IF you have your tv picture settings set for Directv and you switch to DISH , then your picture will look a little worse to you. I noticed when I had both services on two different inputs on my same tv, using hdmi to both HD dvr receivers, the settings had to be different to make Both services look their best. One Setting doesn't work for all , so to speak.
As for which hd picture I thought was better , I gave DIRECTV a slight edge on picture quality on HD channels. But their SD picture sucked swamp water and I couldn't stand to watch anything in Sd on DIRECTV . The picture quality for SD channels on DISH was fine , using Eastern arc setup in mpeg4. The HD channels on DISH were fine to me , but maybe a slight bit softer than DIRECTV. So I turned up the sharpness a little up to compensate. I saw more artifacts and Blockiness on DIRECTV backgrounds on fast moving pictures using HD channels. So I turned the sharpness way down and the brightness down too, to compensate. Both can look good if the tv picture controls are adjusted right.
But for the NUMBER of HD channels , DISH wins hands down. Since I do watch some sd channels still, like Tv land, DISH made more sense to me to keep over DIRECTV. PLus the hd dvr that DISH has wins hands down over DIRECTV's any day. So in the end you have to decide what satellite company gives you the best possible equipment and picture quality on both HD & SD channels, as well as the number of HD channels to choose from.
As for which hd picture I thought was better , I gave DIRECTV a slight edge on picture quality on HD channels. But their SD picture sucked swamp water and I couldn't stand to watch anything in Sd on DIRECTV . The picture quality for SD channels on DISH was fine , using Eastern arc setup in mpeg4. The HD channels on DISH were fine to me , but maybe a slight bit softer than DIRECTV. So I turned up the sharpness a little up to compensate. I saw more artifacts and Blockiness on DIRECTV backgrounds on fast moving pictures using HD channels. So I turned the sharpness way down and the brightness down too, to compensate. Both can look good if the tv picture controls are adjusted right.
But for the NUMBER of HD channels , DISH wins hands down. Since I do watch some sd channels still, like Tv land, DISH made more sense to me to keep over DIRECTV. PLus the hd dvr that DISH has wins hands down over DIRECTV's any day. So in the end you have to decide what satellite company gives you the best possible equipment and picture quality on both HD & SD channels, as well as the number of HD channels to choose from.
