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XBox One S Seemingly Disables Kinect IR Blaster

psychotron

psychotron

Member
So I just got my Kinect adapter in the mail. Took about a week to get it. My wife and I use it to control our devices, making it easy to put on shows for our kids and keep remotes away from their mischievous hands. To put it simply, we count on being able to use Kinect.

I hooked the adapter up to the XBox One S, ran the setup program in which Kinect could see and hear us just fine. Seems great so far! Then I move on to setting up my tv, receiver and cable box. The commands aren't registering at all. I tried everything but it simply will not work. It appears as though you are forced to use the built in XB1 S IR blaster. This is great for those who don't own Kinect and want to control their devices, but majorly screws others. I keep my systems hidden away from plain site so my kids don't ruin them, and so I don't hear fan noise. Kinect was the perfect accessory for my needs and it seems to have been gimped.

I really hope this is fixed in the near future, but those interested in upgrading may be swayed. It certainly would have changed my mind.
 
Luckily mine won't sit tucked away, so it shouldn't affect me, but that seems like a bit of an oversight on their part.
 
Interesting, mine works fine. I hooked it up yesterday and when I went through cable setup process it was able to turn my box off and on.
 
I fully expected this.
Atleast now its seemingly confirmed.

Probably a quick hotfix will be issued.
Report it on the Xbox site.
 
Is getting something like this and plugging it into the back of the Xbox out of the question?

rHYKRyv.png
 
charpunk said:
Interesting, mine works fine. I hooked it up yesterday and when I went through cable setup process it was able to turn my box off and on.
Click to expand...
He means it defaults to the IR blaster on the front of the Xbox One S instead of using the Kinect. For people who hide their consoles away, that means the IR blaster on the actual console is blocked.
 
psychotron said:
So I just got my Kinect adapter in the mail. Took about a week to get it. My wife and I use it to control our devices, making it easy to put on shows for our kids and keep remotes away from their mischievous hands. To put it simply, we count on being able to use Kinect.

I hooked the adapter up to the XBox One S, ran the setup program in which Kinect could see and hear us just fine. Seems great so far! Then I move on to setting up my tv, receiver and cable box. The commands aren't registering at all. I tried everything but it simply will not work. It appears as though you are forced to use the built in XB1 S IR blaster. This is great for those who don't own Kinect and want to control their devices, but majorly screws others. I keep my systems hidden away from plain site so my kids don't ruin them, and so I don't hear fan noise. Kinect was the perfect accessory for my needs and it seems to have been gimped.

I really hope this is fixed in the near future, but those interested in upgrading may be swayed. It certainly would have changed my mind.
Click to expand...

Probably not the case, but you don't have a Vive with Lighthouses set up in the same room do you cause that will screw up IR signals.
 
shanew21 said:
He means it defaults to the IR blaster on the front of the Xbox One S instead of using the Kinect. For people who hide their consoles away, that means the IR blaster on the actual console is blocked.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It just doesn't make sense to me. If they had said that you have to use the internal blaster now, I would have accepted it and kept my old system. They made it seem like Kinect would function exactly the same with the adapter.
 
SPDIF said:
Is getting something like this and plugging it into the back of the Xbox out of the question?

rHYKRyv.png
Click to expand...

I bought some of those when I first got my Xbox One and they worked like shit for me. The range on the ones I got (cheap, but high reviews on amazon) were practically non-existent.

I had to stick them DIRECTLY on the IR sensor of the device I wanted to turn on in order for them to do anything, and the cord wasn't long enough to split to get to both my cable box and my TV.

The second there's a competitor to the Xbox One's voice controls, I'll move over to that. I've been hoping for a while that Logitech would put voice functionality into a new version of its Harmony Hub. You can kinda do that by syncing it with an Amazon Echo, but the voice commands aren't as useful as the Xbox One's.
 
shanew21 said:
He means it defaults to the IR blaster on the front of the Xbox One S instead of using the Kinect. For people who hide their consoles away, that means the IR blaster on the actual console is blocked.
Click to expand...

