Help for my build. What hardware suits my needs?

[Runamok81]

I'd love some help from the gurus, or maybe just some re-affirmation on my small network design. This thread can be discussion. I'd like some help picking the best equipment and any corrections I need about the best network structure for my home network. I'm open to flashing firmware, NAS, etc... Here's the situation.

Environment
I have a small house (800sq ft) with 3 people living in it. We have a mix of N and G laptops and smartphones. There are two locations of interest. One is where the DSL (6Mbs down) enters the wall in a bedroom, and is connected to flakey motorola DSL modem. The other is 30ft away in the living room. It has an entertainment center with my HDTV, the HTPC and and Xbox360. I expect these to be able to receive streams of 1080P content from the N connected laptops (to the best possible ability.. yes, I've read the stickies).

My Plan...
I will need to purchase two routers and wirelessly bridge them to avoid running cat5 cable. One powerful router behind the entertainment center that acts as the wireless AP, and ehich physically wires (gigabit) together the HTPC,Xbox360. Also, optware and the ability to add additional USB devices, is preferred. The other purchase will need to be any dumb "wireless bridgeable" router connected to the DSL modem in the bedroom.

Questions....
1. Since, creating a wireless bridge effectively halves the throughput, do I need to worry about arranging my routers in this manner? I.E. bridged router in the bedroom next to the modem. Is this possible? I mean, even at half rate, the houses internet traffic traversing from the AP behind the entertainment center won't saturate the halved connection, correct?

2. I fear my ageing Motorola DSL modem is a failure point. It runs hot. Seeing as how I need to purchase a "wireless bridgeable" router to connect to this modem, should this be replaced with a combo DSL modem/router? Or should I purchase two separate devices for this room? Which device(s) should purchase?

3. Assuming I have no worries with router layout in question number 1, which router should I purchase to go behind the entertainment center?



Recap...
Need to prep an internet connected entertainment center and some laptops for 1080P streaming and files sharing. Help me build my small network.

Budget $200


P.S. I work in IT. I'm comfortable flashing firmware etc.
...Thinking Asus RT-16N or Linksys E3000 behind the entertainment center.

 

[Runamok81]

Update: Snagged an Asus RT-16N, loaded TomatoUSB

Since no one has offered advice, I'll update this thread.
I'm sure others are in my situation, I'll give a quick recap.

My network needs a singular Access Point behind my entertainment center. It will provide wired/wireless 1080P video/file sharing and internet between all the devices in my house. The problem is the DSL wireless router+modem is in another room, and like most homeowner's I don't want to run cable. See attached image.

How can I reach my goal?

The quick answer you can get from google is that you need a router that has the ability to create a "wireless bridge." Good news is that most routers with the addition of free 3rd party firmware can achieve this. Just flash your router to open up these new modes and your good to go! (Similar to jailbreaking an iPhone or rooting an Android)
Pick router with a good chip, and load up 3rd party firmware, and you'll get a whole slew of options for connecting. Then it starts to get confusing. Do I need WDS or non-WDS repeating? Which bridging/repeating mode do I need? Do I need a simple wireless ethernet bridge? Or do I need a bridged repeater, a just a repeater, or do I need a WDS+client system. Or should I just toss in a supporting third router behind the entertainment center to handle the wired clients and let the Asus handle 5ghz N connections. SmallNet Builder has two articles [1,2] that attempt to explain. Also, this table from firmware provider DD-WRT attempts to sort out the pros/cons and limitations. I have some experience, but it seems like you really do need to a networking degree to solve this type of problem.

From what I've read, most non-WDS wireless bridge modes require both ends of the bridge to have their radios configured the same. I.E., both using channel 6, both using the same SSID, both using the same encryption, and and both using the same mode (A/B/G/N). With only one N router, that hurts. I'd like to make this happen without purchasing another expensive N router.

Even if I purchase another N router, this "similarity in configs" in-order-to-bridge poses more questions. I only need one AP. That means, only one device broadcasting its SSID. Having two will just confuse my house about which AP they are connected to. You try explaining to your girlfreind to check her MAC or "static" IP address At a minimum I need two differently named SSIDs.

Finally, I need laptops to connect to my HTPC on "N" speeds before I can even attempt to stream a low bitrate 1080P. If possible, I need to avoid/prevent the bitrate halving penalty that comes with re-transmittal that is associated with wireless bridging. The articles don't make it clear if the laptops or PCs in my picture below will suffer this penalty. It seems like WDS is the best performing solution, is this correct? I do have a few extra "G" routers I can use to bolster my network with. Is there a more elegant solution than purchasing another "N" router to make this happen? Help!