E1000 Dies After Streaming from Mac to Apple TV - Needs Reboot Every Time

Question

Hey everyone:
I got an Apple TV a few weeks back and we've been using it a lot, especially to stream Netflix.  However, another application that I got it for was for streaming iPhoto slideshows and iMovie stuff to the Apple TV with Airplay's screen sharing.  This event scenario has played out several times.....  Screen sharing is up and going and it'll be working great.  All of a sudden the TV will go back to the main Apple TV menu on its own.  Upon further review at this point, NONE of my WiFi (iPhone, iPad, etc.) devices will connect to the network and I have to power cycle the router.  Router lights are on, but no one's home.  At this point, it'll boot back up and then everything will be fine, at least for a while.
Tonight, I was showing vacation pictures to some family and this same process happened twice.  Since I can't seem to figure out how to stop playing a slideshow in iPhoto and then start it again in the middle, it's very annoying.  Here are some relevant troubleshooting points to consider:
1.  This network problem (or something similar to it) has happened in the past, but whatever it is, streaming a slideshow really seems to aggravate it.  This seems to be the only scenario that I can do to actually INDUCE the issue.  Periods of long uploads or downloads are fine.  Streaming audio from one device and similar usage seems to be fine, but this scenario fails pretty much every time, and not necessarily right away.
2.  After having this issue tonight multiple times, I stopped trying to stream an actual iPhoto slideshow and just went into the album and scrolled through the pics one by one.  I did this for at least an hour with no issue.  But with an actual slideshow, it failed twice in 30 minutes or less.  And it's happened before tonight as well.
3.  It doesn't appear to make a difference what application I'm streaming from on the Mac.  Whether it's iPhoto, iMovie, or even Facetime.  
MacBook Pro Specs - OS X 10.8.2 - Late 2011 Model
Apple TV - MD199LL/A, v5.0.2
Router - Linksys/Cisci E1000 - Firmware v2.1.02
Anyone else have similar experiences or advice?  I've got a fair amount of devices in my home that use WiFi, but there was nothing irregular going on in the house to generate an excessive amount of internal network traffic or anything like that.  My gut says the problem is with the router, but it's only a few months old, and I've updated the firmware to no avail. 
Thanks a bunch for any advice you may have!

Answer 1

OK, so I've done a couple things here and both point to the above post about having two devices doing AirPlay at once.
First things first....  I ran the Inssider tool and looked over my network.  My signal seems to always be between 50 and 60.  My router is on Ch 6 which seems to be the best choice.  There's one other network on that channel, but it's a very low signal strength.  The other ends of the spectrum are pretty well covered by other networks.
Does this shed any light on this problem?
Second - I hard wired my MacBook to the router, then screen shared to the Apple TV.  It was up for at least 15 minutes.  At some point, I looked over and it was no longer sharing, but the network *WASN'T* trashed like it normally gets.  So it possibly got dropped for some other reason.
Third - I forgot that I have an Apple Airport Express that I normally use to stream music to a radio in my garage.  However, this device can be used as a router.  So I set it up this way and created a 2nd network.  I only put the Macbook and the Apple TV on it.  I've been streaming continuously for about 35 minutes now with no issues. 
So it would seem that there's a firmware issue with this router that won't allow one device to Airplay to another device.  Does anyone else have any other conclusions or suggestions?  Otherwise, looks like I'll be treating myself to some new hardware after Christmas.
Thanks very much for your help!