Kinect Development: Xbox 360 Kinect vs. Kinect for Windows

Question

Quoted from Windows:

If you’re a software developer, you can use the Kinect for Xbox 360 together with your computer to test the software you’re working on. However, to get the full Kinect for Windows experience, we recommend you download the Kinect for Windows SDK and use it with the Kinect for Windows.

Question 1: If I want to begin working with the Kinect SDK and Visual Studio development, will the Kinect for Xbox 360 work (as opposed to the newer Kinect 2 for Xbox One)? I understand it will lack some functionality that the Windows version has.

Question 2: In the above statement, when Windows states 'develop' with the Xbox 360 Kinect, what does develop mean? More specifically, can I completely develop my application, test it, and run it with the Xbox 360 Kinect and just not be able to publish it? Or, will I only have some functionality but not be able to run the Xbox 360 Kinect with my application and be forced to purchase the Windows version?

Sorry for the lengthy questions. I have been researching this project for the past week, and I feel the difference between the Kinects and the extent at which they can be utilized with development is very ambiguous. Also, much of the information is outdated pertaining to the Xbox One and Xbox 360 Kinects, along with the Kinect SDK.

Answer 1

After weeks of research and downloading all of the available SDK environments for both versions of the kinect, I have finally found an answer.

key:

Kinect v1 = XBOX 360 kinect/Windows v1 Kinect - Kinect SDK v1.8 -VS2012+lower

Kinect v2 = XBOX ONE kinect/Windows v2 Kinect - Kinect SDK v2.0 -VS2013

Answer 1: Yes, the XBOX360 version of the kinect will work for development purposes, but it is only compatible with the Kinect SDK v1.8. Version 2.0 SDK is specifically for the XBOX ONE kinect. Version 2 SDK has dropped all drivers for the v1 kinect and will not support it. Also, note that The v2 Kinect will only work in the microsoft VS2013 or higher versions, whereas the Kinect v1 will ONLY work with the VS2012 or lower versions. Be prepared to install both if necessary. I have both currently installed on my windows 8 machine.

Answer 2: Yes, you can completely develop applications using the Kinect XBOX ONE/360 versions, but you cannot publish them. Also, the gaming versions do lack a lot of needed functionality compared to the Windows versions.

I hope this post brings some clarity for Kinect developers. Good luck.

Answer 2

I do agree to what Aimforchris has mentioned above. But obviously the quality and functionality of XBOX ONE is much better which works only with SDK V2 than its predecessor, and is much better for developing proposes in terms of accuracy of visual inputs.

And as for the second question, I have used both the the above mentioned devices with UNITY 3D and also Visual Studio via the SDK's and unity plugins such as these to develop AR based hand gesture applications and deploy them as APKs.