Itunes to Home Theatre : Do I NEED Apple TV ?

Question

My primary goal is simply to feed my iTunes music to my new Yamaha home theatre (HTIB). It would be nice, but not necessarily my goal to also send video from my iMac to the home theatre.
Near as I can tell, I have the following options :
Option 1 : run miniDVI >>DVI>>HDMI cable from my iMac to HTIB receiver. The Yamaha receiver only has 2 HDMI inputs, which I'd really like to use for my DVD player and HD DVR, so this is not my preferable option. Plus, I have read that it's not advisable to run HDMI more than about 16 feet, which I'd be right about at that length. I understand that I may need to do some configuring in my iMac controls set-up to make sure that all the audio currently playing on the iMac speakers is sent to the HDMI out.
Option 2 : run the audio out the headphone jack on the iMac, converted to red/white cable to the Yamaha receiver. Isn't the headphone jack output an analog signal? If so, this option seems like a sub-optimal solution. I'm not even sure if the Yamaha receiver would handle getting an analog input when it expects digital. Clearly I want to get the audio to the receiver in digital format; same as a CD player component into the receiver, right ?
Option 3 : get an AppleTV : I think I understand how that would work, and it should work nicely, for both audio and video. I currently have a syslink wireless router. The only downside appears to be the cost. I'd like to find a simple iMac to receiver wired connection to send (digitally) my iTunes to the home theatre, if possible. I'd prefer not to spend the $230 if I can get away with it
Option 4 : My iMac has what I believe to be "firewire" output. I'm not sure, the symbol next to the output port is sort of like the USB symbol, but different. I'm not sure what this port is, or if it has applications for what I'm trying to do.
Option 5 : is thewre a USB solution for me ? I know I have several open USB ports back there.
Option 6 : what about a hard wired connection from my Syslink router to the Home theatre ? How would I get my iTunes sent out through the network cable to the router ? I see a network cable input to the Yahama - maybe this is an option ?
Thanks !
from my iMac does carry audio and video, but the
PROS : simple, no need for AppleTV,

Answer 1

1 - non-starter unless you run analogue/optical audio cable too - DVI only transmits video, no audio
2 - iMac audio out can be set to be analogue or optical - your receiver might accept either - what's the model?
4 - you don't need this to accomplish what you want
5 - not without replicating functionality the iMac audio out already has
6 - again, give the receiver model - you ay have more options if this is say a DLNA compliant device that allows media to be streamed to it
3 - personally I think AppleTv is great for music playback and why I bought mine - does your receiver have component in (the other video out on AppleTV) and optical digital in? Or maybe the TV has component video and you could connect AppleTV to TV for video signal and run optical lead for audio to receiver (though you'd not get AppleTV soud through the TV).
As others mention, an Airport Express is another option which can be a cheaper audio out extension for your computer to playback iTunes digitally via optical cable. Cheaper, but you either need the iMac nearby to control this (so just use the iMac) or an iPhone/iPod Touch to select the music. The downside to the iPhone/iPod Touch in my opinion is that they'd need to be charged with excellent wireless reception in the room you want to use them - both my iPhones wi-fi in the house is flaky to say the least whereas my AppleTV is near perfect for reception.
Tell us what the receiver type is.