Dish satelite vs Cable quality?

I originally had Comcast Digital Cable in Baltimore and 2 years ago switched to Directv. My reason for switching was due to Comcast's poor service and price increases. Several times the cable would go out, and Comcast would send a signal to the digital box and couldn't find the problem. They wanted me to wait for someone to come out and look at the problem and this meant that I had to stay home and wait. Most of the time it cleared up on its own in a few days, without a service man even coming out. After several occurances I finally switched.
Since then, I have had no problems with Directv, other than the picture going out for 5-10 minutes during heavy storms. At least I can expect that though.
The picture from Directv is more consistent between channels, but to me, most standard TV channels looked better through cable than Directv. Directv just has a blurry look to most channels, some are better than others though. I have a 51" TV, but do not yet have HD hooked up because I'm waiting for the HD boxes to go down in price.
I was paying nearly $70/mo for Digital cable, and now pay only $45/mo and that includes Tivo.

Here is something I didn't expect: Regional differances in Satellite reception(?)!

I live on the West Coast and my Dish signal is always excellant, even with excessive cloud cover. I installed a Direct TV High Definition antenna for my Father-In-Law in the Midwest and excessive cloud cover scrambles the signal. This is on normal (non-HD) as well as for HD signals. I was so blown away by this that I got him one of those very tall, roof mounted UHF antennas so he can watch 'Raymond'.

I went from cable (Cablevision NJ) to Directv about ten years ago. My primary reason for switching was Cablevsion's limited programming (no TCM) and their refusal to broadcast stereo sound in all but a handful of stations.

Well, when the satellite was installed it was clearly superior to cable. When I switched from composite video to s-video the picture was even more refined. To my eyes, a satellite reception using s-video will surpass any cable hook-up.

Friends who visit who still have Cablevision tell me my set-up is sharper, with less video noise, better color saturation, less smear, and better sound.

By the way, "digital cable" is basically a fraud. The only stations that are broadcast digitally are premium channels like HBO and Showtime. So, all you "digital cable" users, when you say the picture is better, are you "wearing the Emperor's clothes"?