Need to connect Wii and Blu-ray to wireless Mac network

November 5, 2008 9:38 AM

I'm clueless about wireless home networks. Please help this Mac user get his Wii and Blu-ray player connected to one.

I have an iMac running Mac OS X 10.5 connected to a DSL modem. In another room, I have a Wii and will soon be getting a Blu-ray player that can connect to a network. What do I need in order for everything to be able to connect to the Internet? I'm assuming a wireless router plugs into the DSL modem, but what do I plug the Wii and Blu-ray player into?

Also, I like the idea of streaming iTunes to my stereo, which sits next to the Wii and Blu-ray, via AirTunes. Can I do this and everything else I need using AirPort Express? Or AirPort Extreme? What would I need besides the base station? If I don't go the AirTunes/AirPort route, what's a good wireless router that will like my Mac?

posted by DakotaPaul to computers & internet (7 comments total)

You don't plug the Wii into anything (except the TV and power, of course). It has a built-in wireless adapter.

As long as your wireless router is configured to give out IP addresses automatically (DHCP), you probably don't need to do anything else special.
posted by jozxyqk at 9:54 AM on November 5, 2008

Thanks, jozxyqk. But what about the Blu-ray player? I'm pretty sure the two I'm looking at (Sony BDP-S350 and Samsung BD-P2550) don't have wireless adapters.
posted by DakotaPaul at 9:57 AM on November 5, 2008

For the Bluray player, you'll have to get something called a Wireless Bridge.

But personally, if you want a BluRay player on a wireless network, I'd recommend getting a PS3. It's not that much more expensive and it also plays games and has some other features you might use (like connectivity to Upnp Media Servers).
posted by jozxyqk at 10:21 AM on November 5, 2008

I have a Sony BDP-S350, and a wireless bridge will be needed if you insist on going wireless. Not sure where to get one out of the box, although there are ways of loading new firmware on old Linksys routers to make 'em into a bridge.

I assume, however, that you want a simple solution, and so I'll second the suggestion to get a PS3.
posted by davejay at 2:19 PM on November 5, 2008

As a Wii owner myself, I hate to jump on the PS3 bandwagon - but they're supposed to be pretty good BluRay players, as they have the ability to do firmware updates to enable new features as Sony comes up with them, which many other BluRay players are not able to do.
posted by caution live frogs at 2:28 PM on November 5, 2008

but they're supposed to be pretty good BluRay players, as they have the ability to do firmware updates to enable new features as Sony comes up with them, which many other BluRay players are not able to do

The two Blu-ray players I'm looking at will do just that, which is why I want to know how to create a wireless network to connect one to. I'm not interested in a PS3 as a Blu-ray player.
posted by DakotaPaul at 4:19 PM on November 5, 2008

For your blu-ray player get something like this. You connect your blu-ray player to it via a short ethernet cable and it talks to your wireless router.

There are millions of wireless access points/routers on the market. The easiest thing is to buy a combined wireed/wireless router with a built in DSL modem like this and ditch your current DSL modem. Less messing around with one device.

Plug it all in, stick in your DSL details so it can log in, turn on WPA encryption on your wireless and use a long pass phase.

Note that I'm not recommending either of those particular devices, they were just the first ones to pop up in a search.
posted by markr at 9:48 PM on November 5, 2008