Combination between Intel RealSense and MS Kinect v2?

[Florian_M_]

Hello everybody,

has anyone ever tried to use a RealSense and a Kinect v2 at the same time on one PC (Windows 8.1)?
What were the results?

[MartyG]

I've heard a number of accounts of people who have used both Kinect and RealSense on their PC's USB port.  It's not clear whether they had both of them plugged in at the same time though.

Microsoft changed how they implement Kinect on Windows at the end of last year.  Instead of having separate cameras for Xbox and PC, there is now only the Xbox camera and it plugs into the USB 3.0 port of a PC with at least Windows 8 via a $49.99 adapter.

http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2014/10/22/microsoft-releases-kinect-sdk-2-0-new-adapter-kit/

Microsoft's specification page for Kinect for Windows says that it needs a "USB 3.0 controller dedicated to the Kinect for Windows v2 sensor or the Kinect Adaptor for Windows for use with the Kinect for Xbox One sensor".

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/purchase/sensor_setup.aspx

The phrase about "dedicating" the USB 3.0 controller to Kinect 2 suggests that either the Kinect or RealSense would not function if both were plugged in simultaneously.  If you could plug one of the cameras into a second USB 3.0 port then you would think that the statement about dedicating the port to Kinect would not have to be included in the specification.

The one thing I can say for certain is that two RealSense cameras would not function, as the current SDK only supports a single RealSense camera.

Maybe someone on the forum who has both cameras could offer some definitive information.

[Markus_P_1]

Hi,

I have both devices and you can run them both on the same time. Still you will not get any depth data from the Intel RealSense camera. It seems like the IR of the Kinect V2 overrides the Intel RS. The depth data of the Kinect V2 seems to remain stable though.

Best,

Markus

[MartyG]

Thanks for the information, Markus!

[samontab · Accepted solution]

Yes, can confirm that both systems can run at the same time.

The kinect 2 IR lights are many times more powerful than the RealSense one, so as long as you are pointing into different areas of the scene, they both work fine.

[Florian_M_]

Thank you very much for your answers!

Have a nice day!