I have an airport extreme "g" base station connected, by ethernet, to my DSL modem. I also have two airport express "g" units set up as clients to extend the wireless WDS network throughout my home. I just tried to add a 3rd Airport Express ("n"), which I'd like to use to extend my network, but also intend to connect it, by ethernet, to my DirectTV DVR in order to use DirectTV's On Demand capabilities. I had an ethernet cable plugged in to my new Airport Express unit when I plugged in the Express, planning to connect it to my DVR as soon as the Express was configured. When I attempted to add the new Express as a client to my existing wireless network, however, Airport Setup consequently configured my new Express as a second base station and network. I would like to delete this second network and reconfigure the new Airport Express simply as a client on my existing WDS network. Does anyone know how to completely get rid of this new network? Removing its name from Network Preferences just removes the name, the network still exists. I've tried resetting the express unit and that doesn't seem to remove the network either. All help will be appreciated.
BTW: I'm also trying to connect my DirectTV DVR in order to use the On Demand capabilities via an airport express unit. So far I've had no luck. I have a slightly different configuration. I have an airport extreme "n" base station connected, by ethernet, to my DSL modem. I've set up the airport extreme base station as a second network and merged the airport express unit into this network so I can stream internet radio and my iTunes out to the main receiver which drive the speakers throughout the house. I'm using the optical port to connect to the receiver. I don't know if the single airport express can support both both the optical audio and the ethernet connection at the same time. This could be a physical limitation or an issue with the configuration to support streaming iTunes. Or I could have something else messed up. I would love to hear if you are successful and how you did it. Cheers.
Thanks for the link to Apple's support document. As it turns out, I ultimately figured it out on my own. When I'd first tried resetting the AX, it hadn't taken out all the network settings; so I thought I must be missing some additional steps. I finally did get there, though, once I realized I needed the latest AX utility. I hadn't updated to the latest Airport Utility and that's what was necessary to accommodate both the "g" and the "n" protocols. The best news is, I'm now able to use DirectTV's On Demand and it's working really well. It wasn't completely easy getting there, though. In installing a new AX/n, there is the added option to "join a wireless network," in contrast to the already-existing option to "participate in a "WDS" network. I'd set up my "g" network as a WDS and initially tried to add my new AX/n to the WDS network. I never actually tested the DVR connection to see if it would work this way, but I've since read that it's best (for streaming, DVR connection, etc.) to use the "join a wireless network option" when using the latest AX for these purposes. If you did not opt to "join existing wireless network" when merging your two networks, perhaps this is your problem. I definitely think the AX should be able to support both the Ethernet and optical ports at the same time; one really has nothing to do with the other. In fact, one of Apple's suggested setups shows an Ethernet printer connection and an optical receiver connection in the same configuration. The Ethernet connection to your DVR shouldn't make a difference.
Another thing to note: DirectTV's instructions indicate that if your connection is set up properly, you'll see a "congratulations" when you go to DTV's Network Settings page. I did not find this to be the case. In DTV's Setup Menu, I got the option to "test" the network settings. When I selected it, it took me to yet another option to run a system test and it was only when I did this that it said the network was connected. The proof, however, was being able to bring up a complete list of all the available On Demand programs and actually see it in action downloading a program. Let me know if you're able to get everything working. Good luck!
Phyllis
I'm also wanting to connect my DirecTV HR20 to the internet. What I haven't been able to find out is if these dvrs will only work with the 'n' protocol, or will they also work with the older 'g'. Just wondering if you might know.
My On Demand hookup is all connected and things are working very well with my "g" protocol network. The airport express connected to my DTV HR-21 is capable of running an "n" protocol network; but my network is only a g network, so that's the fastest it will run. The "g" protocol does slow things down significantly, though. An HD movie, running-time of 1 hour 40 minutes, took approximately 10-11 hours to download, depending on whether there was other network activity going on. Once the download was completed, however, I watched the movie and the picture was phenomenal--not one glitch or interruption in the playback and a really beautiful picture! So long as you're not concerned with having the On Demand more immediately, this works great!