Dish vs. Direct vs. Cable comparison process?

Don't forget about OTA and Verizon FiOS (if you can get it). Thanks to competition, you should first worry about what's important to watch. No sense getting the best quality picture if you don't have anything to watch. For me, Comcast Sportsnet has the stranglehold on the Philly sports teams. The only reason I have Verizon FiOS is because they carry ComCast Sportsnet. However, they don't have squat for hockey coverage, so I'll be seriously considering moving back to ComCast when my service agreement is up (a drawback of having a service agreement).

I always have OTA available in case cable / FiOS / satellite run into problems. It's bailed me out a few times.

You'll find a lot of complaints about any of the above providers no matter what. Just pick what you want to watch vs. cost. They all have HD. One of my criteria is how many HD channels. From that perspective Verizon FiOS is falling behind. Fast. They also don't have HD on demand if that's important to you.

Be sure that you have line-of-sight coverage to the all satellites. There can't be any trees in the way. Trust me. It won't work through trees. Although it's one provider, there are several satellites- hence the multi-LNB dishes. Use the online calculators to figure it where you need to point for your zip code.