Been thinking of buying one,but would like to know if the hdmi connection just plays video.

Asking this because had an Archos 101 for a fortnight till the battery committed hara-kiri and that could control pdf etc from the tablet and vie a mouse.

Have not been able to find any mention of this capability.

Any help would be appreciated.

Just to add, just seen the Prime version coming out in a few weeks at $499 so might be worth waiting ,but imagine it's hdmi usage to be the same?

http://www.transformerforums.com/

Erm.....yeah, and sound too. What else would you expect it to do?

Connect it via a mini-HDMI lead to your telly and enjoy your porn-I mean, YouTube videos on the big screen.

I'm not sure what the question is here. It will display what you see and hear on the tablet screen, on your TV.

What else are you expecting it to be able to do ?

You've got HDMI and USB confused.

HDMI is used to connect to an external display, such as a computer monitor or TV

USB is used to connect peripherals such as mice, keyboards and memory sticks.

The Archos 101 has an on-board USB host port so a mouse can be plugged directly into the tablet. The Transformer doesn't have a USB port though, so connecting a mouse directly to the tablet is not possible. The Transformer's optional keyboard dock provides 2 USB ports though, so you would need to have that as well if you wanted to use a mouse.

Detailed specs for the Transformer Prime are not yet confirmed, but I doubt it will have an on-board USB port as that would take away one of the selling points of the keyboard dock.

Well I should have made my question a bit more explicit,in that when you connect hdmi and switch to tv screen on tablet blacks out and you control video pdf etc from the tablet or a mouse connected to tablet usb ,see here-

21.2. Mini-HDMI to Standard-HDMI male/male cable
This Audio/Video cable plugs into the ARCHOS to allow it to play video out to a television. Use the Switch to TV widget (go here to install the widget if it is not already on one of the home screens) to switch from watching on the built-in screen to watching on a television. You can also use the menu button to see the TV switch option. Before you switch to the TV, make sure you have switched your television to the correct video input, often this is done with the A/V select button of your TV's remote control.

21.2.1. Screen as Touchpad
Once the screen image is displayed, use the screen of the ARCHOS as a track pad to move the cursor around the screen of your television. Be sure to orient the device as shown below in order to use the correct touch zones of the screen.

http://www.archos.com/manuals/A101_EN_v1.1.htm

And never used any other tablet and no reference to this usability in Asus manual,just wandered how the functionality is on other devices.

Any knowledge gladly received.

Yes, the touch screen works when displaying via HDMI.

Thank Roush,when I first got the Archos thought you had the screen still running and used the tablet simultaneous with TV ,dimming the screen when needed to preserve battery.
The ability to browse etc. was hindered,I think, by the low ram of 256Mb's,this problem should be resolved with more powerful tablet ,hopefully? But it's handling of video was great,was able to stream vie wi-fi a full hd video,that had done two conversions to get to play on Humax Fox pvr.

Thank all.