TrackClip Pro with "leaky" housing?

[Pyrodox]

I noticed in another thread on this forum that someone's TrackClip Pro was diagnosed with a "leaky" housing, allowing IR light to escape and cause more trackable "dots" on their camera view.

I believe mine is experiencing the same issue. I have included a screenshot of my camera view.

Is this the issue I am experiencing?

[Pyrodox]

Oh, and I didn't mention it in my original post. But, I'm experiencing jumping and erratic movement in my games and the TrackIR software. This is what prompted me to look at the dots in camera view and I noticed there are 9 of them instead of 3.

The TrackIR works fine with the hat clip however I'd rather use the TrackClip Pro attached to my headset.

I also noticed while playing around with it, when I move the TrackClip Pro out to about 4-5' away the "extra" dots disappear, and it seems to track like it should... However, any closer and the 6 extra dots show up, causing the tracking to go haywire.

Unfortunately, I use a 22" monitor and I can not sit 5' or more away from it while playing games.

[sabba]

Was your problem the one being mentioned? I get the same 9 dots though I can track most of the time pretty well. I do find the TrackClip on the cap does work better still though.

[Seth Steiling]

Hi guys,

The problem isn't light leaking out of the TrackClip PRO casing, as I originally speculated. Our engineers think it might be related to the lens.

Anyone that encounters this problem should contact support@naturalpoint.com about getting a replacement for your TrackIR 5.

-Seth

[sabba]

Attached are two screen-caps. One with filter threshold all the way up (I get 5 red dots, green flashes, no lock), the other at 75 and I get a lock with 3 green and 6 red. In between is just flickering red/green. Is this proper operation (behavior indicated at 75), or the problem being discussed? The TrackClip feels much more reliable than the Pro does set at this 75 setting.

Threshold all the way up



Threshold down to 75

[Seth Steiling]

This is not proper behavior, and I'm afraid you'll need to get a replacement camera. Even though the problem only manifests with the TrackClip PRO, we don't believe that the TCP is the problem. Rather, its unique factory settings just expose the problem, when the TrackClip settings don't.

Please email support for instructions on returning the camera.

-Seth

[Pyrodox]

Thank you for the reply, I've e-mailed support@naturalpoint.com, just waiting for their reply now.

[sabba]

Ditto

[Pyrodox]

Just for an update on this issue... I decided to play around with some settings a bit. While you can't directly edit them in the software, I opened the file "C:\Program Files (x86)\NaturalPoint\TrackIR5\Settings.xml" in NotePad and changed the value between the tags and from it's default value of 150 to 50 and all is well with my TrackIR.

[Seth Steiling]

We've isolated the problem. It's a manufacturer defect in the IR shield, likely related to the original mold. Our QA process now has an additional step in place to weed these units out before they get shipped. Those of you with faulty IR shields can contact support about getting them repaired.

As Pyrodox discovered, adjusting the Exposure setting in the .xml is a simple workaround as well. The IR shield is basically refracting/reflecting the light within the camera housing, repeating the markers in the imager's view--decreasing the exposure setting will significantly weed these reflections out. If you're satisfied with that as a solution, you are obviously welcome to keep your unit as is.