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likemyorbs

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 20, 2008
1,956
5
NJ
i just made a strange observation. when i take pics of my wii sensor bar on my iphone cam, the sides of it glow on the screen. just thought i'd share. anyone have a hypothesis?
 

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its the IR being picked up by the camera. Wanna see something cool? Take a video camera and tape the front of a TV remote and you can see the patterns used for different functions like channel up or down.
 
its the IR being picked up by the camera. Wanna see something cool? Take a video camera and tape the front of a TV remote and you can see the patterns used for different functions like channel up or down.

dang. i never knew you could do that. i'll be up all night messing with it.
 
dang. i never knew you could do that. i'll be up all night messing with it.

Its kinda cool because you could end up, with a little no how, being able to make a simple remote.

Of course youll have to REALLY slow down the video to see the pattern.
 
+1, thats crazy, how did i never know that?

Well, how often are you looking at your remote through a camera while using it? Then making the jump to realize that if you replicate the pattern with a different IR device you could have the same function.

I'm just a nerd with too much time to think.....


:apple:
 
From what I recall, all CCD sensors are sensitive to infrared light just beyond normal human sensitivity range. That's the light frequency that IR remotes use. The "black" plastic over remotes' emitters is opaque to what we can see, but is actually transparent to IR. Some clothing actually works this way, which is why there was such an issue with a particular Sony camcorder with a night-vision mode that would render some types of fabric transparent. Go figure.
 
Yep, Another thing too, Take your Apple remote, Launch Photobooth, and shine the remote at the camera and press like play/pause. It flashes red. Pretty cool
 
I can explain this!

The Wii sensor bar basically just sends out IR (infared) signals which are then picked up by the Wii remote, which subsequently works out it's position and sends it back to the Wii.

Obviously the iPhone's camera has been able to "see" this, when you take the picture.

On a side note, you can use two candles in case you ever break your sensor bar. (The cable coming out of the sensor bar is just a power source, so this will work)
 
Mmm.. Isnt stuff like this teach at school when we are young? We used to play with light waves at elementary school :confused:

in america we play with building blocks and color pictures in elementary school :p
 
I can explain this!

The Wii sensor bar basically just sends out IR (infared) signals which are then picked up by the Wii remote, which subsequently works out it's position and sends it back to the Wii.

Obviously the iPhone's camera has been able to "see" this, when you take the picture.

On a side note, you can use two candles in case you ever break your sensor bar. (The cable coming out of the sensor bar is just a power source, so this will work)


I just tried that out... Set fire to my TV ;)
 
Any camera will pick up any sort of infered light. That's how night vision works. ;)

explain please

The use of an infrared sensor to detect position can cause some detection problems when other infrared sources are around, such as incandescent light bulbs or candles. This can be easily alleviated by using fluorescent lights around the Wii, which emit little to no infrared light. Innovative users have used other sources of IR light as Sensor Bar substitutes such as a pair of flashlights and a pair of candles.
 
explain please

All a Wii Sensor bar is, is two light sources. That's it. It doesn't perform any special functions, it doesn't send or receive any signals or data. Nothing. It's just two light sources (infrared in this case). Your Wii Remote sees these two light sources and uses them to calculate position and rotation. Since all the remote needs is those two light sources, just about anything will work. I forgot my sensor bar when traveling one time, and used two nightlights in the apartment we were in as light sources. Worked perfectly.

Now, the part I think is funny is the wireless sensor bar I have. On the box, it claimed to use the "latest in wireless technology to communicate with your Wii". hehe. If by "latest in wireless technology" you mean "the batteries turn on these two lights" then OK.
 
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