Going HD - Should I dump DirectTV?

I myself have stuck with Directv and have found their HDTV quality FAR better than the cable offering (as compared in my neighbours 4 houses down the street). The colors are somewhat bleeding on the cable HD signal while the picture is a bit fuzzy, atleast to my eyes. My immediate neighbour tried cable HD for about 2 weeks and he went back to Directv! Thus, the comparison with my "further" neighbour. We all have good access to the southern sky and in my case my dish is about 20ft high on side/edge of my house- no signal issues. Besides, Directv is adding more sats and content/channels should increase.

Had DTV and am now using Comcast. NO comparison in terms of picture quality. That is, DTV is FAR superior in every aspect. Am thinking about giving Dish Network a try very soon.

The quality of your cable signal will have a LOT to do with your individual location, the age of the cable lines, etc... My local lines were all recently upgraded as they had been installed some 20+ years ago. While the picture improved, it is still nowhere near the quality of a strong satellite feed, at least not in this area.

Why not call up your local cable provider and ask if there is somewhere that you can view / test their product? Tell them that you're a satellite subscriber and want to see how they compare. They may have something set up just for this purpose. Sean
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The dual tuner comcast PVR boxes are available. I've had one for about two months.

My digital channels and digital HD channels improved dramatically when I swapped HD cable boxes. I previously had a Scientific Atlanta HD XXXX (can't remember the exact model). I swapped it for a new PACE box that supported DVI (but I'm still using the component output, like before). The pixelization on non-HD digital channels went away. It also "upconverts" to either 480p, 720p or 1080i.

Enjoy,

TIC

Sean's comment that it depends on local conditions matches what I've heard. A Comcast repair guy told me that I shouldn't bother w/their HD yet, because of problems in my neighborhood.
As a DirectTV / Tivo user, I'm reluctant to switch to any cable-provided DVR that doesn't include Tivo and two tuners. IMHO, the Tivo software is what keeps my family happy.
Unfortunately, that leaves me waiting to get HD. Given that the Samsung DirectTV/Tivo requires the new oval-shaped dish and even on sale, $850 is just too high. Hoping that by next Christmas, $300-400 will buy one of these or a competing model from Hughes etc. Considering all the ads on DTV pushing for HD, you'd think the hardware to support it would be more prevelant, and not require you to take steps backwards regarding Tivo, etc. Cheers,
Spencer