When I had both services in the early 2000s because HD was coming online and Directv had more HD at the time then DISH did. I liked using the DISH receivers better than the model I got from Directv. The Directv picture looked sharper like bolder on HD but you could see more noise in the picture in the back grounds and dark settings. The SD channels were abysmal. The worst quality of any channels I've seen between the two services. I had to adjust my picture controls different for the output for Directv and DISH to get the best picture I could for both . Once DISH got as much HD or comparable HD channels I dropped Directv, because the price would of been going up and I was barely using the receiver any more except for one HD channel.