[Al Garay]

Hi,

I appreciate your advice on which is better (picture quality, service, value...)
I'm primarily interested in basic service. Digital music is a plus.

Service is important, as well as good billing practices.

Thanks,

Al

[Kishore]

I helped a friend faced with similar choice..both are equal devils   but
DirecTV has slightly better customer service than Dish. Moreover if you intend to use Tivo, DirecTivo is best thingy out there (Dish PVR is plagued by issues/poor cust support)

Here in SF Bay Dish has a slight edge in pic quality wrt DirecTV but not by much (Both are MUCH better than Cable). Both Dish & DirecTV compress helluva lot channels which you can see on a big screen TV.

If you are sports crazy-DirecTV is better, If you want International Channels-Dish is better

As a new subscriber, Dish might be cheaper.

Choose your poison! My friend went for DirecTV since he could order sports programming if he liked.

Another Recommendation: Get 'Para Todos' from Blockbuster..you get 52/26 free rentals from BlockBuster

Cheers,
Kishore

[Brandon B]

Moreover if you intend to use Tivo, DirecTivo is best thingy out there (Dish PVR is plagued by issues/poor cust support)
. . .
Cheers,
Kishore

I've read of te DishPVR issues.  Mine has performed flawlessly for 1-1/2 year now.  My friend down the street with the same system did however, have his PVR fail and need replacement.  Dish responded pretty well though.

I think their customer quality service varies by location.

BB

[Darren Thomas]

I did a ton of research on this also and went with DirecTV. The TiVo is far superior to the Dish PVR. I have two of them and can't live without them now.

Darren

[Bwanagreg]

I have a Dish PVR and it is not ready for prime time IMO -  many software and hardware problems. I am considering switching to DirectTV.