I have an fat xbox, i have to use the adapter as mine doesn't have the fancy plug on the back especially for it... so that might have something to do with it... it may have a slightly different startup routine.
additional info:
I purchased the kinect this x-mas season when it came bundled with the 3 games (one real 2 DL codes) the box had been opened, the card for the additional games thrown in and then resealed with a factory sticker. a new overlay with addtl. game info was wrapped around the original box. TL;DR- the kinect could be old stock.
kinect is approx 6 feet off the ground on a large entertainment stand bridge. it seems to be pointed all the way down.
there was no real up and down movement, but it did seem to have a slight left to right play (rotational). it doesn't stay when turned but i think it's just some slop in the mount. i could probably tighten it up but i think it would mess with the movement.
after calibrating it to look way up, the up and down slop was present it was less than you mentioned but still there. the rotational slop was still there
i moved the kinect a little higher and calibrated it to look pretty straight... there was a little more play up and down in this configuration
after recalibrating the kinect to look down again as in my original configuration i had a tiny bit of up and down slop...probably since the kinect originally was likely all the way pointed down and resting on the stop...the tention of the gear system holding the camera steady in place... this re-calibrate may not be quite as down as before.
overall i think it's okay, it's not supposed to get bangged around and have vibrations on it anyways, so some slop isn't going to affect the operation.
