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Microsoft XBox One Kinect Will Not Work On Windows PCs

Posted by timothy on from the sir-you-need-to-get-back-in-line dept.

symbolset writes "Ars is reporting that Microsoft XBox One Kinect will not work on Windows PCs. It uses a proprietary connector and an adaptor will not be available. If you want Kinect for your PC you will need to buy a 'Kinect for Windows' product. Although the Kinect 1.0 for XBox 360 also had a proprietary connector it came with a USB adaptor for compatibility with older versions of the 360 that lacked the new proprietary port and PC compatibility was quickly hacked up by third parties."

31 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft seem determined by maroberts · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ..to shoot themselves in the ass with their desire to compartmentalize everything. One reason the Kinect was such a runaway success was the fact that people thought of doing imaginative things with it and stretching its operational boundaries.

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

    1. Re:Microsoft seem determined by Spy+Handler · · Score: 4, Insightful

      they're just aping what Apple is doing. Oh Apple is dominating mp3 players with the ipod? Let's make the Zune! Apple has their own Apple stores? Let's open our Microsoft stores! Apple has proprietary connectors? Let's make proprietary connectors!

    2. Re:Microsoft seem determined by crutchy · · Score: 5, Funny

      ms fucked up when steve jobs died... they should have followed suit and killed off ballmer

    3. Re:Microsoft seem determined by bmk67 · · Score: 4, Funny

      You sir, owe me a new keyboard and a Coke.

    4. Re:Microsoft seem determined by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh, come on, that had nothing to do with it selling well - 99.999% of the Kinects sold were just plugged into an Xbox 360 and used for normal console games. It was cool that it worked on a PC and they released a Windows SDK, but that had almost zero to do with the actual units sold.

    5. Re:Microsoft seem determined by OP+is+trolling · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ..to shoot themselves in the ass with their desire to compartmentalize everything. One reason the Kinect was such a runaway success was the fact that people thought of doing imaginative things with it and stretching its operational boundaries.

      Original article says they're going to release 2 different Kinects; one for Windows and one for XBox One... but hey, let's form opinions based on headlines and cherry picking quotes!

    6. Re:Microsoft seem determined by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why? The XB1 is a PC, albeit a customized one operating in a walled-garden OS environment. Both have USB so interfacing isnt an issue. Greed-based pricing/licensing is the only reason they would need two models.

    7. Re:Microsoft seem determined by Missing.Matter · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The people doing the most impressive/innovative things with the Kinect are research institutions and startups. Sensors like the original Kinect used to cost in excess of $5000 - $10000. I've seen some as high as $70,000 which are not as nice as the Kinect and don't offer the same developer resources and community support. At $199 they were a complete steal. Sensors like the Kinect 2 simply do not exist today, and several that are slated for release (which still don't match its capabilities) still run in excess of a grand.

      With that in mind, the $399 Kinect for Windows is still a complete steal. It's *the* most innovative and cheapest sensor for robotics, my field, period. The time of flight capabilities they added to the Kinect 2 are unheard of for under $6000. The resolution is unheard of for any price. I will be the first one in line to buy a PC compatible kinect for my robotics research, and I'll be smiling all the way home TYVM.

    8. Re:Microsoft seem determined by naoursla · · Score: 3, Informative

      They already released a Kinect for XBox and Windows.

      The Windows Kinect has a near-mode that the XBox one lacks.

    9. Re:Microsoft seem determined by Missing.Matter · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Xbox is sold at a loss and subsidized by the expectation of future game sales. The kinect 2 is an amazing piece of technology, that alone is worth thousands of dollars to a researcher, whose only other options until now have been sensors from specialized industrial suppliers with limited runs and excessive prices (we're talking $5k - $10k).

      What Microsoft obviously doesn't want people doing is buying an Xbox, using only the Kincect, and not buying any media. Thus Kinect for Xbox only works with Xbox, and if you want to use it for another application you don't get the subsidy. Oh how greedy.

