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Kinect v4 (Azure Kinect) and its successors

The Azure Kinect DK, informally Kinect v4 (v1 = Xbox 360, v2 = Xbox One, v3 = the sensor embedded in HoloLens), was Microsoft's last standalone depth sensor: a 1 megapixel time-of-flight depth camera with a 4K color camera, 7-microphone array and IMU, released in 2019 as a developer kit.

Compared to the older Kinects it delivers higher depth resolution with less noise, has a global shutter that behaves better in sunlight, and multiple units can be hardware-synced by daisy-chaining a 3.5mm audio jack cable between their sync ports, which makes it well suited for multi-sensor setups. Details are in Microsoft's documentation.

Four views of one scene: a fisheye infrared image of people around a table, two point clouds of that room from different angles, and a colour-coded depth map
Sample output from Microsoft's Project Kinect for Azure, 2018

Discontinued, but living on at Orbbec

Microsoft discontinued the Azure Kinect DK in 2023 and stopped selling it. The technology was licensed to Orbbec, whose Femto Bolt uses the same depth camera technology and is the practical successor if you want to buy a comparable sensor new today. This is still under active support by Orbbec.

The depth sensor comparison puts the two side by side, with the specs, what is still sold new, and which Brekel apps support each one.

Using it with Brekel apps

  • Body v3: markerless body motion capture with one or more Azure Kinects (hardware sync supported and auto-detected), Orbbec Femto sensors, and other brands mixed freely.
  • PointCloud v3: volumetric video capture with one or more Azure Kinect or Orbbec Femto sensors.