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SteveniMac

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 15, 2013
2
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Hello. This is my first post here and there is good reason for it. I just purchased a 2012 iMac and its being shipped right now. I wanted to connect a Xbox 360 to the iMac and use it as a display. I was thinking about getting an HDMI to Thunderbolt cable, but I'm not sure if that would work. Anyone have experience with that? I've already searched the forums and I came across the Kanex xd, but $150 to connect my xbox to my iMac is just ridiculous. If anyone has a suggestion or solution, please reply or PM me. Thanks in advance!
 
Hello. This is my first post here and there is good reason for it. I just purchased a 2012 iMac and its being shipped right now. I wanted to connect a Xbox 360 to the iMac and use it as a display. I was thinking about getting an HDMI to Thunderbolt cable, but I'm not sure if that would work. Anyone have experience with that? I've already searched the forums and I came across the Kanex xd, but $150 to connect my xbox to my iMac is just ridiculous. If anyone has a suggestion or solution, please reply or PM me. Thanks in advance!

Unless something has changed in the last 2-3 months, there is no way to hook up any device besides a newer mac/macbook to the imac thunderbolt port... :( If you do a search on these forums, there a ton of threads about this topic. Last time I checked, the Kanex website specificially states it will not work with the newer imacs... I think the late 2010's (possibly early 2011's) were the last of the line that you could use the thunderbolt port as an "input" for a audio/video feed.

The only thing I came across as a "solution", is an A/V breakout box, but from what I read, it's not really usable because of the latency... That's actually the reason I never got one of the newer imacs :(

--rob
 
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I was speaking with a mac genius and he was insisting that a thunderbolt to HDMI adapter should work, but are what I've read on other forums, I'm doubtful. Anyone have experience with this?
 
... I think the late 2010's (possibly early 2011's) were the last of the line that you could use the thunderbolt port as an "input" for a audio/video feed....

The 2010 models did not have Thunderbolt ports. They had mini-DisplayPort ports. On the 27" models (ONLY), those mini-DisplayPort ports COULD accept a mini-DisplayPort input signal.

Any later iMac with a Thunderbolt port cannot accept anything other than a Chunderbolt signal as an input. HDMI-to-Thunderbolt adapters don't exist (to my knowledge), but there are Thunderbolt-to-HDMI adapters, which take a Thunderbolt signal input and output a HDMI signal.

I don't think that it's yet possible to use a new iMac as a screen for any other device without its own Thunderbolt ports (except perhaps through the use of a Thunderbolt A/V recording device or something, which is of course not at all the same thing).
 
The 2010 models did not have Thunderbolt ports. They had mini-DisplayPort ports. On the 27" models (ONLY), those mini-DisplayPort ports COULD accept a mini-DisplayPort input signal.

Any later iMac with a Thunderbolt port cannot accept anything other than a Chunderbolt signal as an input. HDMI-to-Thunderbolt adapters don't exist (to my knowledge), but there are Thunderbolt-to-HDMI adapters, which take a Thunderbolt signal input and output a HDMI signal.

I don't think that it's yet possible to use a new iMac as a screen for any other device without its own Thunderbolt ports (except perhaps through the use of a Thunderbolt A/V recording device or something, which is of course not at all the same thing).

Sort of. They are actually just standard display port adapters from what I've experienced. I'm not sure how retargetted mode is working if that is the picture being passed via the display port or pci express bus.

I think an external capture device, although the only solution will result in poor response times which will be frustrating, particularly in on-line play.
 
There's no such thing as Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter. In fact, there's no Thunderbolt to [put any video input you could imagine here] IF you'd want Thunderbolt as the input.

That's something irritating about TB, backward compatibility. This also somewhat cripples $999 ATD it would be a paperweight unless you have Thunderbolt computer.

However you could do with most adapter if you want to output video from a Thunderbolt computer because it would result as mDP signal and dump the PCI-E data.
 
There's no such thing as Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter. In fact, there's no Thunderbolt to [put any video input you could imagine here] IF you'd want Thunderbolt as the input.

That's something irritating about TB, backward compatibility. This also somewhat cripples $999 ATD it would be a paperweight unless you have Thunderbolt computer.

However you could do with most adapter if you want to output video from a Thunderbolt computer because it would result as mDP signal and dump the PCI-E data.

This has already been stated, and the guys after an input not an output.
 
Maybe this... its suppose to work.. itd be cheaper

http://www.ehow.com/how_10055303_connect-xbox-imac.html

and this for sure

http://www.kanexlive.com/xd

Neither of those things will work with the current (or previous generation) iMac.

Any iMac that has Thunderbolt WILL NOT work as an external display for an Xbox or any other device.

The only things that can run video *into* a Thunderbolt-equipped Mac is another Mac with a Thunderbolt port.

Edit: I am excluding things like video capture cards and editing software here, of course. I'm only talking about using the iMac as an external monitor.
 
For the Apple Thunderbolt display, you can use a PC with a Thunderbolt port, not just a Mac, as a source. I suspect that the iMac, in Target Display Mode, would function in the same way.

Cheers,
A.

Possibly - it would depend how the Thunderbolt architecture is set up on the board, and whether the PC's GPU could pass a displayport signal over it. A PC using an integrated GPU, almost certainly yes. One with a dedicated GPU, unless the port was on the card itself I wouldn't be 100% on that.
 
Thunderbolt to Display Port

I am not sure what all the fuss is. I have Display Port only devices and Thunderbolt devices. If I connect TB & DP via a Display Port Cable the TB port downgrades to a DP. I can share my upgraded iMacs with DP Macs and visa versa.

Just run your own tests, see if a ThunderBolt Port iMac in Target Mode with a Display Port Cable will connect to your Display Port Devices.

It's not that hard to get cables and test things. It may work, mine do.
 
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