I'm looking at moving from Italy to the US in the summer and am trying to spend my time (while not highly preoccupied about health insurance, jobs, houses, shipping etc) trying to think through taking my VDR setup and Dreambox over to the US.

I currently have a couple of Hauppauge DVB-S cards (a Nexus and a Nova) and a Hauppauge DVB-T card in the setup for digital terrestrial. I am wondering in the US if I should go with ATSC or Dish/Direct TV (or both). I'm aiming for Rockford, Illinois which has ATSC coverage. I have three vomp boxes hanging off the VDR server which I was planning to take with me. These currently connect with RGB Scart to my TV's. Then the dreambox 800 connects with HDMI.

So, would the DVB-T card just work with ATSC or is it fundamentally different (like DVB-C is different to DVB-S). In which case should I get a USB ATSC dongle or two?

How do you connect an RGB Vomp box to an American TV or should I get a couple of Scarted LCD's before I leave here? Is anything available with Scart in the US?

My cousin says that a hotel near here is selling off it's 20" TV's for $25 each, is it worth it (I'm guessing thanks to the digital switch off)?

If I go down the sat route, can I just stick a dish or direct tv card in the phoenix reader I use for Sky Italia and decode it with vdr-sc / CCcam? (Whatever happen I would be wanting a valid sub to watch what I want to.)

The dreambox should display HD, as long as I have the rights to view it? Should I stick with Sat with that or go on the search for an ATSC card?

Am I just overcomplicating life? Would I be better off just buying some ATSC set top boxes when I get there. Vomp/VDR was the only satisfying way of watching UK tv in Italy in any quality for us.

Thanks for your ideas..