I am an Dish subscriber, my neighbor had direct TV, now he has switched to Dish. His comments, both have good/bad. Some channels are better on one than the other. Right now, Dish has the most in HD. As far as 500 HD from Direct, there are not but about 10 more channels if that of HD stuff broadcasting, who is going to create the other 490 ? Locals in HD, big woopee, if you can get CBS HD, PBS,NBC HD, ABC HD etc, I don't see why you would want locals in HD if they would allow access to to network feeds, or get them OTA. My neighbor says the guide is better on Dish and channel changing is faster. As far as Tivo, can't knock it, never had one, but the Dish DVR's I have work just fine.
I added the Voom 10 right after it was available, the picture quality is stunning, as with the rest of Dish's HD offerings.
No complaints from this Dish customer yet.