Setting up a wired connection with a Ethernet cable?

First of all, to connect two regular ethernet adapters (i.e. the one in your computer and the one in the TV), you can't use a regular ethernet cable, you need what's called a cross-over cable or a regular cable plus a cross-over adapter. Next, since I don't think regular (i.e. non-server) versions of Windows have DHCP servers, you'll probably need to manually set the IP address on the TV and the one on the computer (though Win7 might be able to take care of that for you--not sure). Because they're separate from the wireless network that your laptop is connected to, it doesn't matter too much exactly what addresses you use, as long as they're different. Once you've got that straight, there are a couple options to route the internet connection to the TV, you can either set up internet connection sharing or "bridge" the two connections--look in the Windows Help for detailed instructions.