jjjackson
03-24-2015, 08:52 PM
Your computer and internet connection is in one room and your Home Theater (HT) stuff is in another. I don't know about you, but once I get my IPTV STB, I'll have 4 internet sucking STBs for entertainment in my living room. Some have wifi and some don't. Some of the ones that have wifi don't work good on wifi.
Here's what I did to get excellent internet connections without running a ton of cables. Much cheaper and neater that way.
I have 50Mbps internet. Thank you cable co. I don't think you want to do this with less than 7Mbps, but.... I went to my local thrift shop and found a pair of powerline internet cubes. You can buy new ones pretty cheap these day. I hooked one to my router and the wall and the other near my HT. You can do this project with a CAT5 or powerline. I attached a second router to the HT end of my line and connected the lines from the second router to my STBs. If you just want internet, then your probably done.
If you still want to use your computer as a media server, then you need to change the second router from a normal router to something similar to an internet switch.
First, make sure your second router can be bridged, different companies use different terms for bridged, but the object is to keep your second router from issuing an IP address, so READ your manual. Try searching for the word Bridge and see what you find. BTW, If you don't have a second router, check out a thrift store, they usually have several. My Belkin calls bridging Access Point Mode. Whatever, you need to go into the second routers software access and Enable that. In some cases you need to put in your first routers IP address and in others you can and should leave it blank. You can tell, because the program won't let you submit the changes, until you enter the IP address.
Now comes the fun. You'll probably need to go into your STBs that can stream from your computer and redo your network setting. In my case I had to redo permissions on my Mac and restart everything.
So now I have my Dreamlink HD, Network Media Player and my Dish STB connected to the internet. When I get my IPTV in a couple of weeks, I won't need to run it on wifi. I'll have a direct line with no long cable runs. Like I said, you can do this with one CAT5 cable run or not. Makes the wife a lot happier. :)
Here's what I did to get excellent internet connections without running a ton of cables. Much cheaper and neater that way.
I have 50Mbps internet. Thank you cable co. I don't think you want to do this with less than 7Mbps, but.... I went to my local thrift shop and found a pair of powerline internet cubes. You can buy new ones pretty cheap these day. I hooked one to my router and the wall and the other near my HT. You can do this project with a CAT5 or powerline. I attached a second router to the HT end of my line and connected the lines from the second router to my STBs. If you just want internet, then your probably done.
If you still want to use your computer as a media server, then you need to change the second router from a normal router to something similar to an internet switch.
First, make sure your second router can be bridged, different companies use different terms for bridged, but the object is to keep your second router from issuing an IP address, so READ your manual. Try searching for the word Bridge and see what you find. BTW, If you don't have a second router, check out a thrift store, they usually have several. My Belkin calls bridging Access Point Mode. Whatever, you need to go into the second routers software access and Enable that. In some cases you need to put in your first routers IP address and in others you can and should leave it blank. You can tell, because the program won't let you submit the changes, until you enter the IP address.
Now comes the fun. You'll probably need to go into your STBs that can stream from your computer and redo your network setting. In my case I had to redo permissions on my Mac and restart everything.
So now I have my Dreamlink HD, Network Media Player and my Dish STB connected to the internet. When I get my IPTV in a couple of weeks, I won't need to run it on wifi. I'll have a direct line with no long cable runs. Like I said, you can do this with one CAT5 cable run or not. Makes the wife a lot happier. :)