If it's the first time using the device, you'll be prompted to calibrate the audio. Whenever you turn on the Xbox 360, Kinect will do what it can to detect human life, and in doing so will use its motorized vertical tilt to get said individuals into the frame as much as possible. Point is, the six feet isn't just a recommendation, it's pretty much a requirement.
We set up the Kinect in multiple locations, and none of them were quite right - we moved couches, twisted the TV diagonally, even pushed back the sensor a few inches to maximize as much space as possible. This isn't exactly the easiest setup to obtain, especially in apartments and dormitories. For those with a WiFi dongle, Microsoft's suggesting you use that packaged USB extender and plug your wireless connection into one of the front two ports.Īs you'll be reminded at least once every game, Kinect recommends (and at times requires) that you be six to eight feet away from the sensor while in play, with no coffee table or ottoman in your way. For older models, the AC adapter provides power while also extended a USB input for plugging in via the back port.
If you own a new Xbox 360, all you need to do is plug in via the dedicated Kinect port in the back, just above the ethernet cable. That's a fixed amount that can't be lowered, so do us a favor, developers, and make the most of it. The only portion of significance, as we were told, was a 60MB (of 512MB total for the Xbox 360) memory footprint reserved specifically for the motion sensor. That's software-driven and requires a bit of processing power reserved for the Kinect, but as we heard, it's pretty minimal.
Then there's the "special sauce," as Microsoft calls it - the software that takes all this information and parses through it for skeletal mapping and facial / voice recognition. There's a common ground.) A quartet of microphones are used to detect what's being said and approximately from where in the room. The outer pair are the depth sensors, which according to Microsoft "combine an infrared projector to allow Kinect to see the room in 3D under many lighting conditions." (We were told that darker rooms would work better, and in near pitch-black testings, tracking did improve, at the cost of the RGB camera seeing virtually nothing. The one in the middle is the "RGB camera," as Microsoft prefers to call it - as earlier listings have indicated, it's likely 640 x 480, 32-bit color at 30fps. Looking at the front, you'll see a green LED light when powered on, and three cameras.
The motorized stand tilts the sensor vertically for calibration, and to us felt mighty sturdy. The Kinect sensor itself is very glossy, on par with the new Xbox 360 look - which means dust and fingerprints will settle in on the surface just nicely. Behind the sensor itself, there are a handful of pamphlets, a USB extension cable, and an AC adapter for using Kinect with older Xbox 360 models (more on that later). Opening the top flap reveals a very purple interior, Kinect's color choice (as further demonstrated by the DVD cases for all motion titles).
The Kinect Runtime 1.8 will NOT work with the Xbox360 models and they will not be detected, the full SDK must be installed.
Xbox360 (models 14), although not officially supported, usually work by installing the Kinect for Windows SDK 1.8.25M USB Active Extenders Note that these extenders do not work if you connect two together. If you require USB extenders, we have successfully used these extenders with Kinect sensors and other USB cameras.Refer to your computer's Device Manager to inspect which ports belong to each USB controller. On some computers multiple USB ports will be on the same USB controller, this will cause problems if two Kinects are sharing that same controller. If using multiple Kinects, each Kinect sensor must be connected to its own USB controller.Kinect V1 can be less stable on USB3.0 ports, try USB2.0 ports if you are experiencing problems connecting tot he device or the connection drops out after some time.The green LED will light up under USB power, however the sensor will not function correctly unless the AC power supply is also connected. Always connect the AC power supply that comes with the Kinect sensor.