Fully wired...
Just thought I'd share my recent updates, to bring my system fully into the Internet age. We moved recently to a condo that had very limited tv service, and just this week got hooked up to Comcast hi-def service. Since I had hi-def in my old house (9 months ago), it was a looooooong wait to get back to HD. Thank goodness for blu-ray in the mean time...
Anyway, the need to install the new Motorola hi-def/DVR boxes presented an opportunity to finally complete my system as I had originally planned. A few months back I had purchased the Denon AVR-3808ci receiver, which has an Ethernet port for firmware updates, Rhapsody music service, etc. Since my Internet port was in the other room, I had to stretch a temporary connection quite a ways to reach the receiver. In addition to the Denon, I've got the Sony BDP-S550, Olive Musica, and Roku Netflix player, all with Ethernet capability.
I had several ideas for connecting all of these components, but finally decided to hard-wire them all for the best connection speeds. I bought an Ethernet cable to reach from my primary wireless router to the wall opposite my living/media room. I installed a Cat 6 port on either side of the wall, and created a small connector to reach between the two. In addition, I had an 'old' wi-fi router that fortunately had 4 router ports available, which I dug out and installed in the living/media room.
After testing yesterday, I was finally ready to assemble the whole setup today. I always get a bit nervous when dis-assembling my system, and especially nervous just before turning the power conditioner back on to power up all of the components. The good news is that the only glitch was switching the HDMI cables between my Oppo and Sony blu-ray player. Rather than taking them back out and re-wiring, I opted to swap the settings on the Denon instead.
So, now I've got hard-wired Ethernet connection to my Denon, and was able to perform a firmware update without hassle. In addition, my Roku Netflix player is now faster and more reliable due to the hard-wiring vs. wi-fi. The only thing I have left to test is the BD-Live functionality of the Sony BDP-S550, which gives me something to look forward to.
Ahhhh...now to sit back and relax as I've now completed my fully Internet-enabled system, as I had envisioned over many, many months. Can't wait to play.
Anyway, the need to install the new Motorola hi-def/DVR boxes presented an opportunity to finally complete my system as I had originally planned. A few months back I had purchased the Denon AVR-3808ci receiver, which has an Ethernet port for firmware updates, Rhapsody music service, etc. Since my Internet port was in the other room, I had to stretch a temporary connection quite a ways to reach the receiver. In addition to the Denon, I've got the Sony BDP-S550, Olive Musica, and Roku Netflix player, all with Ethernet capability.
I had several ideas for connecting all of these components, but finally decided to hard-wire them all for the best connection speeds. I bought an Ethernet cable to reach from my primary wireless router to the wall opposite my living/media room. I installed a Cat 6 port on either side of the wall, and created a small connector to reach between the two. In addition, I had an 'old' wi-fi router that fortunately had 4 router ports available, which I dug out and installed in the living/media room.
After testing yesterday, I was finally ready to assemble the whole setup today. I always get a bit nervous when dis-assembling my system, and especially nervous just before turning the power conditioner back on to power up all of the components. The good news is that the only glitch was switching the HDMI cables between my Oppo and Sony blu-ray player. Rather than taking them back out and re-wiring, I opted to swap the settings on the Denon instead.
So, now I've got hard-wired Ethernet connection to my Denon, and was able to perform a firmware update without hassle. In addition, my Roku Netflix player is now faster and more reliable due to the hard-wiring vs. wi-fi. The only thing I have left to test is the BD-Live functionality of the Sony BDP-S550, which gives me something to look forward to.
Ahhhh...now to sit back and relax as I've now completed my fully Internet-enabled system, as I had envisioned over many, many months. Can't wait to play.
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