When I first got my Xbox One, on launch day, I set it up in my office which just had a giant tv sitting on a stand with all of my various consoles in it. The kinect cable easily reached to the top of the tv and everything was fine… and then we found out we were having a baby.
Having the baby meant that my office now had to turn into a room for said baby, which also meant that my video game consoles had to move.
I ended up selling the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, along with the surround sound system and the tv and stand, so all that was left was the Xbox One, which I moved into the living room. The problem with being in the living room is that our tv is mounted above the fireplace on a free standing wall so when we set it up we ran all of the cables through the ceiling/walls into a closet which is where the cable box is, and where the Xbox One would have to go. The pro to the whole setup for me, not so much my wife, was that I could now run the tv through the Xbox and easily jump back and forth between tv and gaming; the con was that the kinect cable would no longer reach through the wall to the closet.
Unfortunately Microsoft does not offer any sort of supported Kinect 2.0 extension cable that reaches far enough for most media closet uses, so people have had to get creative.
I had been following a couple various forum posts about guys with the same problems trying to figure out a solution and last week I bit the bullet and tried one of them, and it works. So to keep you from having to weed through the bullshit of those forum posts, here’s exactly what you need.
What You Need to Extend the Xbox One Kinect 2.0 Cable
- Kinect Adapter for Windows
- Tripp Lite U328-025 USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Active Repeater Cable (AB M/M), 25-ft.
If the cable above isn’t working for you, here are some alternatives that might also work.
- FireNEX-uLINK USB 3.0 8 Meters/25 Feet, A to B Active Repeater Extension Cable
- [Slim Profile Repeater Box]USB 3.0 10 Meters/30 Feet, A to B Active Repeater Extension Cable, FireNEX-uLINK-S
That’s it, that’s all you need to extend the kinect 2.0 cable… well, of course you still need the cable that comes already attached to the kinect and you’ll need an outlet near the kinect for power, and a free USB port on the back of the Xbox One system itself.
Basically a USB 3.0 cable can’t give the Kinect enough power that it needs in order to function, so the Kinect Adapter for Windows allows you to get that power from a wall outlet instead, and then the Tripp Lite cable allows you to extend the data connection back to your Xbox One.
WARNING: If you plan to feed the Tipp Lite cable through the wall, be aware that about half way through the cable there is a small module in-line in the cable. It adds about an inch of girth to the cable itself at that point. So if you’re fishing through conduit or small holes or anything, just be aware that you may run into some issues. This is one thing the forums I was reading did not mention, so I wanted to be sure to give everyone a heads up.
But the setup itself seems to work just fine. Voice commands and the camera itself seem to work well, but I have not tried the IR blaster at all since I’m already using IR blaster eyes in the closet to allow the xbox to change the cable box if I need to. I had to setup the system so if my wife uses it, the Xbox turns on and goes right to TV and she can just use the normal remote to do the tv functions instead of having to mess with the xbox interface so we hardly use the actual OneGuide for tv show stuff.
After figuring out how to get my kinect to work, the next step was figuring out which external hard drive would work best with the Xbox One since I decided to go all digital in order to game share with a buddy of mine.
If you have any questions about the setup, please feel free to leave comments and I’ll help out as best I can.
Update 9/28/16 – It seems as though some people are having problems getting any extension setup to work correctly/consistently after the latest summer update. Some people have no problems, others it just plain doesn’t work. A couple solutions that people are mentioning is to make sure you’re plugged into the USB port on the back of the console, closest to the HDMI port. Try a hard reset of your Xbox One (hold on the power button for 10 seconds until the console shuts down). And also, don’t try to extend the cable more than 25′. I’m not sure if these will help alleviate any of the issues some people are having, but it’s worth a shot before returning the cables.
If you’re having problems with your setup after the latest updates let us know in the comments. Let us know which model of Xbox, if you are (or are not) in the Preview Program, and what setup you’re using to try to extend your Kinect.
HI, I tried following the instruction and watched many videos but have not been able to get this to work. I have the Kinect 2 plugged into the Kinect Adapter for Windows (which is plugged into the wall for power) and then the Tripp Lite U328-025 you link above connected to the same Kinect Adapter for Windows and going to the standard USB port on the XBox One. At one point I got a message saying that I’ve plugged it into the wrong port (it was insisting I use the Kinect port on the Xbox) but now it looks like the Kinect is on but no picture. Any ideas? Plugging in directly to the XBox One Kinect port of course works as expected. Is it all plug and play or some setting I have to change on the XBox?
