5 ms·

Xbox Kinnect user experiencing an afterimage.

41 points by piaskal 16y ago

wccrawford 16y ago
Considering that you can put on night-vision goggles and see the pattern that a Kinect puts out, and it's just dots, not shapes, I seriously doubt this guy's problems are actually from the Kinect.
- eekfuh 16y ago
  You can also just your digital camera, my iphone 4's cam picks it up (it comes up as just normal white light).
  - dhughes 16y ago
    I thought most digital cameras and webcams have IR filters.
burgerbrain 16y ago
I am willing to bet that if these people didn't have some understanding of how the kinect works, they would not be experiencing this. Kind of similar to how small towns will occasionally complain about radiation from newly installed cell-towers, only to later realize the tower hasn't even been powered up yet. As I understand the kinect's operation, it sends out a grid of dots, each dot being spread out by a few inches or so by a few feet away. In order to get a grid after-image, assuming that IR could do that, you'd have to be inches away from the device so that several different beams were all entering your eye through your pupil. Now, it's possible there is something actually going on here, but my money is on psychosomatic. Seems way more plausible to me.
- Someone 16y ago
  In order to get a grid after-image [...] you'd have to be inches away from the device so that several different beams were all entering your eye through your pupil. Not necessarily. Kinect beams could reflect of your room onto your monitor, and back onto your retina. I think you might be able to achieve an afterimage in a laboratory, if you tried really hard: - find some material that is fluorescent in visible light when irradiated by the IR that Kinect emits - fill your room with it. - seriously darken your room. - play a game that has a very dark screen. - stare at the screen for a couple of minutes while Kinect is active, keeping your eyes focused on one spot. Of course, all of these are unlikely to be applicable here. Also, you will probably have lots of trouble finding that fluorescent material, if it exists at all; IR light is lower-energy than visible light, so the material will have to do multiple-photon absorption.
  - burgerbrain 16y ago
    As I said, it's possible I'm wrong but I definitely think psychosomatic is far more likely. Particularly with the low amount of reports of this phenomenon.
  - drivebyacct2 16y ago
    None of that changes the fact that this is IR. And I still find it impossible to believe that "spots resemble a vertical or slightly diagonal line and really resemble a sort of one dimensional test pattern (with various symbols, kinda like various geometric shapes). " would be visible via coincidence. Psychosomatic. All the way. (I personally believe OP is a troll).
    - Someone 16y ago
      I wasn't attacking the conclusion, but only pointed out an error in his/her logic.
kgc 16y ago
For comparison, here's a youtube video of the dots the Kinect projects. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM2-JQtd2Oc&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM2-JQtd2Oc&feature=relat... I think the "test pattern" is in the poster's imagination.
- pontifier 16y ago
  If you'll notice at the end of that video, the projector seems quite bright. If it is effecting the user's vision, a pattern could be because of eye motion, not the actual pattern projected. I worry permanent effects of bright IR sources myself... I tend to avoid looking at Sick or Velodyne scanners when I'm around them too.
  - jonah 16y ago
    Lidar scanners use IR lasers. AFAIK the Kinect uses IR LED which wouldn't be nearly as harmful.
meatsock 16y ago
all sorts of afterimages are both plausible and common after looking at any sort of bright screen, after strenuous activity, or a combination of both. question is phrased as 'is this common and annoying thing about the world related to a new tech fad?'
binaryfinery 16y ago
/world runs out to buy kinect just to be able to participate in class action suit.
sliverstorm 16y ago
If you're worried, just get some sunglasses that can filter out infrared
- ams6110 16y ago
  Sunglasses filter UV. Off the opposite end of the visible spectrum.
  - sliverstorm 16y ago
    Ok, so they wouldn't be called sunglasses. Either way, they have to exist somewhere. I'm pretty sure welder's masks block IR.
    - Natsu 16y ago
      A welder's mask is much too dark to play a game with. There are, however, IR cut-off filters. They're used in photography. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_cut-off_filter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_cut-off_filter
      - ique 16y ago
        There are also sunglasses that filter out IR only, we wear them in the laser labs in school all the time.
      - nitrogen 16y ago
        An oxyacetylene welding mask would probably work, since they are less opaque than an arc welding mask.
modeless 16y ago
I'm sure it's not related to this guy's problem, but I was surprised to find that Kinect puts out some visible light; you can easily see it when looking directly into the emitter, and if you get close enough (think centimeters) you can actually see (what I assume is) the dot pattern.

