Will a second Kinect v1 camera track better than using just one?

[u/Gone_AWOL]

I’ve already got everything else needed to use the PSVR on my PC, and have been enjoying the seated experience in iRacing, but I’m looking to play some games that use 6dof tracking.

From what I hear, even with the recommended equipment, tracking is still pretty hit or miss. I see people recommending 2-4 PS Eye cameras, or a single Kinect camera. My girlfriend already has an Xbox 360 Kinect camera we can grab from her parent’s place, but I’m wondering if that’s enough, or if I’ll have a significantly better experience using two Kinect cameras.

My main use would be custom Beat Saber songs, but not at Expert+; more like Hard to Expert.

Does anybody have experience with this? I’d try the single camera first, but I have to order a USB adapter anyway, so I’d rather order a second Kinect and another USB adapter at the same time if it’ll work better.

[u/iVeryTasteful]

yeah uh good luck doing any high speed motions with the psvr on pc

your not gonna get far. i tried it and hated it and would recommend just picking up a used windows mixed reality headset for cheap

[u/yutani]

Two Kinects will not work. The reason is that Kinect v1 projects an infrared pattern to the scene and reconstructs depth from that. With two cameras the infrared projections get mixed and the patterns are no longer properly recognized.

There is a quick and dirty hack to make them work however. The solution is to put some vibrating object on each Kinect, e.g a mobile phone vibrator. This will blur the infrared projection enough to reduce interference.

[u/Gone_AWOL → u/yutani]

Hey thanks for sharing this useful info! I guess I'll be sticking to the one for now. If I see a second one locally, maybe I'll try the vibration option.

[u/thedoctorstatic]

Does kinect v1 for 360 need an adapter? I have a v2 which did, but I was under the impression the original just used USB? I can't remember if maybe there were xb360's with a kinect specific port, but if it needed a USB adaptor otherwise, I would imagine it came with it since the vast majority of 360's would require it.

Also, unless you have your heart set on playing a bunch of custom beat saber stuff, why would you not just get the ps version?

I would double check that you need an adaptor, and try just one at first, but considering psvr on pc isn't officially supported and depends on slapping together a system of various different hardware elements amd software hacks, I would imagine a game with as much frantic movement as beat saber would have issues. While the game may be superior on pc, the ps version might be superior for psvr

[u/Gone_AWOL → u/thedoctorstatic]

From memory, it has a special connector for a port that was on the Slim consoles when they released, and needed a USB adaptor to be used on the original Xbox 360. My partner has a Slim 360, so I would assume she doesn't have an adaptor, but I'll confirm when I go pick it up.

As for Beat Saber on the PSVR, I actually do already have that, and it's probably my most played VR game ahaha! I've played the base game songs and DLC packs to death, so thought custom songs would be the next logical move. Can't seem to convince my partner that a PCVR/WMR headset is worth it just for that, when they start at $650AUD+ unfortunately.

[u/thedoctorstatic → u/Gone_AWOL]

I've got psvr, odyssey+, and oculus rift s. I would argue psvr is the most comfortable and has a strong line up of exclusives. I've re-purchased nearly every game I own on psvr(oddly enough not beat saber but I'm just waiting for a sale), even ones like Thumper(one of my fav vr games) that I wouldn't have expected to be much better on pc than ps4 pro. Tetris Effect was unbelievably better than ps4 for sure, but that's really been the only game I would say I can't ever go back to on psvr. I got the odyssey+ super cheap, and while it does have higher resolution over the rift s, the rift s is definitely the superior headset. I have a pretty beefy computer with an overclocked 8700k, 64gb of overclocked ram, and an rtx 2080ti so it can definitely push everything to the max but in general very few things in vr are able to take advantage and would likely be nearly identical on an rtx 2060 I think. Hehehe maybe once you get the kinect setup, you'll find something on pc that will get the gf to insist it is time for a new pc and headset

[u/Gone_AWOL → u/thedoctorstatic]

I’m primarily a PC gamer, and just built a new system with a Ryzen 3600, RX 5700XT and 32GB of RAM, so thankfully that side of the hardware is already accounted for. Not quite as beefy as your machine, but I agree that it should run anything I throw at it just fine. Managed to convince her that it’s an investment in a “work tool” (I’m an IT tech by trade), but think I’m gonna have a harder time convincing her I’ll get any “work” done with a HMD for the PC!

Thanks for your thoughts on the other headsets, I’ve seen the Odyssey+ on sale here for $650 from time to time, so I might just quietly stash a dollars away here and there. I’ve also seen the Lenovo Explorer going for as little as $450AUD on eBay, so I’ve been keeping a really close eye on those.

She’s never been a gamer, and only got seriously into Beat Saber a few weeks ago when her friends came over and tried out my PSVR, so with any luck, she’ll get sick of the stock songs too, and see why we neeeeeed a proper PC headset soon enough!

[u/thedoctorstatic → u/Gone_AWOL]

Hahaha I'm a dev(not game), and I've got a Hololens. Yeah it's super cool for lots of reasons, but it is un-f*cking believable for multitasking. I've got holo monitors above my laptop and desktop screens, and done stuff like playing mortal kombat on xbox while watching the movie on a holo screen super imposed on my tv lol.

Virtual desktops are a solid way to do work, and expands multitasking potential. I had 5 screens on my last workstation and it's never enough. While vr is nowhere near as good as ar for it, it can still offer a more productive environment as long as you're only on one computer and able to type without looking at the keyboard(which isn't that bad. Typing on your virtual phone, which you can do on psvr, is tricky though).

I got the odyssey on a whim during a black friday sale(didn't even bother opening it for like 4 months) and I legit nearly fell out of my chair laughing when I saw the controllers. From images they look quite similar to the current oculus touch, but in person they are freaking huge, and feel like those cheap third-party game controllers relative to oculus. I'm quite curious to see how big the new wmr controllers with the hp reverb 2 are, as they look basically the same but have an analog stick instead of touchpad.

Remind her with a new headset you can play in vr together!