>>I got the antenna for 40-50. I got a deal with the DTV package I have now, so it is relatively cheap. Plus, I don't want to throw money at DTV and be married to them, because I am not impressed with the reliability of their service.
>
>What do you mean "reliability of their service"? I've had DirecTV for more than 10 years now and in all that time, their "down time" has been almost never. The only time I've lost picture is during extremely heavy rain storms and that doesn't happen all that often out here in Phoenix. ;) Usually only lasts 5-10 minutes at that. There was one other time during a wind storm that I lost picture and looked outside to see my dish flapping at the end of the cable! Even their customer service has gotten better over the years, it used to be atrocious. The last two times I've had to call, the problems have been solved immediately and efficiently.

Wow, lucky you.

The week after we got our dish installed, we had a horrible storm with a tornado warning in the area. I had raced the tornado home from work (it was about a mile away and headed right at my house) and when I got there, ran into the basement and turned the TV on. The dish was out (to be fair, it was ridiculous conditions out) and we were left in the basement scared and uninformed. That really put a bad taste in my mouth.

After than, everytime it rained more than a light sprinkle it would go out and stay out until it was done raining.

I called and they said that wasn't normal, and they were going to send someone out. They did, and that guy said it was indeed normal and that's what you get with a dish, and if anyone told me otherwise it was just a sales pitch.

I called again and they were going to send someone else out, but I couldn't take any more work off for that crap.

... and everytime I have called about something, I am transferred to 4-5 people on average. I can't understand the heavy accents of a lot of their support people, and I have a buddy who has had that same experience.

I was afraid of what it would be like over the winter while snowing, but surprisingly it hasn't been that bad.

I also hate the interface of the menus. Dish is much better in that regard.

I also have problems when DVR'ing sometimes. It seems like the record gets corrupt or something.

Jeez, now you got me ranting. ;-)