Where my Xbox one s is located, there is no way that blaster is getting to anything. It's blocked by a door.
 
psychotron said:
Yes, please make sure the blaster on the front is totally blocked. Thank you for doing this!
Click to expand...

There is no blaster on the front, that is an IR sensor for the media remote. You would need to plug an IR blaster into the port on the back and those are long and can be attached outside of your furniture.
 
JaggedSac said:
There is no blaster on the front, that is an IR sensor for the media remote. You would need to plug an IR blaster into the port on the back and those are long and can be attached outside of your furniture.
Click to expand...

The S has a built in IR blaster. It was an advertised feature.

Configure your Xbox One S to turn on other devices, like your TV, audio/video receiver, and cable/satellite receiver. Whether youÂ’re playing a game or watching a movie, the integrated IR blaster will get you to the action faster, allowing you to leave your remotes behind.
Click to expand...
 
So I experimented with making sure the console has a clear view in the room and everything works perfect. Block the IR blaster and nothing works. So it's clearly choosing built in over Kinect. Shitty move MS. Hopefully it's fixed soon. I've tweeted everyone and posted on the support forums.
 
Just got my adapter too (which is packages as an adapter for Windows And Xbox One S) and I have the same issue.
 
psychotron said:
Thank you for confirming. This is bullshit, and XBox support is being useless.
Click to expand...

I doubt it's anything support can do at this point. It seems like it's an oversight in the OS. The inclusion of the IR bar was to minimize the need for Kinect hardware. They should have had an option for people who hide their consoles to have Kinect override the bar... But they (apparently) didn't.

I think the best we can do is try to bring attention through on of the feedback channels so that it's fixed in an update.
 
I too was also having an issue with the IR working but I restarted the console and it seems to all be fine now. My console is only somewhat obscured though, so that could be why.

So just want to check you have tried a full restart of your console. I know it is probably one of the first things you tried but sometimes the obvious things are overlooked.
 
DirtyLarry said:
I too was also having an issue with the IR working but I restarted the console and it seems to all be fine now. My console is only somewhat obscured though, so that could be why.

So just want to check you have tried a full restart of your console. I know it is probably one of the first things you tried but sometimes the obvious things are overlooked.
Click to expand...

I tried restarts, unplugging, you name it. No luck.

KyleCross said:
Just an inquiring mind; This doesn't mean you keep your systems in enclosed spaces with little air circulation do you?
Click to expand...

The front of the system is hidden but the back and sides have lots of room to breathe. I've checked many times to make sure it's okay and it's always cool to the touch. I've used the same thing for my PS4 and PS3, which are both fine. It was my first concern when I decided to hide them.
 
acksman said:
I have an IR repeater plugged into mine that works well. It just sits and blasts back, not taped over the IR port.
Click to expand...

I was going to pick up the one listed for the XBox One at best buy and GameStop but none near me have them in stock. Only $7.99 too at Best Buy, which would be a cheap bandaid until they fix it.
 
LightningXCE said:
Post this on the Xbox One Subreddit, would be a good spot for visibility and to gain traction.
Click to expand...
Yeah not to go to OT but I made a thread on Reddit about my video issues and it got 4 replies, 3 of which were about how I should not have called it the XBox Slim in the title, and I am not including a follow up DM from the Moderator of the section about how I should not have called it the Slim in the thread title.
Yeah, it is not actually called the Slim, but I did it on purpose to make sure people knew I was in fact talking about the latest One.
I tend to avoid Reddit like the plague and my latest experienced reinforced why.
 
