Private wireless network?

[kmitchel]

Does anyone know how to setup a private wireless network in their cabin? I have a small wireless media player that I would like to connect to my iPads. At home, I use Air Video Server on my PC and then Air Video Player on my iPads in order to play everything on my media player.

1. I understand this will not have anything to do with the wifi on the ship.
2. I understand there are PLENTY of things to do on the ship, but I am going on a 14 day cruise and I would like to be able to do this anyway.
3. I understand this is technically possible, I am looking for what hardware/software people have used to do it and advice on how to set it up.
4. I understand that there are MANY people who would NEVER voluntarily spend time in their cabin when there are "better" things to do on vacation, but I would still like to know how to do this.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[lives4vacation1210]

You could use any standard wireless router (an example is linksys wrt54gs) as you would in your home to access the internet via your wireless device. Obviously you won't have internet access, but all of your devices would then be connected on your network.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "private". Is it that you don't want anyone to be able to access it or attempt to access it? If that's the case, just disable SSID broadcasting of the name of your network. Have it totally setup at home, then when you get there plug it back in. Your devices will see the network and connect.

cheers!
John

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Not sure if that would work. If you intend to use iTunes to play the media, it needs to call home to apple to login your apple id.

Network wise, a laptop and router is enough to make the network. Not sure how much distance you will get going through ship walls though- they squelch much of the radio signals.

This is much easier said than done.

 

[kmitchel]

Tigger - not trying to access iTunes at all and just in the room (not trying to create it for watching stuff from the pool).

John - you are awesome, thank you! I found a D-Link DAP-1350 wireless-N Pocket router on Amazon for about $43. Would I just turn that on and configure it from my laptop to create local network? I could then create a network ID and password for the iPads to access wirelessly and install Air Video Player to view the media on my media server. Does that sound right?

Thanks again!

 

[dpuck1998]

You could use any standard wireless router (an example is linksys wrt54gs) as you would in your home to access the internet via your wireless device. Obviously you won't have internet access, but all of your devices would then be connected on your network.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "private". Is it that you don't want anyone to be able to access it or attempt to access it? If that's the case, just disable SSID broadcasting of the name of your network. Have it totally setup at home, then when you get there plug it back in. Your devices will see the network and connect.

cheers!
John

All that is correct and should work great. One thing though, just disabling SSID won't keep it private. There are plenty of tools to discover your SSID. Be sure to enable security (WAP/WEP/Etc) and setup a password.

 

[Namsupak]

U can go with the dlink pocket router, but why not just use an airport express, we like it for traveling due to ease of use and durability. Anyhow just get the router of your choosing, set it up at home and configure your ssid and your wpa2 password, just don't physically connect the router to your internet connection and that is essentially a local network on the ship. You should be able to access the media server that is connected to the network. We have not done this on the ship but we use this network setup at home. We keep all movies on one central server and then we use our laptops, or the media boxes on each of our tvs to watch everything from a central server. This is independent of internet connection as the media is streamed locally.

 

[DillWaters]

I have a Seagate Wireless Plus -- works great! Makes its own local network and can bridge to a public one if its available. Serves up to 1Tb of media.

 

[kmitchel]

I have a Seagate Wireless Plus -- works great! Makes its own local network and can bridge to a public one if its available. Serves up to 1Tb of media.

That sounds just like what I want to do! How portable is it? Does it have a way to connect directly to a TV, or just iOS device? Will it play an AVI?

Thanks!!

 

[DillWaters]

That sounds just like what I want to do! How portable is it? Does it have a way to connect directly to a TV, or just iOS device? Will it play an AVI?

Thanks!!

It's just a hard drive with a wireless network built in, so it won't connect to a tv. Portability is fantastic, it's just a small 2.5" hard disk with a built-in 10 hour battery. I actually use it most in the car for road trips with the kids. They each have an iPad and headphones, so I just turn it on, and they can choose from hundreds of movies.

Here's a link to their website:

http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/wireless/wireless-plus/

Their FAQ says it will support AVI, but I haven't tried that. All my media is H.264, either purchased from the iTunes Store or ripped with Handbrake.

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/005139en

 

[gigi1313]

It's just a hard drive with a wireless network built in, so it won't connect to a tv. Portability is fantastic, it's just a small 2.5" hard disk with a built-in 10 hour battery. I actually use it most in the car for road trips with the kids. They each have an iPad and headphones, so I just turn it on, and they can choose from hundreds of movies.

Here's a link to their website:

http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/wireless/wireless-plus/

Their FAQ says it will support AVI, but I haven't tried that. All my media is H.264, either purchased from the iTunes Store or ripped with Handbrake.

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/005139en

THIS IS WHY I LOVE THE DISBOARDS!

While I am not cruising any time soon, this is exactly what I need for the car on road trips! With kids ranging from ages 5 - 18, it's very hard to find a movie they all want to watch! perfect solution! thank you!

 

[MDennis28]

I am intrigued! How can I find the movies if I get my son to set it all up for me please? Website? I know, just call me clueless.

 

[kmitchel]

I ended up not even using my router and just used my Seagate Wireless and my WD live. My son was able to watch stuff through his iPad and I was able to watch shows on the Seagate via the WD live hooked to the TV. The setup worked great!

Word of caution, I originally didn't have a password on my Seagate and suddenly found 6 people connected to it when I came back from dinner the first night. They probably thought the found free Internet!!

 

[dpuck1998]

I ended up not even using my router and just used my Seagate Wireless and my WD live. My son was able to watch stuff through his iPad and I was able to watch shows on the Seagate via the WD live hooked to the TV. The setup worked great!

Word of caution, I originally didn't have a password on my Seagate and suddenly found 6 people connected to it when I came back from dinner the first night. They probably thought the found free Internet!!

I think someone mentioned that earlier Glad it worked, I'm just loading up the ipads, that keeps them plenty busy when there is down time.

 

[Topscot]

It's just a hard drive with a wireless network built in, so it won't connect to a tv. Portability is fantastic, it's just a small 2.5" hard disk with a built-in 10 hour battery. I actually use it most in the car for road trips with the kids. They each have an iPad and headphones, so I just turn it on, and they can choose from hundreds of movies.

Here's a link to their website:

http://www.seagate.com/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/wireless/wireless-plus/

Their FAQ says it will support AVI, but I haven't tried that. All my media is H.264, either purchased from the iTunes Store or ripped with Handbrake.

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/005139en

Ok, dumb question coming your way...if the kids have iPads hooked up to it, where are the movies coming from? If they are downloaded onto their iPads,why do they need a router?

 

[dpuck1998]

Ok, dumb question coming your way...if the kids have iPads hooked up to it, where are the movies coming from? If they are downloaded onto their iPads,why do they need a router?

they are streaming them from the HD, since apple has limited the storage space so much it is hard to keep much for quality movies (HD) on a single iPad.

 

[Topscot]

they are steaming them from the HD, since apple has limited the storage space so much it is hard to keep a much for quality movies (HD) on a single iPad.

That is pretty cool. Didn't know such a thing existed! Thank you Disboards!