41 points by piaskal 16y ago

Considering that you can put on night-vision goggles and see the pattern that a Kinect puts out, and it's just dots, not shapes, I seriously doubt this guy's problems are actually from the Kinect.

eekfuh 16y ago
You can also just your digital camera, my iphone 4's cam picks it up (it comes up as just normal white light).
- dhughes 16y ago
  I thought most digital cameras and webcams have IR filters.

burgerbrain 16y ago

I am willing to bet that if these people didn't have some understanding of how the kinect works, they would not be experiencing this. Kind of similar to how small towns will occasionally complain about radiation from newly installed cell-towers, only to later realize the tower hasn't even been powered up yet. As I understand the kinect's operation, it sends out a grid of dots, each dot being spread out by a few inches or so by a few feet away. In order to get a grid after-image, assuming that IR could do that, you'd have to be inches away from the device so that several different beams were all entering your eye through your pupil. Now, it's possible there is something actually going on here, but my money is on psychosomatic. Seems way more plausible to me.

Someone 16y ago
In order to get a grid after-image [...] you'd have to be inches away from the device so that several different beams were all entering your eye through your pupil. Not necessarily. Kinect beams could reflect of your room onto your monitor, and back onto your retina. I think you might be able to achieve an afterimage in a laboratory, if you tried really hard: - find some material that is fluorescent in visible light when irradiated by the IR that Kinect emits - fill your room with it. - seriously darken your room. - play a game that has a very dark screen. - stare at the screen for a couple of minutes while Kinect is active, keeping your eyes focused on one spot. Of course, all of these are unlikely to be applicable here. Also, you will probably have lots of trouble finding that fluorescent material, if it exists at all; IR light is lower-energy than visible light, so the material will have to do multiple-photon absorption.
- burgerbrain 16y ago
  As I said, it's possible I'm wrong but I definitely think psychosomatic is far more likely. Particularly with the low amount of reports of this phenomenon.
- drivebyacct2 16y ago
  None of that changes the fact that this is IR. And I still find it impossible to believe that "spots resemble a vertical or slightly diagonal line and really resemble a sort of one dimensional test pattern (with various symbols, kinda like various geometric shapes). " would be visible via coincidence. Psychosomatic. All the way. (I personally believe OP is a troll).
  - Someone 16y ago
    I wasn't attacking the conclusion, but only pointed out an error in his/her logic.

kgc 16y ago

For comparison, here's a youtube video of the dots the Kinect projects. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM2-JQtd2Oc&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM2-JQtd2Oc&feature=relat... I think the "test pattern" is in the poster's imagination.

pontifier 16y ago
If you'll notice at the end of that video, the projector seems quite bright. If it is effecting the user's vision, a pattern could be because of eye motion, not the actual pattern projected. I worry permanent effects of bright IR sources myself... I tend to avoid looking at Sick or Velodyne scanners when I'm around them too.
- jonah 16y ago
  Lidar scanners use IR lasers. AFAIK the Kinect uses IR LED which wouldn't be nearly as harmful.

meatsock 16y ago

all sorts of afterimages are both plausible and common after looking at any sort of bright screen, after strenuous activity, or a combination of both. question is phrased as 'is this common and annoying thing about the world related to a new tech fad?'

binaryfinery 16y ago

/world runs out to buy kinect just to be able to participate in class action suit.

sliverstorm 16y ago

If you're worried, just get some sunglasses that can filter out infrared

ams6110 16y ago
Sunglasses filter UV. Off the opposite end of the visible spectrum.
- sliverstorm 16y ago
  Ok, so they wouldn't be called sunglasses. Either way, they have to exist somewhere. I'm pretty sure welder's masks block IR.
  - Natsu 16y ago
    A welder's mask is much too dark to play a game with. There are, however, IR cut-off filters. They're used in photography. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_cut-off_filter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_cut-off_filter
    - ique 16y ago
      There are also sunglasses that filter out IR only, we wear them in the laser labs in school all the time.
    - nitrogen 16y ago
      An oxyacetylene welding mask would probably work, since they are less opaque than an arc welding mask.

modeless 16y ago

I'm sure it's not related to this guy's problem, but I was surprised to find that Kinect puts out some visible light; you can easily see it when looking directly into the emitter, and if you get close enough (think centimeters) you can actually see (what I assume is) the dot pattern.