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Microsoft shows off more of Kinect V2 for PCs at Build

A new version of the motion-sensing camera is coming to Windows PCs, copying the design and features of the Xbox One version.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
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Dan Ackerman
2 min read

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Microsoft

When Microsoft's Kinect camera for the Xbox 360 was released in 2010, enterprising software developers and high-tech hobbyists quickly learned how to use the hardware on Windows PCs for everything from motion control to augmented reality. A version of the original Kinect camera for Windows PCs followed in 2012.

The new hardware closely copies the Xbox One version, trading the original's rounded edges for a boxy, squared-off shape. Placed side by side, you'll notice that the PC version has the Kinect logo stamped on its top panel, and the power indicator is simply a glowing light, not a stylized Xbox logo, as on the console version.

The look and name of the camera are not new; Microsoft revealed these on March 27 in a blog post, and some software developers have been part of an alpha program with access to early hardware and software since last year.

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Microsoft
Unlike the Xbox One Kinect, the V2 version for PCs plugs into a bulky hub box. From there, you connect the sensor itself, a USB 3.0 cable that goes to your PC, and a power cable to an electrical outlet.

Developers working with early versions of Kinect V2 have said it offers many improvements, including capturing full-HD video, and offputting processing tasks to the PC's GPU rather than its CPU. At Build 2014, Microsoft's developer conference, the company said it should work in smaller spaces than the original Kinect for Windows, and that it will have appeal far beyond gaming.

The Kinect for Windows V2 is expected to be available this summer.