Extending the XBox Kinect

The easiest examples for extending the Kinect on XBox


You probably found yourself in the same position that I have. I have a remote mounted rack in my house where all my Audio Video gear is installed. It's about 30 feet away from my TV, so my game systems work fine (with the range of the controllers), but once the Kinect came out, I needed a new solution. The Kinect cable is so short, and is designed for the XBox to be located right next to the TV. So I needed to find a way to extend the Kinect Cable in order to install the XBox in my rack with the rest of my electronics.


I had the issue with my XBox 360 and then again with the XBox One. Thankfully, they both had very siimilar solutions. Since the Kinect (for either system) has it's own proprietary connection, you need to convert it to a standard USB connector (which is done with a Kinect USB adapter for the appropriate system).


Once you've installed the Kinect adapter, then you just need a USB Extension Cable for the system. On the XBox 360, you could just use an Active USB 2.0 Cable, but the XBox One requires an Active USB 3.0 Cable to handle the higher requirements of the new Kinect.


To clarify, here are the basic steps:


  1. Step 1 - Plug in Kinect Adapter

    NOTE: This item requires a power connection. It has a proprietary connector for Kinect and then gives you a USB connector that can then be extended to the XBox

    1. XBox 360 -- Easy Vita Kinect Power Adapter
    2. XBox One -- MS Kinect for Windows adapter

  2. Step 2 - Plug in USB Extension Cable

    This goes between the Kinect for Windows adapter, and the XBox
    NOTE: I haven't had trouble using any USB ports on either of the XBox's, they all seem to work fine.)

    1. XBox 360 -- PTC Active 49ft USB 2.0 Extension Cable
    2. XBox One (Option #1) -- Tripplite 25ft USB 3.0 Extender
    3. XBox One (Option #2) -- Sabrent 5 Meter USB 3 Cable

  3. Step 3 - Turn your XBox power on, and test.

    NOTE: The voice commands worked fine on the XBox One for me as well.