"Better" is relative. I've been unimpressed with DishHD, as the quality is very inconsistent between channels. DiscoveryHD is great, though.

Dish is a horrible company to deal with as well. My service stopped working recently, dropped down to only about 3 channels available (none I was interested in). Obviously, something is broken in the equipment I am forced to lease from them and can't touch. My options are "pay for a minimum $50 service call to have an installer fix the problem", "keep paying $50 a month for service that I don't get", or "pay $200 for an early cancellation fee". I'm choosing the latter and telling their collections department to fuck themselves. If I don't have a dialtone, the phone company a) doesn't charge me for the time the phone line was dead, and b) comes out and fixes it for free. Same goes for my electric, internet, gas, water, or sewer. For some reason Dish decided that YOU are responsible for any repairs to THEIR equipment, and that they will keep charging you according to your contract even if their equipment craps out.

My only other option is the Charter monopoly (they are based here in St Louis, and their lobbyists own the state legislature). I have a number of friends that work for Charter, and they wouldn't let me subscribe to their service. It is complete crap.

I just invested in a high-quality outdoor HD antenna, and a dual-HD tuner for my media center PC. Over-the-air HD is WAY better quality than what any cable or satellite provider gives you, and Vista Media Center makes a way better DVR than any of the standalone boxes out there. Between OTA HD and new internet TV delivery methods, I will never go back to subscription-based TV.