TV remotes demystify Wii sensor bar

by Kyle Orland { Nov 21st 2006 at 3:45PM }

It seems that the Wii's sensor bar isn't entirely necessary to use the Wii remote's pointer functionality. An intrepid Wii user has posted an online video showing intermittent pointer reception using two TV remote controls in place of the sensor bar.

Apparently the Wii sensor bar is actually a transmitter for a dual IR signal that gets triangulated by the Wii remote, not a receiver for a signal that comes from the remote. This revelation would seem to suggest that any correctly positioned, consistent dual IR source can be used in place of the official Nintendo provided sensor bar. With this information in hand, how long will it be until we see hackers rigging up their own custom sensor technology?

Tags: infrared, IR, sensor, wii

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

cubbiechris @ Nov 21st 2006 3:51PM

It's good to see Screech can still afford a WII.

crono141 @ Nov 21st 2006 4:01PM

Nintendo should have made 4 sensor bars to fit on the top bottom left and right of the screen.

Then people would stop bitching that its not a laser pointer light gun.

Werthog @ Nov 21st 2006 3:53PM

So... the "sesor bar" doesn't actually SENSE anything?

Shagi @ Nov 21st 2006 3:56PM

I wonder if 2 IR sources taped to both sides of the middle of the TV would be a better solution for the point and click problems?

vidGuy @ Nov 21st 2006 3:54PM

"Apparently the Wii sensor bar is actually a transmitter for a dual IR signal that gets triangulated by the Wii remote, not a receiver for a signal that comes from the remote. This revelation..."

You make it sound as if this information hasn't been known for the last six months to a year...

Mike @ Nov 21st 2006 3:53PM

Umm, can we file this one under "who cares?"

Werthog @ Nov 21st 2006 3:55PM

SENSOR dangit

Joseph @ Nov 21st 2006 6:52PM

why are you guys such penis heads to the people who write this information?

vgamer47 @ Nov 21st 2006 3:59PM

It doesn't 'sense' anything, but it does allow the Wii remote to 'sense' its location.

So that's why you can still call it the sensor bar.

And a wireless sensor bar is as simple as rigging up something to deliver the same amount of power to the existing sensor bar provided by Nintendo.

SteveZ @ Nov 21st 2006 4:04PM

4. vidGuy

I have to agree. Did joystiq NOT know this until now? I can accept a non-techie being confused, but why does this article sound so incredulous?

CJ Scharrer @ Nov 21st 2006 4:02PM

Maybe this would matter.. just a LITTLE bit, if the sensor bar cost money or really sucked... but its free with the system and works great.

Everyone already basically knew this, and its useless because nintendo set the bar up in a way that it would be easy to place, and WOULDNT BLINK...

However, I think that the Wii is obviously easier to play with a blinking pointer and one of my tool-ish looking friends holding down the dual remote controls.. by far! :P

mrmgee @ Nov 21st 2006 4:13PM

This makes sense on another level as well...

I wonder how much shorter battery life would be if the wiimote had to send a constant IR signal? That would make it a IR flashlight in many ways...

dokool @ Nov 21st 2006 4:11PM

I think you guys are being a little harsh - yeah, this might have been known, but now that these guys have put it out there, people may come up with better applications - wider sensor bars (which might come in handy for big-ass TVs or people with projectors, wireless ones, etc. Maybe someone who has the technical know-how but didn't consider the implications will stumble across the video and decide he wants to do something.

FSK405K @ Nov 21st 2006 4:15PM

Shagi, it would be if "center of TV" was an option in addition to above TV or below TV. So, yes, it would work perfectly if you just move the transmitters up or down 10-20 inches.

> @ Nov 21st 2006 4:10PM

"Nintendo should have made 4 sensor bars to fit on the top bottom left and right of the screen."

The reason its a bar is because the distance between the two sensors is fixed which is necessary for the triangulation calculations.

If there's a varaible space between any two sensors (as with putting it at the top and bottom of the TV), then its still possible, but would require calibration which makes it too complicated for the masses.

friedgreenmushrooms @ Nov 21st 2006 4:12PM

I have to agree with everybody who's commented so far: this information has been on Wikipedia since at least E3 '06, if not earlier.

trent @ Nov 21st 2006 4:22PM

the signifigance is not that its an ir sensor used to triangulate the location of the remote, its that it was so easy to make one from spare parts. yes there is a small demand for sensor bars that are, say, wireless or at least have a longer wire. if some electronic hackers can make their own, thats cool no matter how you look at it.

im personally fascinated with the technology. it doesnt bother me one bit that its "old news", its cool no matter what.

SkillCoil @ Nov 21st 2006 5:11PM

The PSP needs to be taking to the shed, and 2 shots put in its head. Stop its suffering.

Chosin1 @ Nov 21st 2006 4:38PM

Guess what? Not everybody trolls every single sight to get techincal info on how systems work. Some people just play the game and don't know/don't care how they work.

The post was put up for people who were curious about the tech aspects of the Wii but not enough to go dig for the info. No matter how much information YOU have there are people out there who don't know what you know, so get over yourselves.

