I have had Dish Network for about 10 years now. A little over a year ago I contacted them about getting HD channels. The installer came out and said I could not get HD because of all the trees that are in the southwest corner of my property.

I just recently talked to a Dish installer and he told me that Dish now has satellites that are located to the southeast. My property and the neighbors are heavily wooded but this might work for me.

Right now Dish and Direct are a possibility, Comcast would work for sure.

Bottom line...does anyone have any reasons to pick one over the other two?

We live where there is no cable so we can only get satellite. While I can't comment on DIRECTV I know that others are pleased with it.

I happen to have chosen DISH many years ago. Besides the options for programming and good customer service one thing I like is the "audio" channels. Don't know about DIRECTV but dish has two sources: SIRIUS has come online (don't remember when) and is an addition to their "CD" channels. Both of these offer good music only. Of course they carry the usual offerings.

Fielder's choice
HTH

I hate Comcast. Besides the fact that they raised prices 3 times in 9 months after they bought my old cable company, they constantly "redefine" my channel line up and drop HD channels on me. Yes I've picked up a few along the way too...but never ever not even once did they warn me. Oh yeah..their Motorola HD DVR box SUCKS! Consitent lock ups during channel changing (I'm a surfer). I call it brain lock.

I used to be a DirecTV customer pre-HD era...no complaints. Customer Service is certainly better with the Satelite companies. And you don't have to wait weeks to get an installer out. They actually want your business.

If Comcast had not cut my monthly bill in HALF when I called to cancel service they would be gone. As it is I am paying $68/mo. for Full Digital HD service with DVR (no premium movie channels) AND Cable Modem. The second this deal stops so do I!!!

I have had DISH Network for about 3 years now and I love it. I've never had a problem. I can't really speak for DirecTV as I've never had it, but when I was researching the two, DirecTV appeared to be more geared toward sports fans. While I enjoy watching sports, I'm not one to watch sports 24-7. The sports offerings on DISH more than satisfy my needs.

The other advantage to DISH is their multi-tuner receivers and DVR's. I current run 4 TV's, but only need two HD DVR receiver boxes. This was particularly nice since we have a small TV in our kitchen. I didn't want a box in my kitchen, so DISH's equipment worked out better for me. The box for my kitchen TV is in my theater room downstairs. The theater uses an IF remote and the kitchen TV uses a RF remote. Works great.

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Outlaw 990/7500
Axiom M80's
Axiom VP 150
Axiom QS8's
Outlaw LFM-1 EX
Dish Network ViP 722 HD DVR
Panasonic BD30 Blu-ray
Panasonic PT-AX200U projector
Elite 100" screen
Belkin PF60 power console

I was in Dish for 10+ years but recently switched to Directv. Other than the hassle of learning a new remote and the channel numbering/grouping being different the change has been great. Based on my setup I saved a few dollars going to Directv. I used a local installer that I trusted and the installation was great. Picture quality is great. The signal strength with directv is significantly stronger than my dish install. I am hoping that will correct some of the rain fade issues I had with Dish. I love being able to set my DVR via the internet. Overall I am glad I made the change.

Even my wife is happy with Directv and she normally hates it when I change our audio/video set-up. With Directv we are now able to get the Local ABC affiliate which is in a dispute with Dish. Plus she gets the Smithsonian Channel which Dish dropped. The ABC dispute is what started the process of looking at direcv.