I would like to make a connection between my desk top computer and my 990 for streaming music. The distance would be about 75 feet between the two locations. Is this possible with a USB cable configured to run between two pieces of equipment.

Thanks
Brad

The 990 handels the USB input very well. The input is stereo only. 75' is an awfully long run for USB cable, I'd think you you'd need some sort of booster or repeater for a distance like that, but I'm no computer mavin.

USB is only spec'd for 5 meters. That doesn't mean it won't work at longer distances but I wouldn't expect it.

You could stream music to your PC and transmit it to the 990 through an analog input using the OWA-3 transceiver set. I stream music to my HT using my Roku XDS and it works great.

I have run cat 5 from where the modem is to where the 990 will be located once the house is finished. It sounds like using a Roku might be the way to go.
So can I hard wire between the Roku and the 990? If so, when using say Pandora will what is playing show up on the monitor for the HT system.
I watched the video and looked at what was on the Roku site but it wasn't as informational as I would have hoped.
Can you explain how this would work in a bit more detail or tell me what site to acess to find more information on connecting to a HT receiver.
.

Thanks,
Brad

You can hard wire between the Roku and the 990, but you'll need both audio and video connections.The 990 doesn't have HDMI capability, though you can use HDMI/DVI connections for the video, but you'll still need an audio connection.

XenonMan, does the Roku offer any sort of DLNA, UPnP, or similar support for playing files stored on the local network? I poked around Roku's site, but couldn't find anything that clearly said they could.


I haven't spent time with the Roku streaming boxes, but the connection process is pretty straightforward: connect audio to the Model 990 and video to your display (either directly from the Roku or through the 990's switching). The two basic Roku boxes (Roku HD and Roku XD) only have HDMI and analog audio outputs, so if you had either of those you wound be running analog audio to the 990 and HDMI to your display (either directly or through the 990's DVI switching). The Roku XD|S also offers optical digital output and component video in addition to HDMI. Optical is the preferred way to get audio into the Model 990, as it gives you full benefit of the 990's DAC's. Either HDMI or component could be used to connect to your display (again either through the 990 or directly to the display).

The Roku will display information on what audio is playing on screen while it is playing, whether it's Pandora or some other audio source.

An older Squeezebox might also meet your needs. The older classic models featured wireless streaming (but could also be used with a wired ethernet connection) and had burr-brown dacs. Subsequent models (the duet, etc) seemed to get cheaper with lower quality dacs and lower S/N rations.

I am not sure if the Roku XD/S had direct support for streaming over a network but it would not surprise me if it did. I use mine connected to the Onkyo 886 via HDMI to stream directly from the internet. I would guess that it is possible to transmit files across the local network to the Roku but it is beyond my capabilites.

Thanks for all the information. It sounds like the Roku XD/S would be an easy way to solve my issue.

Now, if any of you want to get out your crystal ball or the knowledge that I clearly don't posses.
I have run 2 sets of Cat 5 wires and 1 RG-6 to the equipment location from the area where the Verizon Fios equipment is located at the computer area. Before we close up the walls is there any cable I should consider adding between those two areas.