Well, good news/bad news. I ended up staying D* for right now, and took the $149 total cost deal (Installed, etc.). I do have a one year commitment, but I decided since I already had D*, that would give both E* and D* time to sort out any HD/MPEG4 issues that are coming down the pike.
After the $250 Customer Retention bonus, and other Misc. Credits, the HD receiver will end up costing me ~$40. I figured it was less a risk either way, this way, and in a year I can reassess on a level playing field, because both should be deep into any upgrade they have.
If I were a first-time LOOKING for Satelite, there is no Question E* would have won out at this point, and in fact almost did anyway. For the same level of service, E* was by far the cheaper source. As it is, I gave up a DVR and HD in both rooms by sticking with D*, but this was the easy way out for the moment, and was almost "free" -- excluding the one year commitment.