How can I set up a wireless access point to connect to an existing wireless network?

I already have an existing wireless network. How can I connect an additional access point wirelessly to that network so that the new access point can provide a wired connection to other devices on the network?

Background:

My wife's family gave us a Samsung Blu-ray player as a gift. It has Netflix, Pandora, and other services built-in, provided you can establish an internet connection.

It can only accept a standard Cat5 ethernet connection (the BD-P1600 model allows for an optional propietary wireless adapter, but ours is the BD-P1590, so this option is not available).

In lieu of running Cat5 cable all over our home, I'd like to be able to set up a wireless access point to connect to our existing wireless network and then serve as a hub for wired connections. Can a standard consumer router (such as the Linksys WRT54G) be set up for this purpose or do I need a different device?

Solution 1:

the wrt54g- and many other routers will work in client mode IF you have third party firmware - such as dd-wrt which mostly works on the GL and older builds.My suggestion is pick a router firmware distro such as openwrt or ddwrt, look at its feature list, then pick a router they support- since not every router will do what you want.

Solution 2:

The 3rd party firmware wrt54g The Journeyman Geek mentions is "Tomato firmware".

You can download it here, and read more about features on the wiki page.
(Features: "Wireless modes: access point (AP), wireless client station (STA)... wireless repeating")