Topic: networked receivers w/ flac playback?

[OFOTD]

The reason I don't prefer the ATV is that you need to link it to an itunes account to download overpriced streaming stuff. Apple already does not like iphones to be jailbroken so who is to say future firmwares of the apple tv will be harder to crack. It will get done, yes, but there may be limits as to what can be done once it is jailbroken.

You don't have to link it if you don't want to.  Mine has no link to an Apple ID.   After unboxing mine immediately went into DFU mode and I ran one of the jailbreaks.   

As for the jailbreaks themselves they typically appear either right before or right after the official firmware goes live as those guys have the developer beta iOS versions beforehand anyway.   Those guys are almost always one or two steps ahead of Apple in most cases.

Additionally you are under no obligation to upgrade your device with new firmware if you don't want.   One of the more popular ATV2 jailbreak options installs NitoTV which allows you to turn off ANY and ALL communications with Apple.

With the only exception of the native 1080 hardware limitation it is extremely hard to beat for it's functionality and the price.       

[keytohwy]

I'll jump in as well. 

I'm surprised that the OP is building a PC and adding two (2!) devices to make the whole thing work.  As has been stated a $99, AppleTV does the trick.  Add AirFoil if you want to send packets from non-iTunes sources.  If you ever want to expand it, simply adding a Airport Express allows you to send music to a different destination.  Just 8 years ago I paid a crazy amount of money to have this infrastructure built into a home I was building.  Now, it's all wireless and extremely scalable.

I'm still not clear on why RastaSean is taking pot shots at "overpriced streaming stuff".  As has been pointed out, you can stick with your own content, and stream nothing, price-be-damned.

Last summer I streamed some live concerts to the AppleTV, and yes, it was free.

[rastasean]

yes, of course you can use your own content. It's nice to know the appleTV doesn't require an itunes account, that's really nice to hear actually.

I suppose streaming content from the appletv is no different than people purchasing one of the pay-per-view movies from cable or satellite providers. I just don't know why I would want to pay anywhere from 99 cents to $4-6 (seen that on amazon) for a stream.

[H₂O]

My point was you can do video and audio straight from the PC.  I am using a Z68 Micro ITX board and i3-2120T - this whole setup will do 1080p, multichannel 24 bit FLAC, etc all for a little over $300 and will peak at about 30W and run idle at under 5W.

[Jimna]

Mac users are getting like the religious people and their Jebus, always trying to cram it down our throat.....why is that?

[H₂O]

I'm a mac, windows, and linux user - all have there advantages and disadvantages

[adrianf74]

My point was you can do video and audio straight from the PC.  I am using a Z68 Micro ITX board and i3-2120T - this whole setup will do 1080p, multichannel 24 bit FLAC, etc all for a little over $300 and will peak at about 30W and run idle at under 5W.

+1.

I'd built something similar to this spec back in Ferbuary and it runs extremely quiet (quieter than my PVR) and it does multichannel 96/24 flac (as well as DD True HD, DTS-HD MA, etc.) and anything I can throw at it.  I'm running a Clarkdale CPU but last month added an AMD Radeon 6450HD in it to get rid of the 24fps issue with Intel CPUs and all is good in the world.