These Could Be the Specs for the Next Generation Kinect

There is a new batch of rumors about the successor to the Xbox Kinect that give the specifics on the updated device currently operating under the name “Durango”. The rumors are detailed down to the specs of the 3D camera sensor, but nothing is official yet. The specs being reported seem pretty believable though — most categories are getting a slight bump in specs, but nothing so crazy as to raise any doubt. Let’s look at the numbers.

The field of view, basically the area in the which the Kinect can “see” you, is getting a jump from its current 57.5″ by 43.5″ dimensions to a wider and taller 70″ by 60″, which will give you a little more room to spread out when you’re playing Fruit Ninja against your friends. The increased size could even be enough to accommodate additional players if your living room is large enough — and your friends are small enough.

The Durango will be able to return a full color HD stream. The resolution of 1920 by 1080 is a huge jump from the Kinect’s 640 by 480. It also gets a bump in its ability to determine object depth, with that resolution going from 320 by 240 to 512 by 424. Low light play will also be improved in the Durango thanks to an infrared stream.

There should be a noticeable improvement in system latency while playing, with the time it takes the system to process sensor information dropping by a third with the Durango. This might be helped by the move from USB 2.0 to 3.0.

The audio setup of the Durango misses out on the upgrade, and will be exactly the same as the Kinect, featuring four microphones and processing the audio at 48KHz. One thing the Durango is loosing in the upgrade is the tilt motor featured on the Kinect. Microsoft doesn’t think it’s needed now that the field of view is so greatly increased.

Again, these are just rumored specs, but it would be hard to imagine Microsoft trying to pass off anything less than this and calling the Durango a big improvement, and obviously if the real numbers beat these that would be wonderful.

Since we’re talking about rumors, let’s start one that the new sensor is called “Durango” because this video clip will play every time you power up your new Xbox:

(via VGleaks, image via Antony Bennison)

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