How to Set Up an Ethernet Connection? -Need Help

[jersey10]

I've had problems with streaming, so I decided to wire everything with an Ethernet cable instead. If I connect the Ethernet cable directly to my iMac, streaming works perfectly. But then I don't have any internet access on the AppleTV, which I guess is why you are supposed to connect the Ethernet cable from the Apple TV to your router, not to your computer.

Well I tried that. But since my router from Comcast only has two Ethernet ports (one of which goes to my Airport Extreme station) connecting the Ethernet cable from the AppleTV to the other port on the router means that there still has to be a wireless connection between the computer and the router - so isn't this defeating the whole goal of a wired connection?

More importantly, when I set up the Ethernet cable, suddenly when I try to play any of my movies or TV shows that are not synced I get the message "cannot be played. Format is was not recognized."

What is the cause of this? And what am I doing wrong? There must be some correct way of connecting the AppleTV via Ethernet cables that I am not doing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[dbwie]

your setup

I'm a bit confused by your setup. Is the device that comcast gave you a router or a cable modem? Anyways, your Airport Extreme can and should be used as a router. Plug the cable modem into the WAN port of the Extreme, and the Apple TV and other Macs into the 3 available LAN ports, and you have a wired network. This is my setup. Works perfect.

 

[jersey10]

I did misstate things. It is a cable modem from Comcast, and I am using the Airport Extreme as my router. But my Airport Extreme does not have the 3 LAN ports you reference. Is that because it is an older model - at least 3-4 years old. Do the newer Airport Extremes have the 3 LAN ports you reference? Is that the problem, meaning that I need to replace my Airport Extreme?

 

[Oilbrnr]

I did misstate things. It is a cable modem from Comcast, and I am using the Airport Extreme as my router. But my Airport Extreme does not have the 3 LAN ports you reference. Is that because it is an older model - at least 3-4 years old. Do the newer Airport Extremes have the 3 LAN ports you reference? Is that the problem, meaning that I need to replace my Airport Extreme?

Well, you are going to need more ports somehow. You could just get a cheap hub or switch to place between the modem and the Airport. You'd then have extra ports at that time.

After that, I'd bounce both your Mac and TV which should clear up your issue RE "format not recognized."

 

[lazydesi]

best way is get cheap 4 port hub from amazon or ebay.

I order to update ATV it needs internet. if you connect directly to imac you can strem movies but not internet.

 

[dbwie]

hub

The earlier post is correct. You can connect an ethernet hub to the base station to get more wired ports. Make sure it's simply a ethernet hub/switch, and not another wired router. A gigabit ethernet switch will give you the fastest wired transfer speeds between your wired devices on the local network. I buy movies on my G4 powerbook, and transferring it to my AppleTV is wicked fast over a wired gigabit connection.