AEBS, an Airport Express, ATV and confusion!

[JimmyDreams]

Can someone help me, I'm totally confused.

I have an Airport Extreme Base Station hooked up to my cable modem in my master bedroom. I run an ethernet cable from AEBS to my iMac and everything works great.

I have an AppleTV. When the ATV is in my bedroom (about 20 feet away from the AEBS), everything works great (wireless).

I want to stream iTunes wirelessly through my stereo in the living room. So I bought an Airport Express, told it to extend my network, and with a few dropouts, iTunes plays through the speakers in the living room.

NOW the problem: I moved my AppleTV into the living room. It's about 15 feet from the Airport Express, but my iMac cannot 'see' the ATV. I thought that if I extended my wireless network with the Airport Express, that the AE would act like a relay, both sending and receiving wireless data to the AEBS. But if I UNPLUG the AE from the living room, suddenly, my AEBS can 'see' the ATV. I know there is a speed decrease if you extend your network, but this is wierd. It's almost like the AE is blocking the signal instead of passing it on....??

Should I have the AE set up differently? I'm obviously not the network guru, but it seems like what I want to do should be a piece of cake.

Any suggestions??


JimmyD

 

[Galley]

I'm no expert either, but I'm pretty sure you have the Express setup incorrectly. Mine is setup to "Join a wireless network".

 

[JimmyDreams]

I'm no expert either, but I'm pretty sure you have the Express setup incorrectly. Mine is setup to "Join a wireless network".

My Airport Express is set up to 'join the wireless' network. The 'extend' option is for using ethernet.

But my question still remains....shouldn't the AE relay wireless data to/from the AEBS?? Why can't the AE 'see' the Apple TV and pass the data to/from it to the AEBS?

JimmyD

 

[waw74]

The TV acts as an airtunes receiver. so the express is redundant. Do you not have your TV sound going through the stereo also?

Thirdly, if the express is set up to join a network, not extend, why would you think it would extend or relay the signal? a basic wireless client (which the express is if it joins a network) doesn't forward data on, it only talks to the main base station. so if two laptops connected wirelessly to the same network, they will not talk to each other, but will talk to the base station which then forwards the data to the other. It's kind of like fed-ex every package goes through Memphis.

The extend option is not just "for using ethernet." WDS will take a wireless signal in, and repeat it back out. extending the wireless coverage.

 

[JimmyDreams]

Second, The TV acts as an airtunes receiver. so the express is redundant. Do you not have your TV sound going through the stereo also?

Quite honestly, I never thought of the TV acting as an airtunes receiver. It works just fine as such. (slapping self on forehead). In my mind, movies are one thing, music is another. Thanks!!

Thirdly, if the express is set up to join a network, not extend, why would you think it would extend or relay the signal? a basic wireless client (which the express is if it joins a network) doesn't forward data on, it only talks to the main base station. so if two laptops connected wirelessly to the same network, they will not talk to each other, but will talk to the base station which then forwards the data to the other. It's kind of like fed-ex every package goes through Memphis.

The extend option is not just "for using ethernet." WDS will take a wireless signal in, and repeat it back out. extending the wireless coverage.

When I set up the Airport Express, the only option for extending the network says 'extend the network by connecting the AE via ethernet'. The next 2 screens also refer to the ethernet connection, but in the end, it does it wirelessly. Bad setup wording by . Unfortunately, the speed decrease is HUGE, and makes things basically unusable for my purposes.

My solution: Use the TV as is (and as an airtunes receiver), but move it a BIT closer to the AEBS. Box up and eBay the AE and call it a day.

Thanks for the info, you helped me maximize what I already had.

JimmyD

 

[JimmyDreams]

I FINALLY got everything working as it's supposed to.

I had to set the system up as a WDS (and I had to MANUALLY set up the AEBS and the AE).

For anyone looking to do the same thing, here's the tutorial that got me headed in the right direction:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.HTML?artnum=107454

Good luck!!

JimmyD