![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, July 11, 2007
- Author:
- Jason Wall
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
TrackIR 4 Pro Point-of-View Headset
This infrared motion tracking system gets clipped onto your headset or visor and allows you to change your POV in-game by merely moving your head. This is a great idea, but does it work, and who is it for?
Setup and Installation
Everything you need (short of a headphone set) comes in the package.
When we opened the retail packaging, we saw a quick start guide. This showed how to correctly install and assemble your TrackIR 4 Pro equipment.
Underneath was our detection array and infrared emitters/reflectors. We were a bit confused here because we weren’t sure what the reflector bracket was for. The instructions only described the use of the side-mounting array (the TrackClip Pro), so that’s what we used. We set the “reflector” set aside for now. (We noticed that the TrackIR 3 Pro used this reflective bracket, so we thought that maybe it was given to us by mistake.)
On the bottom of the package was the installation CD-ROM with another set of instructions.
Attaching the unit to your headphones/headset couldn’t be easier. The clip on the TrackClip Pro easily opens and clicks closed around the headset band.
Next you connect the IR detector to the USB cable for the array and connect both to your PC. We went through the installation, which was very fast and trouble-free.
Customization and Calibration
We opened the TrackIR software to see what hoops we had to jump through to get it to work. It turned out to be a fairly clean interface that was already loaded with a host of profiles. Unfortunately, many of the profiles were for games that we’ve never heard of, but we’d much prefer already having profiles instead of having to start from scratch. From the “Filter” field, we can select which genre of title we want.
As far as calibrating the device, there isn’t much you can do. Interestingly, this is one of the few input devices that doesn’t have a “Calibrate…” command anywhere. We found the “View” menu and selected “Tracking.” It opened a window that essentially showed what our detector was seeing. We were using our side-mounted array, so this physically showed what was being detected. We moved our head around and the green dots moved along with us. Apparently it was working.
We selected the “Heads” option under “View” and an “in-game” and “your” head were displayed. Again, we moved our head around and saw what the “in-game” head was doing. This window had “F12 to center” at the bottom, and sure enough, if we hit F12, both heads would straighten up and be back at the starting position. This was as close to a calibration setting as we had seen so far.
Next we selected the “Gauges” option and were given a slightly less intuitive interface where it displayed how our movements translated to relative motion in the software. It was at this time where we first thought that we might have some problems with this unit, as the software wasn’t translating our movements very well. We adjusted the array and the detector, but its detection was still a bit suspect.
For grins we disconnected the side-mounted TrackClip array and tried the reflectors. We attached them to the top of our headset and turned on the “Tracking” window. We saw our green signal and moved around in our “Head” and “Gauges” view to see how it worked. It seemed like the reflector mount was working much better than the side-mounted array, but we wanted to see how it did in games before we made any judgments.
