Funny, I've had nothing but bad experiences with Dish Network.
About a month ago, one of the recievers died. (it would POST, but refused to pick up any signal and even wouldn't detect the switchbox!)
We dialed up Dish, and they said it would be $85 for a new reciever. When asked when they would get local channels here, they said that they've been available for months now....
yet they never bothered to even tell us when we kept asking about them until then! To top it all off, we "weren't qualitfied" to have the local channels....
AND I'M 30 MILES FROM THE CITY THEY'RE BEING BROADCAST FROM! So we went to Direct TV, and haven't looked back since! For $20/mo cheaper, we could have THREE recievers (vs. two with Dish Network), and have 130 channels (only lost two channels that I watched sparringly out of the supposedly 150 with DN) and *gasp* I can actually get a decent signal, even when its storming its ass off outside! (With DN, if you got so much as a sunshower...kiss your picture goodbye! Funny thing is, I always got 100% reception when it wasn't doing anything outside!) Furthermore, the DN recievers always got HOT! So hot infact that if I were to sit a cup of ice ontop, it would be all water within 5 minutes. The Direct TV recievers we have don't even have that problem.
I've only got two problems with Direct TV. That annoying "Direct Interactive" 'feature' and the fact that when software updates are available, the reciever will cut off when its done downloading and won't turn it back on. (very annoying if you're trying to record a program)
Just incase you're curious, I've got the Hughes HRMC-8 reciever.
The biggest plus with this reciever is that when I hit info on a program, it doesn't take 5 freakin minutes to come up like it did with DN! Its there
instantly.
If you can, go for the Direct TV Tivo PVR reciever. (Its a series 1, so you can mod the hell out of it if you choose)