Microsoft Surface RT Priced

[DeathStorm]

I'm missing something obvious with Xbox music, I've added my music to the music library (as they suggest when you go to charms>settings>preferences) but I can't see any way to browse that music easily. Any ideas?

Only way I've found so far is to use the file open option which goes directly to the music folder.

 

[Glaucus]

Where is the Surface Pro?

End of jan ish.

Said 3months later in one of the keynotes a few months back.

 

[ChileanLlama]

I'm missing something obvious with Xbox music, I've added my music to the music library (as they suggest when you go to charms>settings>preferences) but I can't see any way to browse that music easily. Any ideas?

Only way I've found so far is to use the file open option which goes directly to the music folder.

I added it via the desktop, explorer, libraries and right click for properties to add my server folders to the library. Also, nothing in the library seems to get added to the pictures app.

Once done you should be able to move to the left in Xbox Music and see My Music - it'll take some time to import everything.

 

[Del Lardo]

I'm missing something obvious with Xbox music, I've added my music to the music library (as they suggest when you go to charms>settings>preferences) but I can't see any way to browse that music easily. Any ideas?

Only way I've found so far is to use the file open option which goes directly to the music folder.

Open the Music App and scroll left to My Music

 

[bledd]

Banking on someone else making a decent music app, I don't want all the extra crap, I just want my music displayed in a library.

Still not heard a peep from MS, tried calling UPS but they don't let you search via postcode :/

 

[theheyes]

Still not heard a peep from MS, tried calling UPS but they don't let you search via postcode :/

Same - they've officially missed the quoted delivery window now so it's disappointing. And no update either via email or on the site. I'd rather they tell me it will arrive next week than nothing at all.

 

[EDDS]

Dhl delivered my surface at 6:00pm today even though I have a ups tracking number :S

 

[Glaucus]

Two more big names have confirmed apps coming "soon" twitter and dropbox.

In fact more than two

Disney’s Phineas and Ferb game, “Agent P Strikes Back”, aka Perry the Platypus, on Windows 8, and forthcoming on Windows Phone 8, showcases how easily browser-based games can become Windows Store apps. Disney developed the game for Windows 8 by taking advantage of Windows 8 HTML5 support as well as built-in capabilities like in-game sharing and support for an Xbox controller via USB. “Agent P Strikes Back” is the first of a series of games that Disney will bring to the Windows 8 platform, including the hit mobile games “Where’s My Water?” and “Where’s My Perry?”.
Dropbox’s new Windows Store app, coming soon, offers a cloud based storage and synchronization service for photos, documents and videos on Windows 8.
ESPN previewed a Windows Store app that re-imagines the ESPN experience with aggregated news, scores and video as well as ESPN The Magazine, ESPN podcasts and photo galleries. With Windows 8, ESPN’s app allows fans to pin specific sports and teams to their Start Screen.
The LEGO Group will deliver LEGO® Life of George, the award winning game that combines real LEGO Bricks and a smart device, with new unique features on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. With LEGO® Life of George, the LEGO Group is using Windows on mobile devices to explore the next frontier of childrens’ play, combining the physical world of LEGO bricks, the virtual and networked experiences and a child’s imagination and creativity.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently released a number of free experiences on PCs, Windows Phone and Xbox geared for inspiration and learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Making learning and discovery accessible, NASA’s Mars Exploration Program has now released “NASA Be A Martian” and “Mars Rover: Curiosity” as free Mars-related apps for Windows 8 PCs.
PayPal’s Windows 8 API enables developers to use the PayPal payment system within their Windows Store apps for simple and secure commerce activities for the more than 100 million active PayPal users. Crowdstar’s free Windows 8 game, Fish With Attitude, uses PayPal in-app purchases of game characters.

 

[Fallen god]

Anyone have any idea were I can try a RT tablet or a pro version in London, I tried the usually places but I found not. Saw some Laptops but none had touchscreens., might check out selfridges tomorrow.

 

[DeathStorm]

I added it via the desktop, explorer, libraries and right click for properties to add my server folders to the library. Also, nothing in the library seems to get added to the pictures app.

Once done you should be able to move to the left in Xbox Music and see My Music - it'll take some time to import everything.

Can't get it to work, somehow Windows had figured out my music share on my network (not quite sure how to be honest) and that just caused it to choke trying to import playlists (which seems to be how you force it to import) but after trying Microsoft's recommended solution of creating a symbolic link it doesn't recognize them at all but I'm still able to open them under open files.

Seems a bit crazy there's no easy way to use them from a network share? The Windows media player picks them up from there.

 

[Vladdie]

I am now considering getting a Surface RT, mainly because the screen size and shape appeals to me as I plan to watch a lot of movies/tv shows. As well as the full size usb port for hooking up my external hard drives where the videos are stored.

One thing that is absolutely essential for me is that it can play mp4/mkv/avi files, basically everything that VLC can play I need it to play. I understand at the monent it can only play avi files, is this correct?

I also need to be able to access zipped content, for instance multipart rar (r01 etc) files, surely there is or is going to be a way to unrar files?

Another important issue for me is the remote desktop feature, how easy would this be to set up with my Windows 7 PC. This seems important to me as it is only RT I need remote desktop to use my "legacy" programs.

I am still not 100% sure if I want this over the Nexus 10 or Samsung Note 10.1. The main issues for me are video playback (+ hooking it up to my TV through HDMI), remote desktop and surfing the web smoothly. Which do you think is best for me?

 

[bledd]

I'm banking on the fact that 'someone' will make a video player that can handle those formats and a good music player.

