I guess I have been very fortunate. I had Direct for 8 years and Dish for nearly 6 now. The only problems I have had is weather and that effects both. I have never had an equipment problem, customer service was about the same for me.
I did upgrade to the VIP 722k DVR box (Dish), so far works great running 2 Separate HD TVs. I have run a 50' HDMI cable to a 3rd set in the kitchen, same channel as the main TV but signal is super, I had to put a splitter with built in amplifier inline though.