I like Dish because 1 Box can control 2 rooms (the 2nd room uses and RF remote). Thus I have no box in the bedroom (just an LCD hanging on the wall) which helps keep the room nice and neat.

Also, up until DirectTv just added all those HD channels, Dish was the HD leader. It seems at minimum in the next few months they will catch back up to DirectTv, so no need for me to jump ship for that. (I was thinking about it though).

The main downside to Dish is not NFL Sunday Ticket. But for those few weekends where there is a game that I want to watch that isn't on my local station, I just drive down the street to the local sports bar and watch there. They have HD DirectTv plus I don't have to get up to get my own beers ;-)

$250... wow, add the cost of Vista with MCE capabilities and you are at $500. Microsoft is good at a few more things than just input devices, they are devil-ishly good at taking money out of your pocket. ;-)

I find that odd... Didn't DirectTV & Tivo just finish an ugly breakup with DirectTV believing they could make a 'better' PVR without having to pay Tivo licensing and then having ugly/buggy software that is still receiving updates to attempt to fix?

My cousin bought a 50" DLP even though he saw the rainbow effect while shopping at Tweeter because he was told he would get used to it by the sales rep. After 3 weeks it was worse, he couldn't even make it through a single football game on Sunday afternoon without getting a killer headache. He brought it back under Tweeter's 30-day money back policy and walked out with a 42" Panasonic plasma (which I recommended since I have one and love it). To make a long story short, he no longer gets headaches, likes the better picture of the plasma, but has 8 less inches of screen and spent more money on the plasma. So my recommendation is if you see the rainbow effect on a DLP, do not buy it unless the place you are shopping at has a great return policy.

I use TIVO functionality to stream pictures from my computer over my wireless network onto my TV. I actually created a slideshow folder from my last vacation and viewed it last night with my girlfriend.