    10. Re:Microsoft seem determined by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because the article said something negative about Microsoft. Obviously it can't be wrong.

    11. Re:Microsoft seem determined by Ultra64 · · Score: 3, Informative

      "Original article says they're going to release 2 different Kinects; one for Windows and one for XBox One... but hey, let's form opinions based on headlines and cherry picking quotes!"

      I think you need to look up what "compartmentalize" means.

      He didn't say anything about them not releasing a Kinect for Windows. He just pointed out that you now need two separate but similar devices to solve a problem that used to be covered with a single device.

    12. Re:Microsoft seem determined by DrGamez · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because when before I had to just buy one, now I must buy two to get the same "functionality". I don't get how this is confusing.

    13. Re:Microsoft seem determined by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So no different than the device you made your post from.

    14. Re:Microsoft seem determined by timeOday · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Why are people assuming the Windows and XBox One versions will differ only in connector?

      Kinect 1 was an add-on for the XBox 360. That means everything particular to Kinect had to be in the Kinect itself, for example some video processing capability. USB, after all, is a sucky interface for video transfer, and the XBox 360 had no particular capability to do the processing required by Kinect anyways.

      Kinect 2 is an integrated component of XBox One, so more of its processing is almost certainly offloaded into the GPU or other components of the XBox One console. Surely this will be cheaper than having separate (and substantial) RAM and processing inside the Kinect. But obviously the Kinect for PCs cannot take the same approach.

      Granted, I have no direct knowledge and am just reasoning this out. But if you're designing the console and sensor together it's hard to imagine it won't be cheaper to have a deeper integration of computing resources needed.

    15. Re:Microsoft seem determined by icebike · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That only makes sense if buying the Xbox Only version was cheap and easy. For sake of argument, lets say it is.

      It will take http://pinouts.ru/ maybe a week and a half to post the specs, and some enterprising Chinese company will make a converter.
      Or you could bread-board your own.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    16. Re:Microsoft seem determined by iMadeGhostzilla · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Also I imagine the final Kinect 2 for Windows will surely be less expensive than the new XBox. If I buy the XBox One just for the Kinect, everybody loses -- I pay extra for a console I won't use, and MS loses money on subsidizing unused hardware.

    17. Re:Microsoft seem determined by Somebody+Is+Using+My · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wait, let me fix that for you:

      99.999% of the Kinects sold were just plugged into an Xbox 360 and used for one or two console game and then left to collect dust after a few months.

      Because, neat as the technology is (and I have to give kudos to Microsoft, the Kinect is neat tech), it doesn't really add anything to most games. Hell, in most cases it is more frustrating to use the Kinect to control your character than the regular gamepad. Sure, the Kinect-enabled party-games were fun for a while - mostly to show off to your friends - but they quickly wore out their welcome as everyone gravitated towards more traditional games, be it Rock Band, Madden or Call of Duty. The most use I got out of my Kinect was when playing Mass Effect 3, and then only because yelling "quicksave" was the one thing that the Kinect made easier to do than navigating all those menus with a gamepad.

      With Kinect2 built into every XBOne ot will make it easier for developers to add the technology to their games but I have strong doubts that it will make motion-control any more /useful/.

    18. Re:Microsoft seem determined by bondsbw · · Score: 3, Interesting

      With Kinect2 built into every XBOne ot will make it easier for developers to add the technology to their games but I have strong doubts that it will make motion-control any more /useful/.

      Like GPS and accelerometers in mobile devices, if developers have confidence that more/all users will have access to a certain technology, it's more likely they will try to come up with useful ideas.

      Also, don't forget that the Kinect 2 is vastly improved over the Kinect in terms of depth resolution and AI capabilities. That alone could give developers what they need to take their games and other software to the next level.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    19. Re:Microsoft seem determined by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Informative

      They already released a Kinect for XBox and Windows.

      The Windows Kinect has a near-mode that the XBox one lacks.

