Both are compressed, the only reason that I can see having satellite tv would be if your cable provider,1- charged too much, 2- had no HD that you wanted,3- had no HSI, 4- was just plain crap, 5-was not available. Directv may get thier HD launchrd someday, then it may be worth a look. E* has that collection of stations they call VOOM ( which no other provider has bid on since VOOM pulled the plug)I had D* for 8 years when we lived outside D.C., because Media Cable was a total waste of money, and when Cox took over it wasn't any better(although it is getting better now)When we bailed outta the race race and move out to the Shenendoah Valley Mtn area I was surprised to see that the cable company, Adelphia at the time, now Comcast, had far better PQ than either D* or E* 1 sign of that, with out any side by side which I have done, are peoples comments, specially D* subs, about the terrible PQ of TNTHD, while there are some shows, movies that are definatly upscaled (as is the case with any channel) I have watched sporting events and other programing that has been above anything the nationals pump out