[Sociable]

First of all welcome to NTHW shibby.

Speed will be more or less the same with usb or ethernet as the main difference is about system resources and stability rather than speed as far as the choice between the two is concerned.

As for the connectivity issue there is a special procedure to follow for Set Top Box connections linked to registering the mac address of the ethernet connection.

I don't have the link to hand but will go look for it now. In the meantime I'm sure someone will post the appropriate details soon.