      Also, Kinect for Windows runs the IR at 640x480. The Xbox Kinect runs at 320x240 (even though its sensor is 640x480) because the Xbox360 does not have sufficient USB bandwidth to handle 4x audio streams, and 2x VGA 60fps streams.(in theory, the Xbox can do just under 40MB/sec over USB2, but in practice, it's only getting half that).

      Kinect 2 for Windows requires USB3 because its cameras are high def, including the time-of-flight one.

    20. Re:Microsoft seem determined by Scarletdown · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Since your post is already at 5, here is a virtual mod point to make it effectively 6.

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      This space unintentionally left blank.
    21. Re:Microsoft seem determined by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

      The XBOX 360 pads used a cryptographic handshake to make sure no unauthorized 3rd party could make their own. It would be easy to make it work the other way too, i.e. prevent the Kinect working on a PC without doing the handshake which relies on a secret key hidden in the XBone.

      It took maybe 5 years for a Chinese company to make their own 360 controllers. Presumably the DRM on the new hardware will be better protected.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    22. Re:Microsoft seem determined by RabidReindeer · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm confused, if a connector designed by one company and used only by that company is not a proprietary connector, what is?

      Well, if you're a proper Apple fanboi, it's a Universal Connector!

  2. Not proprietary for long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How much you want to bet it's just USB with a funny shape on the end

    1. Re:Not proprietary for long by ericloewe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The PC Kinect will use USB 3.0, no word on power delivery, but it could be through said USB 3.0 connection. The Xbox One version won't be very different, I guess, but they might complicate things with different protocols and out of spec stuff on the Xbox One.

      I guess we'll quickly know if they just used a proprietary connector and kept everything else.

  3. If I may be allowed a shameless pun... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...It seems Microsoft is dis-kinected from fans.

    1. Re:If I may be allowed a shameless pun... by UltraZelda64 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not if it's dis-kinected from the wall outlet first.

  4. I just bought a Kinect for PC by Mike+Blakemore · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are some differences between the PC version and the Xbox version. The PC version has "upgraded" firmware that allows for gesture recognition at closer proximities. Also, its about $100 more than the Xbox Kinect.

    I'm now using it for speech and gesture recognition in Touch Control System (TCS): a 3D game engine built for controlling electronics.
    http://hyperplaneinteractive.com/blog/tcs-in-depth/

    1. Re:I just bought a Kinect for PC by PPH · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Just thinking out loud: The Xbox Kinect might be more (or less) than a Windows Kinect with an oddball connecter. Its possible that some of the Windows Kinect firmware functions have been moved into the Xbox and the Xbox Kinect lacks those functions. And can't be upgraded.

      Sort of like the old Winmodems.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  5. Boycott Microsoft. by tuppe666 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You guys do realize they are making Kinnect for Windows available separately right? who gives a shit if you can't plug in the one from your Xbox.

    People who were planning on Gaming on Microsoft's(not your) Console and on Microsofts' (not your)PC, and don't want to spend twice as much money, on something they may not want or need.

    That said none standard connectors are just shitty, for a whole host or reasons.

  6. Makes absolute sense, technically. by goruka · · Score: 3, Informative

    For those of us who worked with Kinect, we know very well all of it's limitations. It's a promising technology but it's still very green and far from what it is advertised as. It pretty much only works if you are looking to the camera and waving your hands and legs. Any attempt to turn sideways or even put your hands together completely confuses the heck out of it (check their technology demo videos, such scenarios are all purposely avoided).
    There's even open source implementations of the pose recognition that work better (though they need calibration).
    By making it XB1 only hackers will not be able to see how much it really improved (likely not much judging by their videos). So far from what I can tell, only the APIs improved so it's easier to get data from it (full matrices, motion vectors and strain, which you could easily compute yourself anyway), and some stuff was added to detect heart and blood rate (likely based on this MIT stuff. That's pretty much it.