12-29-2010, 09:52 PM

Hi.

So, I've recently posted trying to find a wireless solution for hooking up home speakers through itunes... I'm also needing to hook up ATV. My wireless router is dead... I thought airport express was the obvious solution, but I realized after the fact that I don't have the airport card installed on my mac... I've been trying to get this taken care of quickly without thinking things through and put the cart before the horse.

I'm trying to find the most cost effective way to set this all up. With the need to add an airport card to the equation (and the apparent difficulties reported on doing it on ones own) the airport option isn't looking to0 attractive to me right now.

I'm itching to get the atv set up, so this is first priority. I'm not sure which router to go with. Will the "G" routers be good enough, or should I go for "N"? Also, what brand do you find reputable, reliable... I've only had experience with Linksys, and for the most part it has been very bad.

Thanks

12-30-2010, 07:25 AM

I have the Apple TV hooked up to a 802.11n network and it seems to stream well enough from Netflix. It is laggier than I like - meaning it seems to take a while to buffer stuff even from my local itunes library but I am not sure if a wired connection would fix that.

If you are doing streaming over wireless consider a dual simultaneous band router. There are plenty out there. I have been using netgear products of late and they work well.
dual simultaneous band router - Google Search

If you are looking at an Airport Express to distribute audio around the house then I would recommend sticking with an Apple base station if you go that route. The Express can distribute music with any router but if you get an Apple base station like a Time Capsule or Airport Extreme - it can redistribute wireless or even act as a wired bridge. In typical Apple fashion - by default the Airport Express only plays audio from iTunes. You'll need to shell out a little more money for a program like Airfoil to play any audio to the Express. I have bought this software and it works very well - well worth the money.
Rogue Amoeba | Airfoil | Select Your Operating System
The down side - is the Apple products are a little more expensive.

There are other music solutions like sonos - but I have no experience with them.
Sonos - Wireless Multi-Room Music System
sonos - Google Search

12-30-2010, 04:54 PM

Thanks for the response.
So, I'm able to use the Airport Extreme w/o the airport card... just connect as any router?

12-30-2010, 10:12 PM

Not quite. If you want to connect wirelessly with your computer - then you want an airport card. (Or you could get a wireless USB as well)
usb 802.11n mac - Google Search

What I was suggesting is - you can connect an Airport Express wirelessly - then put that anywhere. From the Express you could plug in your computer to the wired (ethernet) port of the Express. I believe this will only work in bridge mode - so if you go this route you would still need another apple base station to connect to. So that isn't all that cost effective either - if all you want to do is hook up wirelessly - then I suggest looking at wireless USB first - easiest to install and connect.