Kinect for Windows OR Kinect XBox360

[shavo]

Hello,

one simple question. I didn't find a answer yet.

I want to develope something with LabVIEW 2012 and Kinect.

Do I need the new "Kinect for Windows" or the old "Kinect XBox360" sensor?

Thanks!

[Christian Mergl]

I know that it works with the old one, but I cannot tell your for sure that it works the same way with the new one for windows.

A good place to find this out is to ask the guy's which developed the toolkit directly at their NI Community page, here.

Christian

[Naity]

Hi Shavo,

you should get a link to this FAQ from Microsoft:

Kinect for Windows: Frequently asked questions

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/news/faq.aspx

There is a question called "What's the difference between the Kinect for Windows sensor and the Kinect for Xbox 360 sensor?"

I'll post the whole answer under, but its's mostly a question of cables and of support, not that much of compatibility. 

The page that christian linked refers to a library called Kinesthesia. This library is based on the Microsoft Kinect for Windows SDK, which means it should fully support the Kinect for Windows device. It could also work with the Kinect for XBOX device, but Microsoft official position on the matter is that the SDK has not be tested with the Xbox hardware and thus is not supported.

Long story short, if you should buy a new device for computer use, the kinect for windows hardware seems more appropriate. If you have an xbox kinect, you should try with it but Microsot says that it could not work (now or in the future) as they don't take this version of the hardware in consideration for the SDK upgrade.

Here the full article for the FAQ:

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@Microsoft  wrote:

The Kinect for Windows sensor is a fully-tested and supported Kinect experience on Windows with features such as “near mode,” skeletal tracking control, API improvements, and improved USB support across a range of Windows computers and Windows-specific 10’ acoustic models.

The sensor was specifically designed to be used with computers, and includes a shortened USB cable to ensure reliability across a broad range of computers. Kinect for Xbox 360 was built for and tested with the Xbox 360 only, not with any other platform, which is why it is not licensed for general commercial use, supported, or under warranty when used on any other platform.

Kinect for Xbox 360, on the other hand, was built for and tested with the Xbox 360 only, not with any other platform, which is why it is not licensed for general commercial use, supported, or under warranty when used on any other platform.

Microsoft has a large team of engineers that is dedicated to continual improvements of the hardware and software associated with Kinect for Windows, and is committed to providing ongoing access to Microsoft's deep investment in human tracking and speech recognition.

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I hope this helps you

Have a great day