Hey folks! Anthony Thomas with DISH Network Customer Service. Just to expand on some of the ideas in here, wanted to pitch in a little bit. VOD content requires a hard drive as it is not "streamed" to the box but already loaded on the box. In order for VOD content to load, the DVR receiver will need to be powered off between 1 am and 9 am at some point during the week (typically this is good enough) and the box will update the VOD content. Also, to expand on the ethernet connectivity, it does (as mentioned before) allow you to order VOD/PPV content from the remote, but it also gives the overall health of the receiver to DISH Network, usually "calling in" once a month, which helps in troubleshooting and knowing if the box itself has determined it needs replaced. Pretty neat stuff. Hope this was useful!