Kinect user discussion thread

[Silent_Buddha]

Thank goodness for extensive parental controls. I shudder to think of parents that don't take advantage of the extensive controls on X360 and what their children may get exposed to...

Regards,
SB

 

[Squilliam]

Don't worry SB. All the shifty geezers are on the PS3. Your kids are safe on the 360.

 

[kagemaru]

Picked up the Kinect 250GB bundle over the weekend. Had to go to four stores before finding one, didn't really believe all the stories about Kinect being sold out at many places.

One things for sure, I have to get the TV mount ASAP. I thought my TV stand was at least 2' and it's really barely a foot and a half. I had to move my couch back a good 7-8 feet where the back end was in the kitchen and I still could have used another foot of space Hopefully when Kinect is higher up, I'll be able to move up a couple feet and have more room to play with.

I have to say though, I'm rather impressed. I played around with the sensor and Kinect adventure for about an hour and it was a trip. I won't go into full detail since my impressions and experiences mirror those that have posted around launch, but as someone who was very down on Kinect once hearing they took out the processor, I'm very pleased. At first the lag was more noticeable than I anticipated while playing Rally Ball, but I soon adjusted and it was fine. Didn't notice it nearly as much while playing Reflex Ridge. I don't think I'm out of shape, but people weren't exaggerating when they talk about how you get a good work out playing games on Kinect, I couldn't believe how much I was sweating after jumping around for an hour. As I'm sure many people here already know, it's one thing to see people play with Kinect, but it's a whole different story playing it yourself. It really makes me want to play with others, more so than many games do, so I can't wait to have some people over to try it. I just recently moved to a new city for a job (Columbus, Ohio) so maybe this will be a fun thing to do when I make some new friends. I do have a lady friend who wants to visit and stay some weekends so that'll be interesting, just hope we have enough room since we're both over 6'

Very stupid question, but I'm paranoid about such things. When I first took Kinect out of the box to set it up, the base was not aligned with the sensor, and it wouldn't align itself during the set up. This drove the OCD in me insane soo I twisted it ever so the base and sensor were align with my TV stand. Later on I finally got around to reading the fold out set up manual and it says not to manually force the tilt or rotate the base or it may break. The unit seems to move up and down just fine (though it kinda has a grinding sound though that may just be me) but I have yet to see it turn left or right. Is it supposed to do this? If I broke the motorized tilt, it wouldn't move at all right? Again I'm being paranoid since I'm usually careful with my devices and treat them to last.

Oh also, how do I get to the set up process where it asks me to stand in different poses on different squares? I looked all over the dashboard for the set up but only found the calibration set up where you hold the card at various distances.

Overall though, I'm highly impressed and the entire Kinect team should be very proud of themselves.

More oddities with Kinect......

I thought the more you calibrated your Kinect, say in different lighting conditions, the better it would work in various conditions, no?

As well one guy I know who is, or I should say was, a PC only gamer just recently asked me for game recommendations for X360 since his wife basically told him they are either getting a Kinect or he wasn't getting sex anymore.

Regards,
SB

Forced to buy a video game console to keep having sex. Sounds like a keeper in my book

 

[Scott_Arm]

I thought the more you calibrated your Kinect, say in different lighting conditions, the better it would work in various conditions, no?

Good question. I thought it was once and done and not a cumulative approach? If it's smart enough to calibrate for many levels, that's very nice!

 

[mrcorbo]

Oh also, how do I get to the set up process where it asks me to stand in different poses on different squares? I looked all over the dashboard for the set up but only found the calibration set up where you hold the card at various distances.

That's under KinectID.

 

[mrcorbo]

Good question. I thought it was once and done and not a cumulative approach? If it's smart enough to calibrate for many levels, that's very nice!

It specifically mentions (somewhere) that you should re-calibrate at different times of the day so it can better recognize you in different lighting conditions.

 

[kagemaru]

Good question. I thought it was once and done and not a cumulative approach? If it's smart enough to calibrate for many levels, that's very nice!

I specifically remember watching a video where one of the members on the Kinect team said if you had trouble playing Kinect during a specific time of day, to run a calibration during that time of day and it should work better after running it. To me that just says if you calibrate Kinect in various conditions it should work and adapt better to said conditions.

That's under KinectID.

Thank you sir!

 

[AzBat]

Both the Kinect ID & Kinect Tuner can be done from the Kinect Hub. Just go to the page on the left. Kinect ID(one with the squares) can be used multiple times & they suggest as such. It helps with recognizing your face & body in different lighting conditions one would expect during different parts of the day. It only really helps with logging in your Gamertag when you walk into the playspace. Now Kinect Tuner calibrates your playspace. I've found that you really only need to do it after either moving the sensor or moving furniture. Multiple calibrations for different lighting conditions shouldn't be necessary. Though do remember that Kinect Tuner will help calibrating the microphones. So it might be necessary if you readjust your audio system volume.

Tommy McClain

 

[kagemaru]

So kinect tuner is what you want to use if it's not responding well during a specific time of day? I'm not so concerned with logging in since that already seems to be working fine, given the right lighting, but i want to make sure Kinect recognizes my actions the best it can.

I'll probably have to do all the set ups over again anyways when I move it on top of my TV.

 

[Shompola]

Just setup Kinect for my parents. Noticed that their Kinect is silent when tilting up/down while mine which I bought in November is very noisy, it makes a grinding sound. Always thought the grinding noise was the motor, not sure anymore, sounds like the gears. Should I worry? Anobody else with a noisy Kinect?

I put up a video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t46lhvkte0

 

[Arwin]

And while we're at it, I'll be very interested to hear impressions from anyone using that fish-eye lens by Kyro(?) to improve its functionality in short range.

 

[Graham]

Just setup Kinect for my parents. Noticed that their Kinect is silent when tilting up/down while mine which I bought in November is very noisy, it makes a grinding sound. Always thought the grinding noise was the motor, not sure anymore, sounds like the gears. Should I worry? Anobody else with a noisy Kinect?[/url]

Yup. Mind grinds but it isn't an issue. I suspect it's the difference between a launch unit and a newer one. It's to be expected that they will improve them over time.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Although in the case of motors, there's no particular reason to. It's not like some new motor technology unavailable at launch is allowing silent operation!

 

[Nesh]

my Kinect also sounds like that but my friends' kinects are silent. Mine looks like a launch unit though. The box is slightly different than theirs too.

 

[bkilian]

I believe it's benign. Had to do with the gearing system used in some of the earlier units I think, can't fully remember.