Rumor: wireless Wii sensor bar from Nyko

Good to know!
Could we get some info about calibrating the Wiimote?
Vlad's post makes it seem like you can't calibrate the Wiimote such that it aims exactly where you're posting, but I've heard other sources saying you can.

It could be that he just didn't have the time to get to that option yet, or maybe he couldn't find it, Jackson.

Back on topic, some other third-party companies, or at least Pelican, are already making an extension cord for the sensor bar, in case you might want to consider that option, too, or if this supposed wireless sensor bar isn't released any time around launch.

Holy cow, the thing's not even out and already bitching about cords? Gamers really are a pathetic bunch. What happens when the wireless sensor bar's battery dies in the middle of a game? Christ, why aren't you bitching about how painful it is to have to hook some sort of cable into your television, or how awful it is to plus it into the wall?

Bad idea, IMO. Anything that could possibly increase game lag or worse... interfere with the WiFi & Bluetooth connections that already exist are a bad thing.

hmmm....this is like double wireless. Something tells me there will be lag. Think about it. Instead of your controller directly connecting to the console wirelessly with the wired sensor bar, you are now more or less using the wireless sensor bar as a wireless middle-man to take your bluetooh wireless controller signal and convert it to a 2.4 Ghz wireless signal and then send the info to the system.

I don't like the idea.

Woohoo! Just what i need, more batteries!

It would not be double wireless. The bar is used for the pointer functionality of the Remote, while the Bluetooth is used for transferring the accelerometer data.

If it's wireless it's going to be bigger and it's going to require some sort of dock connected to the Wii, right?

I'm betting that the 'sensor' bar is nothing but a dumb LED flashlight. I don't think it does any communication whatsoever. At most it might flash a constant pattern in order for the wiimote to distinguish it from other sun-like IR sources, but I doubt even that (it might interfere with regular TV remotes). Thus a wireless bar won't even need to communicate with the console. Hell, TV manufacturers could integrate the bar into the TV set itself at practically no cost.

Can anyone give me a good reason why plain old bluetooth wouldn't be enough for all data transfer?

I don't know about anyone else, but I've had problems with bluetooth in general not working properly when a wireless access point or blackberry was present in the same room.

I've also experienced sychronization issues with bluetooth, where I've had to reconnect the devices because they forgot what they were connected to.

Not sure if these same issues with occur with Sony's implementation, and I'm really curious how well it'll work.

Nah...after the Intercooler, I'm done with Nyko for awhile.

As far as every reliable source has said, the sensor bar has two LEDs on it. That's it. There will be no delay from having it wireless; heck, it should be battery powered already. I'm betting the wireless will only be used to give it the signal to turn off when the console is off, if it even needs that.

@Moogle:

Just Bluetooth wouldn't work, because the Wiimote is like a mouse. The mouse needs a reference (the mousepad) and the Wiimote needs the sensor bar. Otherwise, your cursor could start anywhere on-screen, and you would have to move around to get the right positioning. That isn't convienient for anyone: would you want to have to make sure you're pointing at dead center of the TV screen every time you turn the Wii on?

Also, the cursor can't move past the edges of the screen, which would skew the Wiimote's connection with the cursor (similar to if you slide your mouse farther on the table than the cursor can go, the cursor will stay on the screen's edge).

Also, the sensor bar is needed to locate the Wiimote in 3D space, which gives the Wiimote different functions depending on how close it is to the sensor bar. For example, in the Photo Channel, your cursor grows smaller or bigger depending on how close you are to the sensor bar, giving you different-sized brushes, as if you were simply painting and just applying more pressure.

wireless everything.....it sounds good at first...until you actually do it.

My keyboard and mouse are wireless...its a pain in the ass to always be changing batteries, and recharging other ones, and after a few dozen re-charges the batteries die....its god damn annoying.

I'm going to get a 360...with wireless remotes...but that would be the only wireless thing I'd get...if something is stationary...keep it wired!

like this sensor bar...it stays in one spot, your not constintly moving it around...so wired is the best route....sure you'll have another wire hangin out behind your entertainment center...but its better then changijng batteries all the time...trust me.

anyone who buys this...will regret it.

fgm, I don't think it works like you think it does.

Here's my interpretation of the flow of information:
'Sensor bar' is just a IR flashlight, a reference point that says "Here's the bottom or top of the TV"

The wiimote has a camera on the from with a filter that only allows IR in. The camera takes from 30 to 60 fps video, probably 640x480 black&white.

