I have enjoyed the disucssions here. I am on the quest to find what I will be able to do in my new RV. The main issue will of course be first getting a wifi signal from something. I do have an ATT air card which has a 5GB cap, I have my cell phone but have the minimum data plan on it currently and they do not offer an unlimited. I have a zyxel portable router that can make a hotspot from a wifi signal. 11n-compatible Wi-Fi router supports DSL/Cable and 3G connectivity, and a unique failover capability; should your wired connection be interrupted for any reason, the MWR222 will automatically switch to a 3G/4G wireless signal via the users Mobile Broadband Adapter modem. So now I have the ability to have enough wifi in the RV to use any of the devices I want to use. but I need to search out other cheap(ha!) sources to obtain an internet signal on the road. I know some places we will stay do provide free wifi and using my own portable router will make that wifi secure, but for those places out in the boondocks that don't provide wifi, I will need some kind of access. My ATT air card at 5GB cap sure won't allow much streaming of anything. Any thoughts? I have been looking at Roku and other boxes and with the usb port I definitely could download plenty of my own content to have available to view for the times I am not able to gain decent access to anything. The RV does have a roof top antenna and it is wired for cable for when we are at a site with cable. I do have direct tv at home and I know they do offer an on the road version to be able to use you current direct tv account with RV direct tv equipment, no idea of additional costs. the zyxel I have MWR222

I'm coming full circle. When we moved to Portland 8 years ago, I got Comcast triple play (voice, TV, internet) for $115, it was such a good deal! Well, over time it went up and up and last year, when it was $230 or so, I dropped voice and replaced it with a $12 extra line with our cellular carrier. That took the Comcast bill from $230/mo to $130/mo This weekend I dropped TV, something my kids have been telling me to do, since we hardly ever watch cable TV. That takes my Comcast bill to $95/mo for just 50 MB/s internet. I will also drop my TiVo service at $15/mo. I can reduce it to $85/mo by downgrading to 25 MB/s internet, or I can drop Comcast entirely and get internet from our local telco. They charge $80/mo for 40 MB/s, but there is a 1 year introductory $30/mo price, and I'm told they extend that for another year if you call and state your intention to drop. We are paying for $16/mo for Netflix and Hulu Plus. I might subscribe to an online sports streaming service for another $10/mo. In the summer, I might pay $30 to watch the Tour de France online. TL:DR version - "I was paying $245/mo for Comcast + TiVo, I am now $123/mo for Comcast + Netflix + Hulu + a cellular home phone, and I can get it to $58/mo for telco internet 1-or-2-year deal + Netflix + Hulu + cellular home phone." I will spend about $200 one-time for a used modem, Roku, cables to connect Mac to TV, maybe an OTA antenna. We are still figuring out the limitations of Netflix and Hulu. For example, my son asked how he could watch the current season of Doctor Who. Turns out that BBC UK streams it but only to the UK, and by going through a free proxy server in the UK, you can watch it in the US.

A follow up to share what I learned. The Smart HDTV is now working and delivering streaming movies to our bedroom via the WiFi. The only wires to the HDTV (Vizio) is the house A/C electricity. 1) Don't change the WiFi password in a router using the WiFi interface, use a Ethernet interface. This is based on experience with 5 year old Netgear (low end) Router still 54 mb capable 802.11n? I tried and the Router ended up locked up. The password change may gone astray in any case the Router could not access the internet for connection to either the Ethernet or the WiFi. Lights on the Router showed both the Internet and WiFi okay. I replaced with a newer Netgear which supports 150 mb and has more Internet based features. 2) My Smart HDTV (all?) does provide for inputting all keyboard characters via an on-screen keyboard(s). I got in trouble because the number only input on the hand controller made me decide to change my Router password to all numbers, which I did on the new Router. Still better, much faster putting in numbers from the channel keypad than to use the "Hunt and Peck" on screen keyboard. The (my) HDTV does not have a touch screen so one has to click the pointer around the keyboard to pick out inputs. This into my view only after I entered the all numeric password and hit the "OK" - the next screen was the subject keyboard - which I no longer needed, but did need later when logging onto Netflix. The operation involves being in a data field, input any leading numbers (best) from the hand held keys then hit the "OK". An on screen keyboard then appears. If nothing more is needed, i.e., all numbers, click down to the "Enter". Side benefit: then new Router specifies Windows 8 compatibility - the old one was XP, maybe Vista qualified and some older Routers have problems with newer OS. The HDTV showing a Netflix movie had no detectible breaks (buffering?). I thought maybe that is because of the new Router, as my W8 computer had (and still has) some breaks in Netflix streaming, not sure about other services. The W8 laptop still exhibits this problem. One last start up issue on the HDTV. After logging on to my WiFi I pushed the Netflix button on my controller and Netflix started to load but failed. I started over again, it failed again. I then tried the Amazon application and it too failed. I then when into "chat" with Netflix technical support (they came on quickly) after the exchange of information on the situation on my end the support person typed, try youtube, so I did, and it come up/worked. I typed back the smart HDTV must be learning or youtube is more fault tolerant, No response, but I then tried Netflix and it worked and continues to work.

It could get very complicated if you are wanting to record tv on both a DVR and a DVD. Do you know for a fact that your DVD recorder has it's own tuner? If it does not, you will only be able to record the channel that your Dish box is tuned to if you can connect it to the Dish box. If it does have it's own tuner, then perhaps a splitter would do. To me, installing an amplifier/splitter on the incoming satellite feed would be the best way to approach this. Each device could then be programmed and controlled separately. We still need to know if there are enough inputs on the tv to accept multiple devices and what type they are. It might be possible to accomplish this with a splitter only, but you might need a satellite tech to determine if the signal loss by being split would be detrimental to viewing/recording.