To hook up to a TV you just need a micro HDMI to HDMI cable, they're about ~£10 or less.

As for remote desktop, the 'app' version in W8 does work, but currently it's not as good an experience as the desktop verion of remote desktop (in my opinion)

 

[ChileanLlama]

Can't get it to work, somehow Windows had figured out my music share on my network (not quite sure how to be honest) and that just caused it to choke trying to import playlists (which seems to be how you force it to import) but after trying Microsoft's recommended solution of creating a symbolic link it doesn't recognize them at all but I'm still able to open them under open files.

Seems a bit crazy there's no easy way to use them from a network share? The Windows media player picks them up from there.

What kind of network share (Windows/NAS...)? Is it an indexed location?

I didn't have to import playlists either, as they're stored in a library location, it just indexed everything once I added the share to the library.

 

[DeathStorm]

What kind of network share (Windows/NAS...)? Is it an indexed location?

I didn't have to import playlists either, as they're stored in a library location, it just indexed everything once I added the share to the library.

It's a Windows share, it worked fine when I copied some folders to a local folder and added them to the library manually after running import playlists.

I didn't want to index the folder but I'll give that a shot too.

 

[Vladdie]

I'm banking on the fact that 'someone' will make a video player that can handle those formats and a good music player.

To hook up to a TV you just need a micro HDMI to HDMI cable, they're about ~£10 or less.

As for remote desktop, the 'app' version in W8 does work, but currently it's not as good an experience as the desktop verion of remote desktop (in my opinion)

I should probably wait then for them to make a fully functioning VLC app and for 8zip to finish or something as I can't spend so much on the hope that they will. I wonder how long it will take because I really want one before Christmas and even if I ordered now it wouldn't be dispatched for another 3 weeks, alternatively I could just get an Android tablet (Note 10.1 or Nexus 10 when it's out) which has all these apps already. I hope MS aren't strict with their store and free apps like that can become available asap, surely it will only help them sell more.

 

[EDDS]

I am now considering getting a Surface RT, mainly because the screen size and shape appeals to me as I plan to watch a lot of movies/tv shows. As well as the full size usb port for hooking up my external hard drives where the videos are stored.

One thing that is absolutely essential for me is that it can play mp4/mkv/avi files, basically everything that VLC can play I need it to play. I understand at the monent it can only play avi files, is this correct?

I also need to be able to access zipped content, for instance multipart rar (r01 etc) files, surely there is or is going to be a way to unrar files?

Another important issue for me is the remote desktop feature, how easy would this be to set up with my Windows 7 PC. This seems important to me as it is only RT I need remote desktop to use my "legacy" programs.

I am still not 100% sure if I want this over the Nexus 10 or Samsung Note 10.1. The main issues for me are video playback (+ hooking it up to my TV through HDMI), remote desktop and surfing the web smoothly. Which do you think is best for me?

I used remote desktop last night and it works exactly as it does in Windows 7.

I tried to run gta in remote desktop but it wasn't having any of it lol.

 

[Vladdie]

I used remote desktop last night and it works exactly as it does in Windows 7.

I tried to run gta in remote desktop but it wasn't having any of it lol.

Hehe, I saw someone watching a movie through remote desktop and it worked well so I too had a wee bit of hope I could run a game or two. What about slow paced aventure games, they might be okay... probably not.

Can you or anyone else confirm what video files Surface RT can actually play? I really hope MS don't do an Apple and try to make everything run through their WMP like itunes on iPad. Edit: Nevermind, I read in a review that it can't play MKV, AVI and other basic formats. Shame.

 

[Glaucus]

Can you or anyone else confirm what video files Surface RT can actually play? I really hope MS don't do an Apple and try to make everything run through their WMP like itunes on iPad.

So as I understand it anything if some one makes an app for it.

Wondering how 3rd party video codes will be handled in rt. Specifically xvid and mkv files

In depth here, ok it's windows8 rather than rt specific but doubt its different

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/06/08/building-a-rich-and-extensible-media-platform.aspx

Windows 8 has excellent support for MPEG-4, most typically comprised of H.264 video and AAC audio. Several popular codecs, including Divx and Xvid, implement the MPEG-4 Part 2 standard, so many of these files play great in Metro style apps. The same is true for modern MOV files, which are based on the MPEG-4 Part 12 standard, such as videos captured on iOS devices. Fragmented MPEG-4 and 2K/4K resolutions are now possible. We have previously talked about MPEG-2 and DVD playback, which is available in Windows 8 Media Center.

Formats popular among the enthusiast community or with specific developers such as FLAC, MKV, and OGG, can have their own CODECs packaged as part of a Metro style app, since the Windows 8 media platform is highly extensible.

 

[bledd]

EDDS

In RT, is there a 'desktop' version of remote desktop? Or is it only the app version?

For me in Windows 8, the App version doesn't allow things like WINKEY + R in the client window


-edit, yes it does, I guess I didn't click in the window first. Remote desktop app seems to work well, just a shame you can set it to 50% screen

 

[Vladdie]

Sounds good, I'm this close to ordering just wondering if a player will come out before Christmas for RT to play my videos. If I order one, has anyone got Multimedia 8 and how functional is it in converting video files to watch on RT? Can someone test how fast it is?

Also I have the Nexus 10 in my eye but the lack of micoSD, full size USB and inability to plug in an external hard drive really turns me off. How much will I miss the super high res screen on the N10. I'm not sure these retina displays and whatnot are all that necessary, videos I watch never go above 1080p obviously, what do other people think?