Hey Eric,
It should be all plug-n-play. The only one thing that may have been an issue was which USB port I used. I seem to remember trying the port on the side of the Xbox One and not having any luck, so I had to move it to the back. I don’t have the extension currently hooked up due to moving, but I still have all the parts here, I’ll try to find time to throw it all back together and see if I’m having any issues… Maybe Microsoft did something with a recent update or something? I’m not sure, but I’ll try the setup again and see if it still works for me.
After doing some reading (http://www.avsforum.com/forum/141-xbox-area/1498930-xbox-one-kinect-extender-29.html) it looks like other people are having similar issues and it might be related to the recent summer xbox one update. They are suggesting though, to make sure that you are plugged into the USB port closest to the HDMI port… hopefully this isn’t a permanent thing…
I have an Xbox one Kinect bundle that I bought about 8 months ago. I tried the setup and the what Kinect sees box is completely grey. The cable that I bought is what you recommended. It is 25 feet I think.
Some people have been been reporting issues ever since the latest big summer Xbox One update. This setup seems to still work for some people, but not for everyone for some reason, which is super weird. Make sure you’re plugged into the USB port on the back, closest to the HDMI port, hard reset your system and make sure everything is plugged in while the system boots. If that doesn’t work, unfortunately I’m not sure what else to do. This post was written a while back when this setup absolutely worked (I was using it for a very long time, but have since changed the location of my Xbox One). I’ve been meaning to just try the setup again to see if I’m having the same problem as other people, but I haven’t had the time.
FireNEX-uLINK has 50ft (16m) version, proven to work with Kinect 2.0.
For those who needs longer range, you should definitely try it out.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0115EMVA6
Hey Alan, thanks for the heads up on the cable! It’s always nice to have other people verify when certain cables work… even if it does appear that you might be affiliated with the cable company 😉
I think this solution may have worked at one point, but the Tripp Lite and FireLinx cables no longer work :(. I was trying to connect via a 35 foot (Tripp Lite) or 50 foot (FireLinx) cable to the xbox one in the home theater closet. I guess i will accept i can’t find an extension for the kinect sensor and the console/wires need to stay with the TV, but i will at least try to play the audio through the home theater by sending the signal from the console to the AVR/Home theater through and HDMI Cable. The sound should play through the AVR/7.2 surround speakers and the image should return from the AVR to the TV through another HDMI cable. I’ll let you know when i try this out. Also, i exchanged the Xbox one for an Xbox one S on Amazon so i could have a nice form factor console (since i now know i will be staring at the thing). The net cost of the upgrade was $100.
Hi Gina,
The issue you might be having is the fact that you’re trying to extend over 25-ft. This article only mentions extensions up to 25-ft (which is why the links, link to those lengths of cable). Even though it is just a digital signal, the distance definitely matters from everything I’ve read elsewhere, due to signal degradation. So while some people aren’t having success after last summer’s updates, there are still some people that are having success. I’ve already packed my Kinect away (along with the Tripp Light cable and Kinect for Windows Adapter) for our future move, but once I get it out of the boxes I will test it again to make sure.
Mine is finally working which I am grateful after spending £200+ on the cable but I keep getting the message “Your Kinect is plugged in the wrong port” it won’t go away.
Also I want to say Xbox on and it turns on my TV but I can’t get that to work.
Hi Wilko,
Which Xbox One do you have? I know with the Xbox One S and the Xbox One X you need to plug the Kinect into the USB port closest to the HDMI port on the back. I’m not sure if that will fix your error, but I’ve seen other people have issues when the kinect was plugged into a different USB port.
As for getting the Xbox to turn on the TV, I believe the Kinect needs to be in a position where it can IR blast to the TV. So if you can’t get it to work, and all the settings seem correct, I would try adjusting it’s position. There is also a chance that you’ll need to use IR blasters from the Xbox to the IR sensor on the TV.
I still use the Kinect for gaming online and video chat but the adapter for Xbox One S has a USB 3.0 Type-A female connection, do you know if I can use a Type-A male to B female coupler to convert the Tripp Lite cable or any of these cables for that matter? Would it still work even if its just that 2″ extra?
sorry for the late reply here… I honestly don’t think it would work with the extension. I’ve had people that can’t even get it to work using a cable other than the Tripp Lite one, so by adding another extension in there it may mess with the signal even more.
Hi, a little late to the game but recently had to move the Xbox One for my kids and now need the Kinect extender option. I’ve been reading your tips on this thread. Any new updates for 2020?
Hi Judy,
I don’t really have any new updates for 2020 regarding this method, so I’m not even sure if it works anymore, especially with the new versions of the Xbox One that have come one (Xbox One S and Xbox One X). Sorry I can’t be of more help.