Problem solved, sorta

I decided against the purchase of a second wireless router to support streaming video in the living room.

Instead, I bought a Linksys RE1000 Wireless-N Range Extender. I figured it should work well with our newish Linksys wireless router, being the same brand and all.

I struggled with the setup process for a few hours on Sunday afternoon, using the Sony VAIO laptop. Setup can only be performed with a computer using a wireless link to the Internet, ruling out our two hard-wired desktop computers.

I finally realized the BitDefender firewall was getting in the way. Once I disabled it, the setup proceeded flawlessly. Now we have a full five bars of signal strength throughout the house, including the living room and the Wifi-enabled Blu-ray player. Content from Amazon.com plays without a hitch, but Netflix content still hangs up, leading me to conclude the problem is either with Netflix or the through-put rate of our cable provider.