The processor in the wiimote itself does a fast pattern search on each frame, and finds the two groups of bright IR on each end of the sensor bar. (This is why bright sunlight reflecting off of things near the TV can mess up the pointer.)

Based on the angle of gravity (down) from the accelerometers and the angle of the groups of IR LEDs it sees in the image, it can interpret which direction is 'up' on screen even if you have the wiimote tilted sideways.

The wiimote sends the location of the center of the sensor bar image with proper orientation, and the full motion data from the accelerometers to the Wii, over bluetooth.

This explains why the pointer doesn't point to the exact location on screen. It's only relative to the bar and the wiimote, so the size of your screen is completely irrelevant. You won't have trouble playing on a small screen, but for a large TV you'll have to noticeably aim at the bar.

This also means that the Wii does NOT know the exact location of the wiimote in 3D space. The photo channel only knows that you accelerated the remote quickly forward for a moment, thus it zooms in. You could probably slooowly pull your hand back and it wouldn't zoom out. There's still a lot of data that can be figured out by using the pointer, gravity, and assumptions about the player facing the screen and how they're supposed to hold the wiimote that will allow programmers to do a whole lot more with it than what the raw data alone tells them.

Hey, it makes sense to me and I've seen no evidence that contradicts this that I'm aware of. Point some out if you can, I'd like to see it. The wiimote is simple and clever, not magical.

I just realised now that I misread your first post. To clarify, all data is transferred through Bluetooth alone, none at all through the sensor bar. The cord is for power only, but I agree with some earlier posters that I wouldn't want to have it powered by batteries, for fear of sensor death during a game.

A quote from the Wikipedia article on the Wiimote, to clear things up:

"The sensor bar is about 20cm in length and features eight IR LEDs, with four LEDs being arranged at each end of the bar. The Wii Remote contains a one-megapixel image sensor which is used to locate the sensor bar's eight points of light in the Wii Remote's field of view. The known real-world dimensions of the spacing between the LEDs on the bar allows the Wii Remote to calculate its position and orientation in space relative to the bar. This information is in addition to, and supplemented by, the 3-axis acceleration and tilt sensors in the Wii Remote."

The Wiimote does know its position in space relative to the bar which, when taken alongside acceleration and tilt data, allows for effects like the push and pull in the Photo Channel.

Sorry if I implied the Wiimote was magical.

I doubt something like that will work.

The way the remote works, the light bar really needs to be besides the TV. The accuracy of the pointing is calibrated by the light bar. If you move that bar away from the TV, you start to get large parallax errors between what the controller sees from the light bar, and what it’s supposed to be pointing to on the TV. So it’s going to be a lot less accurate if it does work at all.

I'm a little surprised that the sensor bar even needs to connect to the console, if it's just a pair of lights that the remote uses to detect its position. Why can't a bar just plug directly into a power outlet? From my extremely limited understanding of this device, it seems that the only point of a connection to the console is to get its electricity and possibly know when to turn on and off depending upon whether or not the system needs the sensor bar.

#3 Bassbeat wrote:
>>Holy cow, the thing's not even out and already
>>bitching about cords? Gamers really are a pathetic
>>bunch.

I don't think these complaints are out of line. Many people will have setups where it just isn't possible to place the sensor bar along the top or bottom of the video due to the place where the system must sit. Just like in the description of this post; the author has a very nice home entertainment setup and setting up this console just doesn't work because of the cord length limitations.

Does no one here have a projector? I really NEED a wireless version of the sensor bar, because my console is going to be one room-length away from my screen. I don't like the idea of having something else munching on batteries, but I'll take what I can get to get my system working. Besides, maybe they'll be really smart and include a power adapter.

Has anyone here thought that although it is wireless (not wired to the console), It could be powered by a wall outlet not batteries. All it really is, is a couple of IR LEDS and it doesn't really need to be connected to the console at all. This setup would be perfect for me as I have a projector and all my components are rather far away from the screen.

Depending on how your entertainment system is setup, No.20, you may not need a wireless sensor bar at all.

Of course, I'm suggesting you get longer cables so that you can reposition your receiver to the side or near the front. You wont need longer cables for anything else, since your consoles and DVD players only need to be near the receiver. Your projector can stay near the back (or mounted).

My company already has one out, http://www.wirelesssensorbar.com. Uses a 9 volt :-)