Drakfyre @ Nov 21st 2006 4:53PM

I've already got a buddy who has rigged up his sensor bar to a DC power converter (12v 300ma I believe) because he has a projector set up and can't reach from the system itself to the projector screen. However, it appears that for some reason, the sensor bar actually turns off for a moment every second when plugged into the system, but stays on permanently when connected to a dc power supply. The result is a small amount of jitter in the cursor in the Wii menus, more than you get when directly connecting the sensor bar to the Wii.

fizshigol @ Nov 21st 2006 4:57PM

it's amazing how simple the wii's technology is. i'm surprised the virtualboy didn't use a sensor bar.

here's a simple hack.
you can use one of those ir-to-rf converters from radioshack and play the wii from any room in the house. Pointless cuz u cant see the tv, but possible

Ben @ Nov 21st 2006 5:05PM

Isn't it just 2 infrared LED's? Why, a person could make their own custom sensor bar if they wanted... Do the lights even blink? How many pins on the sensor bar connector?

DZeroStar @ Nov 21st 2006 5:33PM

There's a small chance that this information would be useful to the people with HD projector setups at home, but if Drakfyre is correct, even a homemade IR sensor bar won't perfectly replace the Wii bar because the Wii IR LEDs cycle on and off during normal use.

I guess the projector guys will just have to wait for the extension cord for the Wii sensor bar...

rob @ Nov 21st 2006 5:15PM

As simple as it is, I think the lights do blink at a regular interval so just rigging up IR sources might not work perfectly. If the system 'tells' the remote when it blinks for sychronization purposes, you would have to find some way to get a homemade sensor bar to do the same thing.

Tom @ Nov 21st 2006 5:52PM

Anyone who has exactly followed the directions in the Zelda pointer configuration now knows how perfectly accurate the pointer can be. Zelda on my system is actually now MORE accurate than the Wii Menu itself. This feature NEEDS to be included in every game. Should've been in Red Steel, but oh well, I'm getting used to that game as well.

ciscomaner @ Nov 21st 2006 5:52PM

It's good to see Dustin Diamond has gotten over the shame of his released sex tape and is back on the air.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

DonJuanSamuel @ Nov 21st 2006 5:57PM

Was that his brother in the doorway? Do you think the brother would REALLY kill him? I dunno...

I know why they posted this information on here, so that I can find out about it. I didn't know about this. So, happy days.

And I also know, for a fact, that Bill O'Reilly didn't know about this. http://gamepolitics.com/2006/11/18/bill-oreilly-slams-playstation-3-launch-gamers-ipods-tech-not-in-that-order/

ubiquityman @ Nov 21st 2006 6:18PM

This really isn't news. It's been on Wikipedia for some time now.

The IR window of the Wii houses a 1M Pixel IR "camera". It tracks the dots on the Wii bar.

ubiquityman @ Nov 21st 2006 6:20PM

Also, if you have a cell phone camera or digital camera, you can point it at the IR bar to see what it's doing.

Unlike human eyes, CCDs are senstive to IR.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Remote

Jeremy @ Nov 21st 2006 6:26PM

That's not news at all, just news to Joystiq it seems:
http://www.xgaming.com/newsletter/Wii%20Dupe.shtml

Paul Gale @ Nov 21st 2006 7:03PM

Awesome video. Whenever a new console debuts, in only takes a short amount of days before people start figuring little tricks out with it. Impressive find.
Paul Gale
1up.com

is @ Nov 21st 2006 8:11PM

"This really isn't news. It's been on Wikipedia for some time now. "

Hey, you want some news? How about "You are a cunt"? Is that news to you?

Did'nt think so, Cunt.

Grant @ Nov 21st 2006 10:43PM

I think we can file this one under "um, duh"

for the fact that a while back there was mention of the wiimote being a rudimentary camera, found out through the FCC filing, so it's an IR camera, and anyone who's done the calibration and saw the "change sensetivity with the two dots on screen" should have been able to recognize the "two dots" were the two transmitting IR sources.
i realized this the first time i used the calibration, but i didn't realize it's completly free of being wavelength specific.

Triforceowner @ Nov 22nd 2006 12:59PM

This means that using a projector to play the Wii is perfectly possible.

UniformedLayman @ Nov 21st 2006 8:41PM

@8

For the last time, people, the Wiimote CAN act like a light gun. All you have to do is calibrate it, which you can do by moving the sensor bar and your couch around until you find the sweet spot. Of course, there should be an option to calibrate it in every game--to my knowledge, the only game so far that lets you do this is Zelda, and as a result firing projectile weapons in Zelda is as simple as aiming the remote at the screen and pressing the 'A' button. The technology works, people, any existing issues are entirely in the software.

erfrefefer @ Nov 21st 2006 8:46PM

This is actually rather interesting to me because, our sensor bar broke when we try to set the thing up. Some stuff fell on the wire on the sensor bar and it snapped. So we have been staring at the wii and not get to play it. ... I just tried this out though and it isn't working :