Wired: the Xbox Kinect review
This Xbox Kinect review takes a look at the different components that make it such a fun piece of tech.
Black Boxing Hardware: Xbox Kinect Review Part I
The hardware is a combination of several distinctive technologies including an infrared sensor, a CMOS sensor, and an RGB camera. The infrared sensor floods the gaming space with invisible light and enables depth perception in conjunction with the CMOS sensor. The sensor detects how infrared light is reflected in the scene and transfers these grayscale images to the console. This also enables motion detection in 3D space.
The RGB camera is used for facial recognition, as well as game snapshots and video chat. These cameras are paired with four capsule microphones that have the ability to detect where your voice is coming from, as well as eliminate background noise. The console is also equipped with a motorized sensor that adjusts based on the user’s height and distance from the console.
When we took the unit out of the box for our Xbox Kinect review, the first thing we noticed was how lightweight it was. The heaviest part of the console is the base, which is trivial because it needs to support the entire system. The overall size of the unit makes it difficult to mount on most flat screen televisions. However, a bracket can be purchased separately for easy mounting. The unit is glossy black in color, a perfect match for its counterpart, the Xbox 360 S, with which it was designed to work. You simply need to connect the unit to the Xbox 360 S expansion port and you are almost ready to go. So far we have covered the hardware components in our Xbox Kinect review, the following is the setup.
Booting the System: Part II of the Xbox Kinect Review
To perform the Xbox Kinect review, we need to configure our system. As mentioned above, all you need to do is unpack the drive and connect it to the expansion port. The rest of the configuration will be done by the software. The first time you turn on the unit, after connecting it to the Xbox, you will be greeted by a welcome screen that serves as a starting point for guided setup. There are several steps that are performed on each screen. Most of them are used to calibrate the system, remove background noise, and create an acoustic map of the room you are using.
The next stage of the setup was the Kinect ID. It is a method of recognizing the user and logging in the user automatically. The process is done by posing in front of the sensor and copying the poses of the avatar on the screen. This process depends on the size of the game and may require you to pose in several different areas. This process in the Xbox Kinect review takes a few minutes and it took the tester over 20 minutes to complete all the steps. As it turned out, it was necessary to remove the glasses to make a better facial match. All in all, the entire experience exceeded our standards for the Xbox Kinect review.