DirtyLarry said:
Yeah not to go to OT but I made a thread on Reddit about my video issues and it got 4 replies, 3 of which were about how I should not have called it the XBox Slim in the title, and I am not including a follow up DM from the Moderator of the section about how I should not have called it the Slim in the thread title.
Yeah, it is not actually called the Slim, but I did it on purpose to make sure people knew I was in fact talking about the latest One.
I tend to avoid Reddit like the plague and my latest experienced reinforced why.
Click to expand...

Just posted, can't wait, lol. I'm just trying all avenues to get exposure on the issue. I've tweeted, called, emailed....
 
They took away my Pioneer 5020FD from the options of selectable TVs so I'm stuck with something that just turns on and won't turn off with the system lol.
 
Albert Penello said:
Shouldn't work that way is my understanding. Should be using Kinect. Let me check.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I tweeted this to you earlier too. It's really annoying. I've done everything possible as far as troubleshooting, but it's definitely using the built in IR blaster. All other Kinect operations are working fine.
 
Well, I was wrong. I was confusing voice with IR.When you plug in Kinect voice moves from the headphone to the array microphone.

Xbox One S doesn't disable IR blasting with Kinect, it just doesn't use it. IR signals are not passed through USB, so on Xbox One S only the internal IR blaster is used.
 
Albert Penello said:
Well, I was wrong. I was confusing voice with IR.When you plug in Kinect voice moves from the headphone to the array microphone.

Xbox One S doesn't disable IR blasting with Kinect, it just doesn't use it. IR signals are not passed through USB, so on Xbox One S only the internal IR blaster is used.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the information, but this is incredibly disappointing. It was never mentioned that the IR function of Kinect would be useless after upgrading to the S model. I wouldn't have ever sold my original system if I knew I'd be losing functionality. I think MS was very misleading by saying we'd still be able to use Kinect, leaving out the fact that a core function was now not usable.
 
Albert Penello said:
Well, I was wrong. I was confusing voice with IR.When you plug in Kinect voice moves from the headphone to the array microphone.

Xbox One S doesn't disable IR blasting with Kinect, it just doesn't use it. IR signals are not passed through USB, so on Xbox One S only the internal IR blaster is used.
Click to expand...

I don't understand how this can be. Doesnt the camera also rely on IR blasts?
 
Albert Penello said:
Well, I was wrong. I was confusing voice with IR.When you plug in Kinect voice moves from the headphone to the array microphone.

Xbox One S doesn't disable IR blasting with Kinect, it just doesn't use it. IR signals are not passed through USB, so on Xbox One S only the internal IR blaster is used.
Click to expand...

Damn, lets hope your tech guys get on that then as that's pretty awkward for people that have upgraded and prefer their consoles out of sight.
 
AbandonedTrolley said:
Damn, lets hope your tech guys get on that then as that's pretty awkward for people that have upgraded and prefer their consoles out of sight.
Click to expand...

You still have the rear 3.5mm IR extension port. Maybe not ideal but I use them for my receiver which is inside a cupboard and it works well
 
psychotron said:
I tried restarts, unplugging, you name it. No luck.



The front of the system is hidden but the back and sides have lots of room to breathe. I've checked many times to make sure it's okay and it's always cool to the touch. I've used the same thing for my PS4 and PS3, which are both fine. It was my first concern when I decided to hide them.
Click to expand...

Maybe its becuase you did the set up with console unblocked? And thus it registered the built in IR blaster as the one used. f it works for the other guy I suspect it's possible for the console to use the Kinect one and not the built one. Unless you already tried to set it up.
 
mrklaw said:
You still have the rear 3.5mm IR extension port. Maybe not ideal but I use them for my receiver which is inside a cupboard and it works well
Click to expand...

Yeah seems there are workarounds, but really seems strange to take away such functionality especially something as useful as this.
 
mrklaw said:
You still have the rear 3.5mm IR extension port. Maybe not ideal but I use them for my receiver which is inside a cupboard and it works well
Click to expand...

This is the correct solution, cheap IR extension to get the functionality back and then enjoy all the benefits of the Xbox One S.
 
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