FROM THE RUMOR MILL: Can you turn a C41 wireless?

Buzz around a few internet forums and you’ll find people who claim they’ve frankensteined a C41 Genie Client together with a wireless Cinema Connection Kit to create a wireless client. DIRECTV hasn’t come out with their true wireless solution yet, despite showing it way back last summer, and people are anxious.

Here’s the real story.

It does work, at least for short periods of time. First, configure the wireless CCK so it connects to your home network. Connect the coax port of the wireless CCK (the one that normally connects to the wall, not the passthrough port) to the C41, and if your wireless signal is strong enough, it will probably work.

But you probably shouldn’t do it.

Unless you are supremely confident in your network configuration skills, your home network probably isn’t set up for smooth wireless transfers. At some point, possibly when you are using the internet for some other task, this setup will disappoint you.

We hope that we’ll soon be able to offer the true wireless client, which uses its own private networking technology, so unless you’re a network whiz it may pay to wait for it.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.