image_frame from the video stream.
-        image_frame = video_stream.read()
+        ret, image_frame = video_stream.read()
         if image_flip is not None:
             image_frame = cv2.flip(image_frame, image_flip)
 
diff --git a/common.py b/common.py
index e6c02f9896291a7276e4ed3ca0cbd5d890e53860..e436315ae47d4575d784d5fc49b2461dce27ae35 100644
--- a/common.py
+++ b/common.py
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-import time
-
 import cv2
-from imutils.video import VideoStream
 
 DATABASE_LOC = "./dataset/faces.pickle"
 
@@ -14,6 +11,5 @@ def display_frame(frame):
 def start_video_stream(camera: int):
     """Starts the video stream and returns the created stream.
     Also waits for the video stream to open before returning it."""
-    video_stream = VideoStream(src=camera).start()
-    time.sleep(2.0)
+    video_stream = cv2.VideoCapture(0)
     return video_stream