Connecting PS3 to iMac

kefty · 24-11-2008, 13:41

Hi

I have just bought a PS3 which can be connected ethernet or wi-fi for online services. The PS3 is in living room next to my TV. My cable modem is on the other side of house which serves my Apple iMac, these are hard wired.

Now I undertand that my Imac has a built in Airport Express wi-fi card. How do I setup the iMac preferences so that the Airport card can provide online service to PS3?

If this is too difficult is there a way to connect the V+ box in living room to PS3, I know the USB port has been disabled..

Can anyone help please?

Kefty

southwell · 24-11-2008, 14:17

I would buy a wireless router. Then you can still hard wire your PC and have your PS3 on wireless. I know you can share your internet connection in Windows but not sure in Mac. It would probably give you a fairly poor connection for internet gaming.

**Chris** · 24-11-2008, 14:18

The instructions are in Mac Help. From the Finder, click Help > Mac Help and search for 'Internet Connection Sharing'.

Stuart · 24-11-2008, 14:19

I don't have a PS3 to check this with, but here is how to set up the Mac for the networking side. Assuming you have OSX 10.5 (leopard)

Open System Preferences (click the Apple logo, then System Preferences)
Click "Networking"
Click "Airport"
Now, click the box next to "Network Name", and select "Create Network"
Enter a name for the network. Whether you want a password or not is up to you (I would, however, recommend you do).
If you tick the password option, enter a password and select 40bit WEP or 128 bit WEP (sadly, OSX doesn't appear to support WPA on this kind of connection). Enter the password again in the Verify box.
Click OK

As for setting up the PS3, someone else will have to answer that.

I would, however, like to echo the above. Using a wireless router for this sort of thing is usually a lot better.

kefty · 24-11-2008, 14:49

OK thanks for the advice. I have read lots of stories that it is difficultto set up the built in Airport card on my imac so I will buy a wireless router then start again. Im off to PC World any suggestions apart from buy one suitable for a cable source (Virgin)?

I hope to play online gaming so speed will be important, Im finally going wi-fi, wahey!!

I wonder if its better getting one sent from Virgin, at my cost no doubt?

Cheers for advice

K E F T Y

**Chris** · 24-11-2008, 15:05

The Virgin one is not user-configurable - so if you're going to have to pay for one, you're best buying one that doesn't have their branding or their firmware on it.

Stuart · 24-11-2008, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by kefty

OK thanks for the advice. I have read lots of stories that it is difficultto set up the built in Airport card on my imac so I will buy a wireless router then start again. Im off to PC World any suggestions apart from buy one suitable for a cable source (Virgin)?

I hope to play online gaming so speed will be important, Im finally going wi-fi, wahey!!

I wonder if its better getting one sent from Virgin, at my cost no doubt?

Cheers for advice

K E F T Y

Virgin give their wireless kit away free to new customers (you get it free if you order cable, for instance) or charge Â£40 if you are an existing customer.

Not too sure what the VM router is like, but you can get some good ones online for less than that. Of course, the advantage with the VM one is that if you can't get it working, then VM will usually attempt to help you. If you buy a router elsewhere and have a problem, you *might* get an operator willing to help you, but it's not guaranteed.

If you opt not to buy a VM router, then Cisco/Linksys do some good ones:

The WRT-150N costs Â£49 including VAT, but offers N speed wireless (Wireless G offers a theoretical maximum speed of 54Meg, Wireless N raises this to 300).

The WRT-54G2 is slower than the above, but is the newest version of the WRT-54G, a router that is liked by a lot of people on this forum, and, indeed, I used one myself for years.