how do i use my surface rt as a monitor for xbox360

[czawadzski]

Ok so I seem to confuse everyone when I ask them how to do this simple task so forgive all the details.
I only have one tv and it is naturally in the living room, with all the furniture and game systems etc.... I do not have enough room in here to play my Kinect so I came up with the brilliant idea to put the Xbox in the empty room and use my surface rt as a tv. So I got up with the intention of setting this up but I have not been successful, at all. I spent most of the morning and afternoon chatting with Microsoft and was at first told the surface is not capable of receiving video and the Xbox is not capable of sending video. However there has to be a way around this because I can make video calls using both devices, so that proves to me that they are capable of both sending and receiving live video. I just don't know how to do it! So once again all I want to do is use my worthless surface as a tv screen for my xbox360. Please help me

 

[oion]

Ok so I seem to confuse everyone when I ask them how to do this simple task so forgive all the details.
I only have one tv and it is naturally in the living room, with all the furniture and game systems etc.... I do not have enough room in here to play my Kinect so I came up with the brilliant idea to put the Xbox in the empty room and use my surface rt as a tv. So I got up with the intention of setting this up but I have not been successful, at all. I spent most of the morning and afternoon chatting with Microsoft and was at first told the surface is not capable of receiving video and the Xbox is not capable of sending video. However there has to be a way around this because I can make video calls using both devices, so that proves to me that they are capable of both sending and receiving live video. I just don't know how to do it! So once again all I want to do is use my worthless surface as a tv screen for my xbox360. Please help me

You can use xbox controllers with the Surface and use the xbox app in the store. The SmartGlass capability uses Surface only as an outgoing stream to another TV. There's the matter of data stream interpretation, not just "send video to/from."

If the Surface is worthless to you, you could have used the money to buy a much cheaper and larger TV for the empty room, you know.

 

[czawadzski]

yes I probably should have, I was given miss-information when I purchased it, the more I try and do different things with it the more I find I can't do them, I had to download a white list thing just to watch the videos I wanted. I already have smartglass and it works as a controller but as you stated that doesn't solve my problem. I'm not sure why you would need to use the surface as a controller though, but I guess its a neat feature in case you break yours.

 

[oion]

yes I probably should have, I was given miss-information when I purchased it, the more I try and do different things with it the more I find I can't do them, I had to download a white list thing just to watch the videos I wanted. I already have smartglass and it works as a controller but as you stated that doesn't solve my problem. I'm not sure why you would need to use the surface as a controller though, but I guess its a neat feature in case you break yours.

Well, and the Surface supports xbox controllers. As to the source of games, though, I suppose that's the app store.

Um, the Flash white list issue was fixed in March 2013 in a patch that changed the behavior to a blacklist.

But whatever misinformation was given, you should've done your own research before plunking the $500-600 when the vast majority of users value MS Office. If you didn't care about MS Office, I'm sorry, but that's caveat emptor in your court. All the information was available in some form online. When you found out it didn't do what you wanted, you should've returned it. Now you can try to resell it.

Buy a TV. Seriously.

 

[czawadzski]

Well, it wasn't fixed on mine that I bought last month. We obviously have a difference of opinion about the surface. But we both agree on what I should have done instead, and I did do research, lots of it but its hard to filter threw if you don't know your tech lingo, and one website favoring apple, will say it sucks, and another will say its great. It all depended on the tester and what they were used to. But I'm not here to discuss the things I like or don't like about it, I would simply like an answer to my question. And buy a tv is not an answer, its a suggestion, that I cannot afford at the moment. So back to the original topic of if anyone knows how I can use my surface as a monitor?

 

[oion]

Well, it wasn't fixed on mine that I bought last month.

If you just bought it, whether refurb or second-hand, it should have been properly reset to factory condition. That means you need to run all update patches, will take hours. The white list was removed in March 2013. Unless you're not a Windows user, that's just something you have to get used to for normal due diligence (regular updates). You never buy a brand-new Windows PC and leave it unpatched.

We obviously have a difference of opinion about the surface. But we both agree on what I should have done instead, and I did do research, lots of it but its hard to filter threw if you don't know your tech lingo, and one website favoring apple, will say it sucks, and another will say its great. It all depended on the tester and what they were used to. But I'm not here to discuss the things I like or don't like about it, I would simply like an answer to my question. And buy a tv is not an answer, its a suggestion, that I cannot afford at the moment. So back to the original topic of if anyone knows how I can use my surface as a monitor?

You should think about selling the Surface to cover for a TV instead of trying to shoehorn it into something it's not meant to do. A low-end TV really is not expensive these days, and you should be able to sell the Surface RT for at least a couple hundred, about the same as a smaller LCD TV (but still almost 3x the size of a Surface screen). And the answer to your question is no. You wouldn't hook up a gaming console to a laptop either and expect the laptop to function as a TV screen.

 

[czawadzski]

Yes I do run windows on my pc and Xbox, the updates are annoying but I do them. I do use the surface for reading and games and such and I do like to take it outside, so I don't want to sell I simply wish it would do more of what I want, and when I bought it I was told I would be able to do all these things only to find out that I can't, sense I was told I could I figured there must be some way and I'm just not finding it cuz I'm not used to the device. But you are able to hook game consoles up to computers and laptops to use the monitor. I've seen it done. I just didn't figure there was going to be so much trouble using the surface as one.....

 

[jnjroach]

There isn't a way for your Surface RT to act has a monitor for your Xbox 360, Xbox One could potentially have that functionality because it is actually running Windows 8.1 on top if the Hypervisor, but nothing has been announced. For it to run as a wired monitor the micro-hdmi cable would need to be able to receive a video signal.

Computers that support this have a HDMI In connection not just the HDMI Out.

As far as the Whitelist, have you installed all of the Optional Updates via the Desktop Update Control Panel?

 

[czawadzski]

No I haven't just the updates it does automatically. I will do them now. Yeah I figured out I couldn't do it with the hdmi cable when I tried. I thought there would be some download or app or something I could find that would allow it.

 

[czawadzski]

So I tried downloading the original updates and there was only one available and I got the error code 80070103

 

[oion]

This? Windows Update error 80070103

 

[czawadzski]

Yes oion, that, and yes I already tried all of the trouble shooting suggestions, do you work for Microsoft? Did you help create the surface if so you should learn to take criticism! If not chill with the attitude please. I'm here for help not judgement. Is that why you are so insulted by me? I know my basics, and I have gone threw the faqs before I post some stupid topic. So if you wouldn't mind giving me some actual help instead of criticism that would be great!